Running

My first run after three weeks of weak health and antibiotics. Very very achey start.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/164891035

Off road, thorugh a forest, with obstacles in the guise of military installations in the way.
On the plus side - I run straight into a family of deers.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17600061 the guy makes my 5k jaunts look pathetic... RIP

It's definitely easier to run downhill than up :-) where I'm staying now it's a 400ft climb.

lol.

Really struggling with this tapering thing, and also struggling to decide on an exact target time...

in the last month and a bit i've run 5k in 19 minutes, 10k in 39, a half marathon in 1.33 in "race" situations i don't know whether to use these or stick to my original target of 3.30.

@Ed: the rule is double and add 15mins. Thus 3:20 seems a realistic target. I'm a big fan of going out hard and seeing what happens. However this can mean goin from in miles to 10 for the last couple...

If they have pacers I'd try to follow the 3.15 balloon and the see what happens.

I wen't into my first mara with similar times to you, followed the 3.15 pacer till 13, and found I was able to kick on after halfway. But obvs, if you feel anyway uncomfortable with the pace, drop back - better an evenly paced 3.30 than a 4.30 with an hour or so of walking at the end.

I think I'll aim for 3.15 time for the first half and see if I can negative split down to 3.10 for a good for age entry for London next year.

Just ran somewhere around 13k of Blackdown hills finest mud/ tracks and backroads.
I've mud up to my knees and the biggest smile on my face. Took somewhere under 1hr (left at the end of the 9 am bells and beat the 10 am bells by a fair bit).
Felt like I could repeat the whole thing again too- well chuffed.

fucken hell, good going

cheers for the sponsorship money Sharkstar! much appreciated.

Ok with exactly a week to go today i will still be running !!
Will be doing two more runs one tomorrow and Wednesday.
Anyone recommend how long I should make these ?
I was thinking 6-8 miles for tomorrow and 6 for Wednesday or none at all ....
For some reason I am starting to panic and well slightly nervous (gulp) !

cheers for the sponsorship money Sharkstar! much appreciated.

My pleasure. I had to raise money for running the London Marathon a couple of years ago so I know what a distraction from training it can be.

Forgot my gloves and hat - the wind from the river today was unbelievable, plus it was snowing.
Here's the run with some photos

http://runkeeper.com/user/EEI/activity/80350965

Those photos baffled me for a while: "I've never seen that part of London....".

Ok with exactly a week to go today i will still be running !!
Will be doing two more runs one tomorrow and Wednesday.
Anyone recommend how long I should make these ?
I was thinking 6-8 miles for tomorrow and 6 for Wednesday or none at all ....
For some reason I am starting to panic and well slightly nervous (gulp) !

i did a long (11-12 miles) easy run (9 minute miles) today and plan to do a 5-6 mile easy run on tuesday and then a slightly faster 5 miles on wednesday and i'm running paris on the same day as you.

this is based on my own marathon training plan, but has definitely helped my state of mind as i ran the last mile in 6min30 to stretch the legs out.

Oh yes, I'm not in London. Hence slightly colder weather.

I found a poor lassie lying in a pool of blood by Parly Sq today - on her last long run before the mara, she'd tripped on the curb and smashed her head on one of those iron bollards. Never seen so much blood, it was pouring out of her. Fortunately, she was still pretty compos mentis, called an ambulance and waited with her, think she'll be ok, may have a bit of a Harry Potter scar on her forehead.

Ouch! And it's supposed to benefit your health.

just by the by, if anyone who knows of anyone who has to drop out of the london marathon and wouldn't be adverse to me taking their place i'd be really grateful to find out about it.

if that makes sense..

Just did 16 miles and I am in agony. Worse than after 20 last weekend. Bit worried about Sunday now.

why are you training now, you'll only knacker yourself out!!>!

STOP!

get a sport massage, sit in a freezing bath, then a hot bath, get ice packs on your legs, keep them up and generally look after yourself!

if you managed 20, you'll get round fine, its about 90% in your head after 18 miles anyway.

^This.
I'd suggest a few light runs , super small distance (mainly to keep you feeling good).
But listen to Ed for sure.

You'll be fine, no doubt.

I've managed a whole two training runs so far, and only one of them over 12 miles. Wanted to check the 20 wasn't a fluke (which it possibly was) and I've sort of run out of time to stick to conventional training schedules. This is not entirely surprising, given my track record of failure when it comes to sticking to training schedules and other things which require organisation and commitment.

But I did manage the hot bath of the above advice anyway, and feel much better.

good, any training you try to do now will only detract from your ability to run at the weekend.

the only reason anyone trains in the last week is to try to overcome nerves and stop them going stir crazy having spent the last 6 months running all the time going to virtually nothing) not a problem for you ;)

stick with the hot baths, relaxing and planning your mental strategy for the run, its one of the most important things i failed to do last time, and you need to decide on your pace for the first half that will get you there in as fresh a state as possible, then about making sure you're taking on enough fuel in the next 4 or 5 miles and then how you're going to drive yourself on in the last 7 or 8 when your body is going to be screaming at you from various parts to stop running and find a nice cold pint.

I was going to go with ridiculously slow pace and a fuckload of ibuprofen....

How rigorously is the no ipods rule enforced? I'm aware I may be frowned upon by the running community but I never run without music and I'm not sure I know how.