Running

I don't live in London just work there so not a problem, running down the Thames to Marlow, Hurley and Henley.

3 laps of Richmond park perimeter path is 35km though :)

Oh cool, yeah I did all my Ironman runs in Richmond Park, perfect training ground with every type of surface and terrain :)

Done, was a bit slower than planned, not helped by a million kissing gates on the thames path, and a stop in marlow to buy coca-cola, jelly beans and more water.

Felt pretty easy all the way, and at times was holding myself back, but as with any run there were low points too.

With 4 weeks to the marathon I want to do a few fast long runs now, about 2 hours at about race pace as I'm confident I have the form and endurance to run for the time necessary.

do you use strava? what's your target time for the marathon?

Don't strava I'm afraid, target time is sub 3.30, with the runs in the next 2 weeks deciding how close I can get to a London marathon good for age time ( 3.05).

I've run 3.30 last year in Paris and 3.35 in London this year but I'm about 6kg lighter than I was back then, so hopefully combined with the speed work that I've been doing in tri training I should have enough zip to get down to sub 3.20 at least..

London marathon good for age time ( 3.05).

what do you mean by this? is it some sort of qualifying time? Good luck with that anyway, sounds like you're on top of your training

Had a morning off so tried to go to a new Parkrun in Wimbledon. Girlfriend planned a bus route last night, then this morning as we were waiting at the bus stop I looked at it and realised it took us a couple of miles from home, then came back and made us get on another bus right outside the flat. Thanks, TfL... So we get on the second one. Then, in Wimbledon Park, in the rain, there are no runners. At all. None. Turns out that the run is in Wimbledon Common, so we've missed it. Oops. I should've checked the route first, so partly my fault. Then we go to get a bus home and her Oyster card is empty, so we have to walk to the train station. Then, when we arrive back at home, she's lost her Oyster card. Thankfully the nice woman on the barrier buzzed her through. Once we walk some of the way home, she finds her card, so we have to walk back to buzz out and avoid a fine.

Should've just gone for a run from home. Which is what I did. Bah.

what do you mean by this? is it some sort of qualifying time? Good luck with that anyway, sounds like you're on top of your training

There's a system of virtually guaranteed entry called good for age which is slightly more realistic than the championship entry times, I think the idea is to pad the field out between the sub 3 hours and when the normal runners start finishing at about 3.30-4 hrs.

oh cool, that sounds like a good idea on the organises part. Triathlon still seems to be one of the easiest sports to qualify for the worlds, I can't imagine I'll ever run a sub 3hr marathon.

I haven't looked at it that much but aren't most tri qualifications based on place rather than time, with times provided as a guide?

There are some really good athletes in my club who've missed out on worlds qualification this year..

If that's the case you might find its not as easy as you think because rather than just going out and doing your thing you also have to beat others who are difficult to identify and if its a fast day then it probably only makes your life easier!

Yeah it's something like top 2% qualify. To be honest I will always just go out and race my hardest, the gaps between age groupers are usually a minute or more

Good running. Were you with a club? Hermitage Harriers took over a big chunk the campsite we were at.

I've done the 14miler 3 times, first time over the old 14.75 course (2h17 with bad cramps) then a 1h41 and a 1h52 so beaten train just the once on the long'un.

Prefer the 10km as it gives rest of day to drink plus it's the tougher half of the course, and training isn't essential (even tho it helps).

£28 as late entry. Would begrudge that for a road 10k but this is worth every penny every time.

No, I am an unattached at the moment. Probably going to look for a club to join this autumn though.

I definitely wouldn't fancy that final 10k with no training.

What other races do you do?

Just run my first half marathon distance in 2hrs 6min 29secs. Fairly chuffed with myself as I've only really been doing around 15k a week over the last couple of weeks.
At least I should be able to finish Run to the Beat in a couple of weeks time, under 2hrs would be nice though.

No, I am an unattached at the moment. Probably going to look for a club to join this autumn though.

I definitely wouldn't fancy that final 10k with no training.

What other races do you do?

That's pretty much my race season these days. I'd like to do the winter xc league but I say that every year it seems and then stuff gets in the way!

Hope joining a club works out for you, can help bring your running on loads.

so stoked about the upcoming season
first 2 dayer on dartmoor 14/ 15 th sept,
gonna get +40 events in this winter.
some 1sts if it goes well

Just run my first half marathon distance in 2hrs 6min 29secs. Fairly chuffed with myself as I've only really been doing around 15k a week over the last couple of weeks.
At least I should be able to finish Run to the Beat in a couple of weeks time, under 2hrs would be nice though.

The crowds, music and nervousness will be worth seven minutes.

:)

I have the Great North Run in a week and a bit and I'm a bit annoyed at myself for being out of shape for it. Going to plod it and try to have a laugh.

I think I need to focus more on running now, and forget about swimming and cycling for a few weeks, but then I've managed to stay injury free since london this year so I'm nervous to increase my run training too much...

Going to try running twice this weekend nevertheless with 90 minutes faster than marathon pace on saturday and 90 minutes of recovery pace on Sunday...

I have the Great North Run in a week and a bit and I'm a bit annoyed at myself for being out of shape for it. Going to plod it and try to have a laugh.

I wouldn't worry about it. There are so many people on the GNR that pretty much all you can do is plod.

I wouldn't worry about it. There are so many people on the GNR that pretty much all you can do is plod.

This is what I'm hoping.

I keep having a recurring dream that I'm at the start line of the London Marathon. In the dream I've written lots of useful info on my arms - pace stuff and also the names of people with where they're going to be watching so that I can look out for them. I keep adjusting my laces. I need a wee. I'm really nervous. I've not trained enough. I wish I'd worn different sunglasses.

Sometimes if I don't wake up in time I start the marathon and the first person written on my arm isn't where they said they'll be. I'd run away if I wasn't already running. I haven't managed to stay asleep past mile 5 yet.

I think I need to start running properly, just in case I do get a place in the ballot.

There are loos at the first mile, so hopefully that is one thing you can cross off the list :)

^^ quality

Before London '03 I was having vivid dreams about being late for the start, running against the flow, and the route including a section of underground, via an elevator only station - huge queue there!

Just stop drinking 2 hours before the race and don't start untill you actually start running then you shouldn't need tho loo at all (well prviding you pop an imodium or two as well!)

Managed two runs over the weekend, 20km or so on saturday was unpleasant due to fatigue and falling over, and sunday, which was only 10k was glorious and fast!

I think I'm going to shoot for 3.20 so will aim to do a fair bit of time at that pace over the next few weeks.

Going to cut cycle and swim training too so that I can do more, high quality running as Saturday was pretty much useless!

Hydration here is stop 1hr before, then a few sips in last 15mins before start. Everyone will have different preference so anyone worried about peeing should experiment during training.

experiment during training.

You do realise that this will end up with me doing a Paula Radcliffe in Dulwich Park on a busy saturday afternoon, right?

This week has been all about good intentions and poor attainment. Inspired (AKA scared shitless) by my dream, I have formed a running club at work. So far we have managed zero runs: yesterday I forgot my trainers then today I had to cancel the run as I had a meeting, only to realise later that I had the time of the meeting wrong and actually I could have made it after all. FAIL.

Tomorrow… tomorrow… I’m spending a couple of days in a faceless hotel for work so I might be bored enough to go running.