Any runners on here; advice needed.

Nice one. Would be good to hear regular updates leading up to the big day itself.

 

Good luck to you. Makes my first ever 10k race last month look a little insignificant! A friend of mine (same age as me, 49) did the Nice Ironman at the weekend. 12 hours!! Utter lunacy

 

An Ironman challenge is monstrous - I have massive respect for anyone who takes it on.

 

10k's an excellent distance, not insignificant at all. How did you get on?

******** to 12 hours though!

 

A friends sister did a 100 mile challenge. She is a certified lunatic though.

 

Just over an hour which for an unfit 49 year old with a completely knackered left knee and who had never enjoyed distance running I didn't think was too bad. The winner did it around 32 mins which is just ridiculous.
Good luck with the training

 

I did my first park run for a year and a half last Saturday and was overtaken on the first lap by 3 people. I had the same thoughts as you.

 

Have had a good year so far across most distances including a big marathon PB. Was lucky to meet up with an experienced runner who sent me a training plan & one of the main factors was strength training & stretching. Roughly 10 minutes a day but its worked wonders.

 

My best ever year for half marathons was 6 in 2015, and I have set myself the challenge of matching that this year. I have so far run Watford, Inverness and St Albans. Training was interrupted for a few weeks after Inverness with a slipped disc that was farking painful, but I managed to get St Albans done without any ill effects.

What I am learning is it definitely gets harder as you get older...

 

So I’ve done 40+ miles in each of the past two weeks, having started a specific training programme, and did a 16 mile run this morning. Starting to really feel it in my legs now. Though I think that’s the all part of the programme which sees me do more slow but long runs in an effort to build up some staying power. The upside is I’m doing far more hills round here than I’ll face in London in October.

Popped to the running shop yesterday and after some gait analysis picked up some new running shoes. Needed them really as Strava reckons my current pair had clocked up north of 1200 miles and I’ve started to feel how worn they are in my hips and left knee a bit in the hours immediately after a long run. It was actually good to spend a bit of time with someone who knew what they were on about, try on a few different pairs and discuss the merits of them. Turns out I’ve been wearing the wrong size shoes for 20 years - just goes to show it’s worth consulting the pros every now and again!

More worrying is the shoulder ache I’m getting regularly once I go beyond about 13 miles on a run. Really distracting and no amount of stretching on the go seems to help…

 

Do you carry a bottle when you run? I find if I carry anything at all it gives me shoulder pain when running. Before any long run (10 miles plus) I now slap a load of ibuprofen gel across my shoulders and the back of my neck.

You might also find having new and well fitted trainers will help with any aches and pains.

 

Not carrying it by hand but I have a half litre one in a holder on my right hip. Given how pain in one place can be caused by something elsewhere I wouldn't be completely shocked if the pain in my left shoulder was linked to be fair. I've half been thinking of finding a belt with a holder on each side so at least the weight can be distributed more evenly. Will give the ibuprofen gel a go next long run I think.

 

Maybe a hydration vest with pouches could be of use. spreading the load then over both shoulders and legs. Salomon have some good ones https://www.sportsshoes.com/products/salomon/z/z/bags/

Also you could be tensing your shoulders when running, try and be conscious of this and relax them. Easier said than done though. I found a technique that helped for me was to lightly pinch my index finger and thumb so I couldn't tense my arm and shoulder.

 

Cracked 20 miles this morning. Absolute killer heat though meant it wasn’t fun. On the upside, we’ve borrowed a 10ft rigid swimming pool from friends who are between houses and how great it was to get straight into that when I got back home.

Averaging 45 miles + a week now with 7 weeks to go until the marathon.

 

That is an amazing distance to cover especially with the weekend heat.

 

Did the local Parkrun this morning. First time since April and to be honest as the focus of the marathon training plan is all about learning about pacing, keeping heart rate steady, doing long runs or intervals over 8 miles or whatever, there’s no room for a flat out Parkrun every week. And Saturdays are normally rest days for me too. Anyway, I thought it’d be nice to see what all this increased fitness is doing for me over a course I had some old benchmarks for and the weather was nice, so I went along.

Finished 16th in 21:22! Took 90 seconds off a 7 year old PB for Parkrun and nearly 2 minutes off my own best at that course.

 

Interesting technique, I’ll try this once I get back into my running now I’m back from holiday, as I’ve historically always tensed my shoulders.

I used to try to maintain the position when running as if there is a piece of string pulling up my head, which naturally drops the shoulders. But once you’re doing 4min KMs I find it’s impossible to not let my mind drift and the technique slips.

 

Looking like the train drivers will be on strike on marathon weekend. Guess they're going for maximum impact. Ah well, I'll have to switch to driving down on the Saturday instead if need be.

 

Once this marathon nonsense is out of the way I expect you to go for a sub 20 park run within the next few months.

 

I’m going to eat and drink so much after 2nd October I’ll probably not be sub-20 stone come the next time I do Parkrun

The plan I’ve come up with to keep momentum going through winter is the aim of doing a sub 1:30 half marathon some time next year. I reckon I can do it but it’s not instantly achievable, which hopefully gives me something to focus on for a few months. I think I’m done with marathons though… the training commitment is bonkers and so it’s London and done for me over that distance I think. I’m definitely on track for sub-4 hours barring injury though, so the training so far is working.

 

Good luck tomorrow @UEA_Hornet , looks like it'll be a bit wet but please let us know how it went?

 

Thanks mate. Yeah, the weather's flipped completely in the space of 48hrs but a bit of rain isn't the worst thing to have on a long run. Looking forward to it now. I've been in and around town the last two days so seen a lot of the course. Plus taking it as a good luck sign that I got randomly allocated the far less used yellow pen to get ready in tomorrow and off from the red start. Meaning my bib is yellow with a red number!

 

So the rain never came, the sun came out and I got round in 3:44. Legs feel like they want to fall off now. Time for a beer.

Oh and I'm not up to running a marathon every time we play, even if it means a 4-0 win!

 

Congratulations that’s is one hell of a time not sure of your age or running ability but anything under 4 hours is superb, just got back from cheering on friends/family running today, made me want to get my application in again, not done London for over 20 years, the event and organising is superb, done the big 4 marathons and London is by far the best, never came close to breaking 4 hours, enjoy your beer and a nice rest tomoz

 

Thats an incredible time - well done.

 

Just heard a 36 year old male died between mile 23 & 24 yesterday which is so sad as they were likely raising funds for someone close to them who will have passed away.

 

Yeah, absolutely tragic. Same age as me. Pretty sure I saw him being attended to by the ambo in the tunnel on Upper Thames Street and sadly he didn't look in a good way. I see (understandably) his family has asked for privacy for now but hopefully they'll release some details about him in due course, as I'm sure plenty of people would donate in his memory.

 

I knocked all training on the head back in May and have struggled since to get my mojo back. Not just running but weights too.

I've put on a bit of padding and I'm seriously unfit. I was going out for 15k runs before I stopped and now I can't do 2.5k without a breather. It's alarming how quickly the fitness has dropped.

I played football yesterday and couldn't go for more than 10 minutes before my lungs packed up, but then also I'm starting to feel little niggling injuries pop up everywhere.

I think I'm gonna have to bite the bullet and do a couch to 10k or something. Absolute baby steps. Leave the weights alone and just focus on running for a bit.

 

Yes, but can you play right back?

 

Actually, yes.

 

Brilliant effort UEA. Great time as well

 

Like you I stopped running pretty much after I did the 10k in May. I only meant to stop for 2 or 3 weeks but that turned in to months. Been out this week and was a mess after about 10 mins. Doing Couch to 5k now as that really helped last year. I've packed up football as the injuries got too much. Still play cricket and golf but that's bit easier on the old body

 

Milton Keynes winter half on Sunday morning for me. Looks like the weather's playing its part but could be worse...

 

You better hope that the 10% chance of rain doesn't happen because in that temperature it would be even more brutal.

 

I e not been running for about 8 weeks. Stopped while work was being done on the house and struggling to get back into it lately.

Got myself some new running trainers to inspire me.

Anyone elses belly itch for the first couple of runs after a break?! Turns out it's some kind of reaction of your blood flowing to your muscles or something!