October fest

[El Gordo]

Excellent. We'll be in Connemara that weekend, so unfortunately won't be there to welcome you home. Shame in a way, as we could have had quite a good shindig, but the RC empire has important business across the globe that day. No doubt the interweb willl be crackling. Perhaps we should set up a conference call that afternoon for a debrief?

Really pleased that you've got a focus for your running. It helps so much. You've not had a great year, so we'll all be rooting for you. What training plan are you going to follow?

[stillwaddler]

It's a shame I can't be in Connemara too - maybe another year. Many thanks for the good wishes El G.
I'm just delighted to have secured a place for a Spring marathon, I need the focus to get out there and stretch myself a bit. I'm going to stick my neck out and plan for a sub 5 hour - many will see that as a very poor standard, but I'd be quite happy to knock off 5 minutes for a PB.
A conference call would be good :-) We can always have a joint celebration albeit a few miles apart, but I damn sure your Guinness will be better than any that I will sink in Sussex :-)
As for the training plan, you have pre-empted me as I was going to ask for advice on the Forum. I used Hal's mark 1 Novice last time, I have wondered about using the mark 2 Novice or maybe the mark 1 Intermediate? What would you recommend?

[Sweder]

I'm going to stick my neck out and plan for a sub 5 hour - many will see that as a very poor standard

Tosh. Sub-5 would put you into a ludicrously exclusive percentage of the populace and is a worthy target.
I'll be rooting for you all the way (from a small village pub in the Connemara foothills hopefully).

[El Gordo]

I'm going to stick my neck out and plan for a sub 5 hour - many will see that as a very poor standard,

And many won't

As for the training plan, you have pre-empted me as I was going to ask for advice on the Forum. I used Hal's mark 1 Novice last time, I have wondered about using the mark 2 Novice or maybe the mark 1 Intermediate? What would you recommend?

In some ways it was an unfair question on my part, as I'm finding that I no longer feel the need to stick religiously to one plan or another. I've tended to create a hybrid. Since last year, I've become a fan of the 3-runs-a-week approach advocated by the Furman Institute (Google "Furman FIRST").

The principles are:
-- quality, not quantity
-- each run should have an objective
-- inclusion of cross-training as well as just running

Without necessarily following every line of their plan, I think the principles are good.

I also like Hal Higdon's Novice II and Intermediate I plans.

So I personally might aim for the long run schedule of one of those plans, but adapting the midweek runs to include a max of 2 runs, with cross-training on the other days. With a rest day in there sometime.

What I like about the Intermediate I is that it includes more than one 20 miler which I think is a good idea. But I would play that by ear. Sometimes the reality veers away from the best-laid plans as I found last winter with the calf injuries and resulting lay-offs.

The less-is-more principle is particularly good for those of us who are relatively... mature...

There's quite a bit on the web about the 3-runs-a-week idea.

[Seafront Plodder]

Hi SW

Well done on getting into Brighton. I'll hope to be swaying with EG and Sweder, nursing a Guinness listening to fine Diddley-Dee combo in Connemara, but for what it's worth...

My best marathon time (such as it is ) came on the back of just two runs a week. I'm a big advocate of the long weekenders, and found that a shorter run (say) Wednesday gave just the right of balance between keeping the legs ticking over, and recovery. In all three campaigns I'd wished I'd put in more long runs - time on the feet etc.

We all have our favourites, and I'm sure you'll find a schedule to suit. Best of luck and look forward to reading about your exploits.

[stillwaddler]

hhhmm, I'd like to just do 3 runs really too, I find a day inbetween runs helps enormously. Whilst following Hals beginners in 2006, I found it really hard going by the time the midweek runs had built up to 8 or 9 miles, I usually felt more knackered after those than the long weekend run plus it was really difficulet just to find the time to do them. Mr Sw did it with just the long weekend run and one v. short run mid week, but he did and still does go to the gym 4 times a week for aerobic classes.
I believe Hal's idea of the longer mid week runs are to train you to run on tired legs? I think I'll go with your ideas SP and El G I'll basically cover Hal's beginner mark 2 for the long runs including the 2 X 20 milers, but duck out of one of the mid week runs when I feel the need. I'll try to blog my training here to keep me up to the mark too.

[El Gordo]

Yes, do please keep us updated. I reckon you'll be absolutely fine with what you're suggesting, especially if the 'missing' midweek run is replaced by something -- a bike ride, a walk, a trip to the gym, or even a good stretching session at home. Let's face it, when people do 4 or 5 runs a week, how many of those are just meaningless plods that achieve nothing?

It's worth looking at the Furman FIRST site to get an idea of what they're about.

[marathondan]

SW, fantastic news that you're in! See you there!

Did you spend much time looking for hotels in Brighton, or did you give up quickly? I suspected I'd already left it too late, and I think you've confirmed that for me. Trouble is, I don't have any idea yet what it's going to be like getting to the start line from an out-of-town location. Hopefully there might be park and ride or something.

I ran London on 3 sessions a week last year and it was great. To never have to run on consecutive days was very helpful. One long easy, one medium fastish, one short fartlek, distances as per Hal "beginner". My controversial tactic was to do my long "easy" runs at race pace. (Or rather, run my race at "easy" pace...) I Not sure I'd recommend that to anyone, but it worked for me.

Looking forward to the diary!

[stillwaddler]

Hi MD I spent quite a while checking out Brighton hotels - we stayed in a very strange small hotel in July near to the pier, but not a place I would recommend, so wanted a slightly bigger more anonymous place to stay this time round but didn't want to pay London prices. I'm thinking that Worthing will be fairly easy to travel from, there is a train, but the B'ton Marathon people are supposed to be sending travel directions closer to the time. Can't be any more difficult than getting to the London marathon start anyway, I had to get up at Sparrow's Fart for that :-)