Back in business

[El Gordo]

Hi Everyone

Apologies for the recent problems with the website. The hosting company suffered a serious hacking attempt which meant they had to shut everything down, throw a few buckets of soapy water over all their servers, then rebuild them. It took a few days, but we now seem to be back and working. If anyone is still having problemes, or notices some problem that I may have missed, I'd appreciate a note.

On the running front, I've had a truly catastrophic few weeks. The calf problem enticed me into a deadly downward spiral of lethargy, beer and crisps. Every day for the past three weeks I've eaten my own bodyweight in chocolate, and am now heavier than when I started back training after Chicago.

Thanks to everyone who mailed me. I have to get back on the road shortly. Please keep calling in.

[Griff]

Andy.

I've booked in for the Bristol Half. I hope you have too. So it's time to get back in training. NO MORE PORK PIES TIL SEPT 7th (TEATIME!!).

[El Gordo]

Griff, good to hear from you.

I've just posted an entry committing myself to the Bristol Half as a staging post on the way to the Dublin marathon in October.

No, I've not yet entered but I will do - tomorrow.

Looks like we're in this together mate, so we'd better keep each other updated. Are you going to follow a training plan? Or just playing it by ear?

Give my regards to Engine Common Lane.

Andy

[Griff]

Excellent! In fact I have been for a five miler up Engine Common Lane tonight. It was glorious: sunshine (25C), horses, ladies on bicycles, fellow joggers (ladies, who are also doing the Bristol), other fat middle-aged people taking an evening stroll...... I ran 42m21s tonight and sweated buckets when I got home. Did a PB of 39m58s on the same route last week (a lot cooler!)

My training regime for the half marathon is likely to be two five milers a week except I will put in an eight and a ten on the weekends before the race. Also, I plan to shed a few pounds through diet. I am looking to shave a couple of minutes of my Bath time and get sub 2hour. We'll see..

PS
You can book online at http://www.activeeurope.com .The Bristol council website is not set up for online booking yet.

PPS

The direct url is http://www.activeeurope.com/Events/Event...fm?E=22967

[El Gordo]

Griff, I've just booked Bristol, so see you there.

The description of your run brought back memories.

For the sake of anyone who doesn't know what we're on about, it turns out that Griff runs on exactly the same network of tiny rural lanes that I trained for the FLM last year on, when I was living in a small place north of Bristol for a few months.

Re Bristol, I don't expect to be sub-2 by then, but I can dream. I also need to lose weight. As I've described elsewhere, I've had a disastrous few weeks, and am now about 20 pounds above what I need to be before I start my marathon training in late June.

I'm starting back training properly on Monday, but plan to make good use of these last few days of slothful gluttony. Yum yum.

[Seafront Plodder]

Andy just looking at your proposed itinerary for the year. Surely you don't intend to run 2 marathons at the end of the year within 3 weeks of each other?

I've read no more than 3 per year. If you only do decide to only do the 1, well ok I'll reluctantly agree to do Havana for you...

Andy.

[El Gordo]

Havana is a half marathon, SP.

The question of how soon you should race after a marathon is an interesting one though. The two marathons I've plodded have left me in no fit state to think about running for weeks afterwards, never mind racing. I did seek some advice from Hal Higdon who said it would be OK to run a half three weeks after a marathon as long as I treated one of them as just a training run. So that's the plan at this stage. The formula you often see is that you shouldn't race for the number of days equivalent to the number of miles you've run ie if you run a marathon you shouldn't race for at least 26 days; half marathon 13 days etc. I've also seen the same linked to kilometres, which would mean not racing for 42 and 21 days respectively. Seems a bit too convenient to be of great use though. A lot depends on how you come through the race.

I was interested to read that Ian Painter and Charlotte Dutch are running the Stratford Marathon just 3 or 4 weeks after their Paris and London marathons. They are better runners than me and they know what they are doing, but I couldn't contemplate doing that. Apart from the physical exhaustion, I've found marathons quite emotionally draining, and would find it hard to crank up the necessary 'attitude'. Also, if the recent calf problem taught me anything, it's that running races in quick succession significantly increases the risk of injury.

Must admit I always feel nervous talking about events this far in advance. You have to have targets to motivate you but it's easy to get carried away, and become a bit over-ambitious. But Dublin is a definite date, and we do plan to have a holiday in Cuba in November, so the Havana half seems too good a chance to ignore - as long as I get round Dublin unscathed.

As for how many marathons a year, I guess that depends on how good/experienced a runner you are. Top marathon runners seem to run the equivalent of a marathon every day in training.

Personally I couldn't do more than 2 a year just because the 4 or 5 months training is too intrusive. 3 a year and I'd be in permanent training. In fact, anything more than one a year seems a bit unreasonable on those around me.

But as always, it's horses for courses.

Do you have any marathons lined up, SP, or are you still in 'never again' mode?

Andy

[Seafront Plodder]

I never was in 'never again' mode! FLM was just an amazing experience that I can't wait for the next one.

I have only been out for one 2 miler since last weekend, still carrying a bit of a groin strain though.

Re training, I really don't follow all this talk of 'training run' or 'marathon pace'. I only ever run one pace, and my next marathon goal is to break 5 hours which is what my training times say I should have done at London, whereas I reckon the heat got to me and I limped home in 5:19.

I'm toying with Berlin on 28 Sept, or NY in November, probably former. Over the summer i hope to do the odd 1/2 or 10k. Having spent so long training for FLM, I feel a little empty not having a goal.

Andy.

[El Gordo]

Ha ha! I agree about the "training run" and "marathon pace" thing. The only exception was last time I ran a 10K when I did actually try to run faster than I'd normally run 6 miles. But for longer distances, I tend to slip into my "must get round somehow" pace, despite my good intentions.

Berlin sounds like a great marathon, and is definitely on my list for another year. Rotterdam and Stockholm are also well regarded. Further afield, and assuming I manage to carry on running, yes, NY is one of those 'must dos', and Honolulu sounds like a lot of fun, though Hawaii is probably horribly expensive to get to I should think.

Let us know what you decide.

[Ian]

Nobody bats an eyelid at the suggestion of three twenty mile training runs on consecutive weekends, and, in fact this tends to be on most marathon schedules. So, I think two marathons in three or for weeks is perfectly feasible provided sufficient training has been done before the first one and only maintenance running is done in the interim period.
Watch me eat my words next week when I fail miserably in Stratford!

[El Gordo]

Hi there Ian.

I guess it all depends on running experience and ability. The Athlete Formerly Known As Radcliffe famously runs about 25 miles EVERY DAY when marathon training.

In the marathons I've done I've seen a lot of people with T-shirts proudly stating the number of marathons run - sometimes many hundreds of them. So yes, it is definitely possible to run frequent marathons.

For someone like me, it isn't possible at the moment. A 20 mile run is a major event for me, and a marathon is an epoch-making occurrence. I'm in the walk-backwards-downstairs-for-days-afterwards brigade. I couldn't do two marathons in a month.

I'm not even certain I should do two half marathons in successive weekends again. Last time, even though I felt good for the second one, I ended up with a strained calf that has prevented me from running for several weeks. And that's the problem, that often people will feel able to do the distance but may be just adding pressure on muscles that haven't fully recovered, making injury more likely. I think that's the reasoning behind the advice against frequent races.

As mentioned in a previous message, I don't really have a training run pace and a racing pace. It's all pretty much a get-you-round hobble. So I don't even have the option of the "race one/jog one" advice that you hear.

Experienced runners like yourself who run two marathons close together do so because they feel they can do it. Or know they can do it. It's the old listen-to-your-body thing.

As you know Ian, I never presume to offer you advice on running, so all I'll say is good luck, and have a great run. I've no doubt that you'll get round Stratford, and will push yourself as much or as little as feels right on the day.

Just make sure that you're up to the Running Commentary Great North Run Challenge. I wouldn't like you to have an excuse to duck out... :-)

[Ian]

I am always open to advice, Andy. Admittedly, some goes in and stays in, whilst the rest is negligently ignored or forgotten.
The run on Sunday will be a real testing ground for me. I am not at my fittest, but think I will get round another marathon without too many problems. If I don't, I will definitely know never to try again.

My goal for the rest of this year must be the RunningCommentary Great North Challenge and is the event I am gearing all my training around. If it means I have to miss out on the World Champs in Paris, so be it.

Have you chosen your costume yet?

[El Gordo]

Haven't decided yet on the costume. I'll either be going as a 12 foot, purple carrot, or dressed up as an athlete. I suspect the former will look more realistic....

[Nigel]

Hi there again. Just back from vacation - firstly some late ski-ing whilst doing my bit towards restoring Anglo-French relations, and then a week in the last unspoilt corner of Andalucia. Read that as some gentle but decidedly hill runs, followed by easy warm weather training alongside the Mediterranean. Naturally not that much wine and chorizo, but naturally not too little either.

Meanwhile it's been good to catch up with those marvellous Paris and London runs by Ian and Charlotte, and excellent to read about SP and Ash's debuts. Maybe there's no marathon like the first, but excellent PB's like those go a long way towards that exhilaration. Courage and respect all round.

Now I'm just off for the last brief outing of this rather chaotic and exceedingly relaxed taper of mine - Stratford on Sunday and this deserves a new thread of it's own, so here goes....