The Loneliness of a Long-Distance Runner-Runner

[kinboshi]

You"ll only be able to look me up if I give you permission.  Although I can probably give permission en mass (well I think I can) just for the Sunday.  I don"t want people knowing where I am the rest of the time - that"s just not right!

I think you can manually set your location anyway.  So after Sunday I could just set it to DTD...

[duke3016]

Great switch it on and pinpoint bombing FTW

[SirPercival]

I"ve had an idea.  I"ve just got a G1 phone - otherwise known as the "Google Phone".

Google has released a service called "latitude" that means you can transmit and share your location with others.  I was thinking of using the phone to show where I am on the course for anyone who wants to follow it (that"ll be my mum and dad then).  Might be interesting.

MIGHT be.  

[kinboshi]

[kinboshi]

Here"s a training tip from the London Marathon newsletter that they spam with with from time to time:

Training tip of the week
Prepare for the second half of the marathon

If you are well prepared, the first two hours of the marathon will be "easy". After that, things start to get a little more complicated. Not only will you become increasingly physically tired, but your mind will also be telling you that it"s time to stop, have a rest, and take in the view. To counteract this, try to make your body move more efficiently in the first half of all your training sessions from now on. If you feel in control of your body, your mind will adapt to this and you"ll gain a psychological advantage for the second half of the marathon.


That is so bloody true.  13 miles is a breeze now, but after about 15 or 16 miles then it"s a whole different thing.

Although my times are putting me on course for a potential 3:30 marathon time, I think that 3:45 is a much more realistic time after the fatigue has kicked in and I"m hitting that 22-mile marker and thinking "what the hell am I doing this for?".

[cincicrappykid]

Well wot the hell are u doing this for  lol  

[kinboshi]

Well wot the hell are u doing this for  lol  

No idea!!!

Well, there is the sponsorship for the NSPCC (link in my signature if anyone who wants to donate who hasn"t already), so that"s a good cause.

It"s also a challenge and it"s got me off my arse.  This time last year I"d gone about 5 months doing nothing in terms of exercise.  I feel a lot better now than I did last year, although I"m eating like a horse at the moment due to the running.

[kinboshi]

Planned to do 19 miles today, and decided that was a silly idea and did 21 instead.  My legs hurt now, especially after a hard game of hockey yesterday as well.

Just had a nice meal in a country pub. Rare fillet steak FTW.  I earned it!  Legs still hurt though.

[lukybugur]

N1 Dan. How are d"em new Asics holding up?

[kinboshi]

The trainers are brilliant.  Very comfortable and conducive to fast running.  Have got a stone caught in the daft tread design of the sole a few times, but otherwise perfect.

[kinboshi]

My final long-run of my training was planned for Sunday morning.  It didn"t happen.  It would have meant running 23 miles on the back of 4 hours sleep, and a night on the town on the Friday night.

So I got up at 4:30 this morning instead and ran 20 miles.  I actually wanted to do the 23 miles today, but just simply didn"t have the time (yes, I should have got up earlier). 

But that"s the last of my long-training runs.  No point doing the full 26 (although lots of people do, just so they know they are ready for it).  On the day you"re (or should be) well-rested, you"ll have been carbo-loading and focusing everything for the day.  The extra adrenaline on the day certainly makes a difference too.  That, and the crowds of people cheering you on.  So you don"t need to run the marathon distance in training.

After this run, it"s all downhill (as in easier, not getting worse) as I"ll be tapering up to the race in 19 days time.  No more 20-milers, possibly a few 15-mile runs, but mostly shorter runs just to keep things ticking over.  Then lots of rest, trying to avoid picking up any injuries or colds, and lots of eating!!  

[bigredders]

you should only really run up to 3/4 of your distance in training anyway, so you seem to be bang on target! You did well running that distance after this weekend! The adreneline will get you through the last quarter!

[kinboshi]

I"ve been browsing the web looking at some running articles.  There"s a saying a friend reminded me of the other day "20 miles is half-way in a marathon".  This is so true.  Whilst the half-way point is obviously 13.1 miles, it"s at 20 miles where the real work begins and half of the total effort (both mental and physical) is needed.  If I"ve eaten correctly, and refuelled during the run, I should be able to avoid the dreaded "Wall".  I need to make sure I don"t go off too quickly, as there"s another saying that "it"s the pace not the race that gets you".  Again, so very true.

Anyway, here are two links to articles that I enjoyed (YMMV).

http://www.nyrr.org/resources/training/marathon_strategy.asp
http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/news/article.asp?uan=2793

[duke3016]

I"ll be in London working that weekend, but I will get a few hours off for the race. Anyone one else want to meet up and rail Forrest.....

[kinboshi]

6 days to go now.

Went out yesterday and ran 12 miles in the afternoon sun - too warm for my liking and I"m hoping for some overcast and cooler weather next Sunday.  A little bit of drizzle wouldn"t go amiss to be honest.  In fact, if the weather"s warm, I will be very happy with 3:40 as my time.  Sort of looking forward to next Sunday, and also looking forward to it being over and done with.  I think I"ll be sticking to half-marathons in the future, as the training is far less demanding and the preparation a lot easier.

So now it"s time to really cut back on the miles I run, and I"ll probably put in 2 or 3 more short runs this week, again at a lazy pace.  From Thursday it"ll be carbo-loading time - surely the easiest part of the training regime!