My marathon training has been a bit bleughhhhh... I aim for weekly mileage which is about 25 but I know it should be more! I also aim for about 2,500 metres of climbing a month. I did 15 miles on my trail on Sunday with 1,500 feet of elevation. It was very hard towards the end and I am so worried about doing the 4,800 feet of climbing in the marathon. The hardest bit was concentrating on the path which was covered in leaves so I couldn't see the big rocks or roots and a few times I nearly fell so I took it v steady!!
Does anyone have any tips on how best to tackle thses big boys?? I'm trying to mentally prepare but It's a struggle!!
Thanks guys,
Juju
Xx
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ju-ju-
Marathon
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I found that the art of stopping is a useful thing to learn. I would run uphill as much as possible, but when I needed to walk I would work on keeping a fast walking pace. As you said, concentration is very important on uneven terrain - when your mind starts to drift it's a good time to take a quick break and regroup. Recover quickly and hit the hill again. I even practiced sitting down, and taking my shoes off. A useful thing to do is to take a little time to smell the coffee - it is safest to stop completely when you want to admire the view, and a quick break to look back and see how far you have travelled up or down can give a massive boost to the self confidence. And you get a chance to catch your breath and have some food/water of course.
I did find as time passed that I could run uphill for longer, and I will continue to work on it
The obvious place to make up time is on the downhill bits, and it's very important to train downhill as much as up, as I'm sure you know. The problem I found on my marathon was that sometimes the surfaces were too tricky to run down with any decent speed. In hindsight I think I could have done with knowing the Beachy Head course a bit better so I could have planned where to push myself. I'd suggest you find out whatever you can about your race - if not by actually going to check out the route in person (who has the time?), maybe look for blogs and videos of it.
Great advice, Thankyou..... and so sensible I'm going to definately apply that on race day and I'm going to research the course today. Luckily they did a review of it in Runners World too which was really helpful... 😎
Just a warning, (but don't want to cause panic). I went over on a badly surfaced tarmac path and broke my foot. Apparently it is quite common for a bad twist to cause the ligament to break the metatarsal that it is attached to. Did it at the end of September, but can't start (gentle) running again in January. Take care out there and watch where you put your feet!
OMG you poor thing that's really rubbish. I really hope you are healing well and managing to find other exercises to keep you going? I'm so sorry this must be a dreadful time for you....
I have no tips I'm afraid, but I was wondering just this morning how you were getting on with your training. I am sure your determination and training will pay off. Keep going!
Don't worry Ju! what will be will be 😊 You are doing it! Maybe you need a fun run. Music, good eats, no particular place to go and maybe with some company.. It can get a bit dull can't it, samey but hard! We all need a bit of light relief to reset ourselves and remind ourselves why we're doing what we do.
You have all the tools in your cabinet Ju. You better believe it baby! 😃
Sounds like you have got some good consistent training in. One last long run and my advice would be to begin reducing the mileage and elevation. The body needs time to recover from the training so it can arrive at the start line fresh & ready for the challenge.
With regards to the hills, don't be afraid to walk. The race begins at the steps out of Lulworth Cove, you wont see may marathoners running up them. It becomes a game of conserving energy, a fast walk only marginally slower than attempting to run. Just because you can run, doesn't mean this is the best approach.
That's great advice, Thankyou... I'm going to do 8 miles on the hilly trail today and tomorrow and continue with my core stuff. Also going to try no booze between now and the race as it does not help my performance big time!!!
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