DFW running club mark 2!! ALL ARE WELCOME!!!

chickadee

RichOneday wrote: »

Another interesting point which is little known about marathon preparation is the importance of being relaxed and calm.

Since the brain is a glycogen hungry organ, estimates suggest that up to as much as 10% of all glycogen available can be used up, and therefore wasted, in the hour before the start of the race, in pure nervous tension.

This means that being nice and relaxed can delay the onset of the wall by as much as 2 miles compared to being a nervous wreck. So if this is an area of concern, practising effective relaxation techniques can be the equivalent of a chunk of additional training.

Its worth getting all the advantages you can.:D:D

At the start of the GNR a few years ago, I looked down over the bridge into the 'elite' preparation area and the international athletes were lying down on the grass. Some of them looked like they were sleeping!

They were obviously (a) staying off their feet and (b) saving that 10% of their available glycogen!

Lots of pre-race jitters on here already! Don't worry guys, you have done the hard work now. I'm sure you'll be fine. I heard a tale (don't know if it is true) about a guy who decided to do the GNR. He did no training and turned up on the morning in his jeans(?!). He joined the back of the waiting runners, probably about a mile back from the starting line. He started moving forward, jogging slowly, but by the time he crossed the actual start line, gave up! There will be people who turn up to run FLM in exactly this way. That isn't anyone on here!

Did 10 miles last night with the ladies. Quite a good pace, 1:31 but I was shattered at the end. Checked weekend arrangements with OH and am ok to try the 10m warm-up + 10k race training technique on Sunday. Will let you know how it goes.

RichOneday_2

Interesting observation, Chick, about the elite preparation.

Becky can also confirm how calm it is at the front of a marathon at the start because at Blackpool both the half marathon and marathon starts were mixed together and we ended up near the front.

You simply wouldn't know there was a race about to start - as you say, it was more a case of the front runners being half asleep.:p:p

I've heard that GNR tale, which gets repeated by Brendan Foster in his commentaries. I can believe its a true observation.......

Oooo good luck with the 16-miler (with fast finish) on Sunday. It will probably feel weird, but its the cumulative effect of doing this on a regular basis which generates the real benefits.:D

chickadee

RichOneday wrote: »

Oooo good luck with the 16-miler (with fast finish) on Sunday. It will probably feel weird, but its the cumulative effect of doing this on a regular basis which generates the real benefits.:D

Hmmm.... not sure about doing it on a regular basis. Doing it once feels scary enough!

RichOneday_2

The idea is to run the last 10K at something around your intended marathon pace, so not flat out by any stretch....just quicker than you would be able to manage doing a straight 16 miler in training.

You'll be fine....you've run much further already.:D:D

chickadee

Yes, and at least it will be a bit of company for the last 6 miles .

Idiophreak

Just popping in to report a (rare) run - some distance (I'd guess 5-6 miles, no idea really) in around 53 minutes, including 2 minutes being harassed by some stupid uncontrolled woof woof.

Good fun and didn't find it at all difficult, actually, so maybe I'm finally starting to build that "base level" of fitness everyone keeps talking about

jjwhittle1981

HI all, Glad your all looking forward to the race. Im so jealous.

Just done a 5 miles in 52.00 so a good pace for my training runs.

Ukevas

Lets hear it for my O.H second run and she did 1.2m in about 17mins....

down side is that it adds 1.2m to my A Palace route which now comes out around the 8.5m range..

still reps tonight ( last ones before my first half )

then going to do London bridge and back on sunday which i guess will be about 11.5m ish..

then just 2 A palace runs left before the wind down.. might just run the OH distance to keep things ticking.

then my big day .... but only 1/2 as big as the rest of you

becky_rtw

Oooo good luck on your half Uk - you must be really excited!!!

Nice that your getting the OH into running as well

beer_tins

May be taking my wife out for a run this weekend. She says she wants to start so I obviously want to encourage that and also make sure she doesn't injure herself.

She found a "run 5k in 8 weeks" plan on the internet. Guess what it includes?:rolleyes:

At least it recommends loads of walking and no walking periods longer than 1 minute in the walk-run bits.

She laughed that the first week was just walking until I explained why that is. She does a lot of walking already though, so I think we can start with a gentle-jog-as-long-as-you-can-then-walk-the-rest© plan!