martins money saving marathon running mavericks!! dfw runclub part 5 :)

tirlittan

Hi all and well done on all the running. I haven't been back out yet since my back went. It's fine now but have just been incredibly busy. Have done my volleyball and softball but no time for running. Will try to go soon.

LittleMissHappy_2

I'm planning on doing the London marathon if I get a place If I don't I will look at other options - I am determined to do one in 2012, it's a challenge!
Should be doing another run today, might have to try and fit it in late afternoon as school finishes early on a Friday for my 3 (1pm).

cw18

I'm still keeping my fingers firmly crossed for a place in the London Marathon. If I miss out in the ballot I can apply for one of the places that have been allocated to my running club, as I'll then meet all their criteria for doing so

Last year they only had a couple more applicants than places (7 for 5 I think), but I don't know how many places they've got this year or how much interest they might be (those who got one last year can't put in for one again unless there are fewer applications than places, in which case they go into the hat for one of the 'surplus' places).

Decided not to try for a charity place, as I didn't want to be under pressure to raise a minimum amount of sponsorshop - but was told by the manager at work yesterday that if I want to raise sponsorship for our nominated charity I'll have permission to ask through the store, so I sent them an email last night asking if they have any information (or a community I can join in with) in the mean time

I was also told a couple of weeks ago (via the running club) that the Manchester Marathon is starting up again for next year, but as it's the week after the London one I'm not applying for a place in that. I will, however, bear it in mind for future years as it removes the need for travel, accomodation, kennels (or dog sitter) and all other expenses related to one away from home.

hypno06

I've applied for London again, but as I got a ballot place this year, I don't expect to get one again for a good few years. 2 years ago I had a charity place and I don't really want that pressure again (although I did comfortably exceed my target in the end).

I've entered, and got a place in, the Brighton Marathon the week before London.

If I do (unlikely) get into London, I will defer one or other of them until 2013.

But I know for definite I will be running 26.2 miles *somewhere* in 2012.....

fedupandskint

I'm planning to run a half marathon next year then aim for London in 2013

Not sure yet if I'll get to marathon level but will be spending this summer building up to half marathon level

On a happier note feel a better today so should be back out running again early next week or even Sunday if I feel up to it

tirlittan

Like your planning fedupandskint.

cw18

6.98 miles completed in 1:07.21 (average pace 9:38.9/mile) - and I'm lovely and damp !!!!

By the time I'd covered a half mile I'd had two torrential (but brief) showers which soaked me right through Could have done without those, but the drizzle that kicked in from time to time for the rest of the route was actually quite welcome after the heat I ran in on Thursday morning !!!

And I guess it was good practise for the winter...... just couldn't motivate myself to go out in the bad weather last winter, but will have to this year if I want to be up to a marathon in April

cw18

After my run on Saturday, I then went to the gym on Sunday and did a step class - which resulted in very stiff legs that I couldn't shake until I did a slow 3 mile run on Wednesday morning.

But while at the gym I asked about personal trainers, as I know I really need to work on strengthening my legs..... on the days I have to cut a run short due to struggling it's always because my legs have let me down rather than my breathing's struggling (and I have to take walk breaks for my legs rather than to catch my breath as well).

They gave me three names and numbers, but for what I wanted suggested that one might be more suitable than the other two. Contacted him on Monday with some trepidation, mainly as I was expecting to have to rule it out due to cost, but got a good all round response from him. He's worked with a lady who was training for the London Marathon before (she'd done it before a couple of years earlier and was looking at the same pace, but after 6 months training with him she shaved just over half an hour off her time) as well as with other runners looking to improve their distances and times, so that sounded good. And his price is a lot less than I'd expect (PAYG is £10/hr less than friends in other areas of the country - but still outside of London - pay after a block-booking discount, and if I block-book for 10 I save another £5/hr) which he said is because of the area the gym's in - he has to set his prices according to the area, and the branch of the gym I use is in a 'less affluent' area

So I had my first session with him at 9am today....

Walking down the stairs to get out of the gym was hard work... and Mr Masochist promptly informed me that had I not had that problem it would mean he'd not done his job properly :eek:

So can someone please explain what on earth prompted me to book in for another session at the same time next week........

I did learn one interesting fact though. Apparently he could tell by my attempt on the leg press machine that I'm right handed - purely 'cos I struggled when using just my left leg but found it a breeze with my right leg. He said it's normal for the leg that you are 'handed' to be stronger, and this will mean that I'm pushing off more with my right leg than my left when running - which can cause a less than optimum gait. So anything like the leg press that 'we' do in the future will always be done left leg first (as it was today without any thought/discussion) so that I can push that one to the limit and then just match the numer of repeats with my right - which should strengthen the left while just keeping the right one toned etc instead of continuing to keep it as a stronger leg. And any of the weights type work that uses both legs at the same time will take some serious concentration to make sure I'm not letting the right leg do most of the work.

Hoping to fit in a short-ish slow-ish run this weekend, but have to go and clear out a friend's flat at some point in the next two days -- and I'm fully expecting to find I can barely move my legs tomorrow morning

cw18

Went out for my first run since last Thursday this morning (just not had chance, as was busy all weekend and work full days Mon & Tues)

Headed out intending to do a steady 10km, but not far into it the lower half of my left leg started to feel as if it was a lump of wood.... so I had to drop to a walk to ease it out. Very quickly decided 10km was out of the question, so changed my route to cut it to 5km - and still had to take a walk break almost every 1km for the same reason :eek:

The only thing I can think of that I've done 'new' in the last week is my PT session last Friday, where I know he pushed that leg to it's limit on the leg press and made me contentate on the other two leg weight machines so that the left leg took at least it's share of the weight in order to try and start building up the strength in it.

So it looks like I'm going to have to drop the distance of my runs for a while, and will speak to the PT about it when I see him again on Friday. I'm also booked in for next Wednesday already, as I was asked at work yesterday if I could do a full day on Friday of next week which is when I would have expected to see him again - so I called him while I was on my break to see if he could do Wednesday (I'm already working all day Thursday - that was agreed a few weeks back) before I said yes to the extra hours on Friday.

Can't afford to stick to 5km for long though, as I have a 5 mile race 11 weeks on Sunday !!!

Tete_en_l'Air

*slopes in sheepishly*

Hi guys! I popped in here about February time as I had a place in the Great North Run and basically needed to learn how to run! Since then I've done the Three Peaks Challenge (walking up mountains), the Race for Life 5k and the Great North 10k. The 10k was not my finest hour - the Three Peaks were only 3 weeks before and I had been concentrating on training for that rather than running in the weeks leading up to it, then it took me about a week to recover, so I only had 2 weeks training for the 10k and I must have walked at least 4k of it.

I did my first parkrun on Saturday but still am not able to run 5k without stopping to walk a couple of times. Then on Monday I was struck down with food poisoning so have been out of action all this week. I'm doing the parkrun tomorrow though and aim to slow my pace a little and get around without walking.

It's only 7 weeks til the GNR now so I'm hoping for no more injuries or illness which seem to have been blighting my training so far (sounds like a poor excuse but it's true), and wanted to join in on this thread a bit to keep me motivated! Is anyone else doing the GNR? What stage of training should I be at now?!