Putting my money where my mouth is
Sep0520112:18 p.m.
After months of talking the talk, but not walking the walk, I have finally taken the plunge and entered another marathon. Marathon number 2 is the Portsmouth Coastal Waterside Marathon. A quirky little fella who demands you complete him in under 5.5 hours otherwise you get your feet wet. It was voted 6th best marathon in the UK to do though, and is offroad, and the best thing is…it is FLAT. Yep F-L-A-T. Such a lovely word.
So that means that marathon training starts now. Did the Andover parkrun on Saturday as the 25 minute marker. It felt good to do a 5km and finish feeling fine rather than about to expire. Then Sunday LSR had an ominous 15 miles written all over it. And it rained. And it was 6.30am. On a Sunday. For god’s sake, how did it come to this? Anyway, we got lost and ended up doing 17.2 miles in the end at a running pace of 10:50 per mile, so super slow but then it is a “long SLOW run” I suppose.
The bonus is though that I felt fine. A bit achy yesterday but this morning I feel as fresh as a daisy.
So, Portsmouth is the venue for my next two events: the Great South Run at the end of October (a piffling 10 miles, but also mercifully flat, but then that has the added annoyance of lulling me into running a PB – yuk), and the Portsmouth Coastal Waterside Marathon the week before Christmas.
One thing I am not going to do is fall into the same trap I made for myself for London: I didn’t do enough long runs. I want to do at least four 20+ mile runs this time, so I am well used to the distance. So, I’d better get a training plan together then.
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Comments (5)
SeanG 'Good luck with the training and all that. IMHO I don't think you can run your LSRs too slow. The final 1.5 of the GSR are pretty tough - into a headwind running along the seafront back into Southsea. I guess that you have entered your 2nd because the pain and agony of the 1st has subsided! :-)' added 5th Sep 2011
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daveredrock 'Good luck John. I'm sort of half starting my marathon training this weekend (for the Luton marathon at the end of November) with a 10 mile race in Battersea Park. You're right to do the miles if you can fit them in. Your base is already there this time so no need take months to build up. add a mile a week until 20 then just leave a 2 week gap between them and tick over on 20s before peaking with a 22/23 end of November. You'll smash it :)' added 5th Sep 2011
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Keith_L 'Not sure if all this 4X20 milers is a bit overdone but we all seem to do it. Have looked at that race a couple of times but never quite signed up. Hope you enjoy the training.' added 5th Sep 2011
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tinabee 'Ah flat! Sounds so appealing but I have found that flat equals boring. Give me a few undulations and I am much happier. Still I hope your training goes to plan and look forward to reading all about it.' added 5th Sep 2011
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moose10 'great to see you've got your self a new target, i think i need one myself, good luck with the training and those early mornings' added 6th Sep 2011
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