For those of you who aren't members or followers of the Fiso Harriers, I've taken the plunge to partake in the London Marathon this year.

london-marathon-2012-t90392.html

Training is now in Week 5 and so far I'm still alive but yet to go over 10 Miles (this Saturday will be the 1st time).

I'll be using this thread as a sort-of blog, moaning place, sounding off place for any poor soul who cares to listen/care. Even if it's just me I think I'll feel better typing some of my woes and sounding out the advice of the fitter & wiser.

And for those of you who I've met and, even if I haven't met you and you're feeling generous, please visit my Just Giving Page

Night Night!! I've got a little 3 miler to take care of in the morning!!

Good Luck Digsby, looking forward to hearing your thoughts. The part of me that would love to run a marathon one day constantly wrestles with the part that detests running. Start with simply planning to complete it IMHO. Speed is irrelevant.

Good luck with that mate

A friend of mine has ran the Marathon twice, the second time in some pain. It's no walk in the park.

Cheers gents.

bluenosey, less talk of pain please.

Here's the training plan I'm (trying) to stick to....

http://www.halhigdon.com/training/51137 ... ng-Program

Looks good Digsby, if I could add my tuppenceworth (fromsomeonewhoseneverrunamarathonsotakewithapinchofsalt) load up on the carbs (potato/rice/pasta) on the rest days before your long runs. I run only to lose weight (4-6miles a go) and have experimented with 'Atkins' type food intakes as part of my plan to lose weight & I have no energy to run the length of myself without carbs.

Hi Ross,

Good luck mate, I'm running the Manchester Marathon at the end of April (CherylHoneys fault ) and am also following Hal Higdons Novice plan . I'm currently mixing in around 130 miles a week of cycling too

Currently on week 4 of HH's plan and hadn't ran further than last Saturdays 7 miles so each week is a new one for me as im sure it will be for you 3m4m3m 9m this week. Ran a PB last night of 30mins for 4miles which Im pretty happy about tbh.

Its a different pain to cycling thats for sure, so like you am pretty keen on any advice any of the seasoned runners around here might give. (was going to start my own thread, may just pop in here every now and again if you dont mind).

Once the real mileage kicks in Im going to be toning the cycling down a touch but thats going to coincide with my cycling commute rising to 100miles a week before I've even been out with the cycling club Recovery is going to be key. Chocolate milkshake have been proven to be as good if not better than any of the so called recovery drinks out there and cheaper! Frijj's Chocolate Fudge Brownie shake come highly recommended

You're all mad!
Having seen the prodigious intake of alcohol from the pair of you i have no idea how you do it

It's all good mate, I've toned it down to no more than 5 pints a night.

Best of luck to those running a marathon. Best I ever did was a 10 mile run and it nearly killed me so I take my hat off to those running and training for a marathon.

Personally i thing the hal higdon novice training programs are brutal, that said if you get through it you will be more than ready to run a marathon.

I hate that it has no real pace guidelines "a comparatively easy pace" is no guide at all and being pleased about a pb during what is supposed to be a training run suggests to me you are clearly training too quickly (but then Pasty really ought to know what he is doing given the parallels between cycling and running sessions).

I have run a few marathons now, made a total mess of training for my first few and finally got the hang of it by number 7 or 8. Good luck to you all.

Pearl of wisdom for when you have an attack of the cant be arsed:

You never regret the runs you do, only those you dont.

Hi CY - what you need to know about Pasty is that he's never run in a race so his PB is always going to be in a training run at the moment We have a half marathon at the end of Feb so he will have his first taste of a proper race then.

I'm quite enjoying Hal Higdon's training plan so far - I'm not at my fittest by a long stretch yet but this is the first time I've ever properly stuck to a training plan, rain or shine, tired or not etc. I think this works for me!

Hey CY



Most people I have spoken to about the HH plan agree its a pretty intense training program. Personally I had only been on the odd 5k with Cheryl before October when I agreed to do this marathon. I have since ran 2 or three times a week upto the end of December when the course started proper. I like to think i'm above average fitness wise, that probably sounds a little big headed but 120miles+ on the bike a week for the last 3 years has to give me a head start against a complete novice. That said, im under no illusions and of course tip my hat to your achievments .

As for the pb, ignore that I have only run said distance 3 times and thought the last time was relatively quick so thought a brag of sorts was in order Just reading through the guide again and it seems perhaps I am starting a little quick, i dont know. Some of my runs I'm doing all i can to finish and others I feel I could carry on for miles . I said tonight this weekend 9miler Is all about getting round and enjoying it so the time is irrelavant. Got a 90mile cycle to Southport the day after so that should be interesing.

Do you have a recovery regime you follow CY? I Have religiously drank milkshake for the last 6 months after my bike rides and am happy with my legs the days after, big Sunday Dinners help too obviously (not sure the red wine does tho )
Do you use gels in training? A lot of the lads use these in cycling for emergencies, but also for preventitive measures and overall increased performance! What are you thoughts here? And what about Glucosamine?

Cheers

Matt

Well I went to Peel and back last week (from Douglas).

If you Google it, it's about 23 miles (just short of a marathon).

...and I was tired, really tired.


Luckily, the car held up well.

You have my utmost respect.

Suspect your cycling means your recoveries are a lot better than most peoples. Tricky to answer since i followed a different training pattern to yours, always have a rest day after any long run (HH advocates cross training which i guess is fine) but personally i would take a day off after the long midweek one too. Most important thing is to listen to your body but make sure you do not skip any of the long runs. I never gave as much thought as i ought to towards post run refueling. I am sure your milkshakes are fine, i used to enjoy a good frijj or forgoodnesshake post run, never too hungry at the end but always had a thirst on.



I religiously took a million gels with me when i started but gradually weened myself off them. These days a couple of mini chocolate bars does the same job and tastes far better. You can only carry so much since you dont have a bike to haul it all around! Energy drinks are ok too if you dont mind carrying them around or can have a friend positioned where you need them en route. For training i have in the past driven out and hidden bottles in bushes creating my own mini water stations.

By training slowly you teach your body to use fat as its fuel source and you shouldnt need a million gels. Never personally bothered with glucosamine but its the same thing really, rapid increase in your short term fuel supply. They only carry you so far mind you, if you could just pour one in and run for miles on end everyone would use them! Find what works for you and stick with it. Do NOT try anything new on the big day no matter how tempting the freebies they are giving out look and how many people are taking them.

4 miles in 30 minutes is very much above average. Based on that sort of speed you ought to be looking at somewhere between 81 minutes (if the 30 min run was relativly easy) to 90 minutes (if you ran the 4m flat out) for your 9 mile long run. For what its worth you cannot really run it too slowly.

Good Luck, whats all this Fiso Harriers, is it a Aflilated Club.

It's a sub-forum which doesn't see much action. A pm to admin should see you in but you might only see a couple of posts a year on there!

Pasty - I know some well trained cyclists that have struggled more than they thought they would when they've trained for the Robin Hood marathon. You'll have a big advantage over someone who's never done regular exercise, but it'll still be hard work.

All the general stuff - lower HR etc is great, but the adaptations that take place in the muscles to make them use oxygen more efficiently aren't necessarily in the right muscles. Same for the muscular endurance that you've built up that allows you to cycle for 6 hours at a time. It's not in the right muscles so won't help you run for 3 hours. Having said that I ran a 10k last week after not running for months (quite a few of them as well) and got through it OK so there must be some general benefit from cycling. It did take 63 minutes though, not sure I could have gone any further and my legs ached for about 3 days

The worst thing is you can't just tuck in on a wheel and get a rest.

Best of luck anyway and keep us posted on progress

Hey Digsby, how was your 9miler last week? I take it your on a 10m today or tomorrow?

Just got back from my 9miler, I think it went ok considering its blowing a gale outside and I had a full on head wind for the last few miles felt the wind steering me towards the house as I passed it at 8 miles but I resisted temptation. 74 mins for the round journey and given the weather I reckon it could of been a little faster. Calfs feel a little heavy at the moment but otherwise I feel ok. Lets see how we are in an hours time

9 miler was ok last week and just got back from my 10 miles tonight. To be honest I've done them both with my local club, Orpington Road Runners, so we have a few stops to regroup hence the times are very slow. To be honest that suits me fine as, like I said, all I want to do is finish the thing! Also the routes we've done have all been trail running so it's been running through lots of horse tracks, muddy paths etc. I was really pleased with tonight in particular as we did about 8.5 miles across all sorts of terrain and at the end I made sure I carried on and completed the 10 miles on my own. Talking with a few of them tonight and they're saying that the sort of running we're doin cross country is almost worth another 20% on the roads as you're working so much harder on the rough tacky surfaces.

Another week of training done and still the knee holds up!

Quite an easy week this week with the longest run being 7 miles yesterday. Now it's going to step up and next weekend will be a 12 miler so my first real test.

Check out how knackered I am in my video on my justgiving page (1st post above)

Well done Digsby. Like you, I'm just happy to get through a full week of training without an injury. Just done 9 miles in 1:53. Very slow, but I got cramp and had to stop and stretch at mile 8. I felt absolutely fine for 7 miles, struggled a bit between 7 and 8 and then really really felt it for the last mile. An ankle, a knee and a toe is hurting at the moment so I'm just praying I wake up tomorrow with nothing but the usual muscle aches.

I will get round to sponsoring you at some point.

Cheers Cheryl, and likewise if you're running for a charity let us know.

Best of luck Digsby, I'll be following your progress with interest.

I had been hoping to tackle my first marathon at the end of April, but that's on ice due to a couple of factors.

I thought the Harriers were no more as when I applied to join a couple of years ago nothing happened.

To be honest there's not much life in there but the more new members it gets the more chance of it's revival. A pm to admin should get you in.

12 miles yesterday was very, VERY hard.

Think it was my first realisation of just how hard this is going to be. Took me a couple of hours and that included a couple of little stops for a drink.

Going to have to up my game.

A few beers tonight watching the superbowl then it's off the pop for a while and knuckle down with the training.

Blog updated & video added

Did 3 miles Tuesday, 6 yesterday and another 3 today.

We have a stumbling block.......man flu!!!

Weird thing is I did today's 3 miles in my quickest time (23.20) feeling rough. Think it was just in my head to run as fast as possible and get it over and done with.

Training with a head cold shouldn't do you any harm, I wouldn't go over the top though. If it's man flu, then good luck with that ....

I had a week off myself after my 9miler 3 weeks ago, on the following Monday my foot was playing up (in particular a bone on the outside of the foot inbetween the heel and another bit , yes, im not a doctor) anyway, week off seems to have done the trick. Managed 3 runs including 8 on Saturday last week and have done 3/4.5/3 and will be doing a 10 this Saturday.
Not been on the bike other than the commute and in a way im kinda hoping the weather is bad this Sunday so I have an excuse not to get cold

Calfs ache though

General rule with illness is that if symptoms are above the neck, train, if below, rest.

If I've got a cold then generally training makes me feel better - it at least unbungs me for a few hours

Nothing anaerobic though. Intervals put too much strain on a system already trying to cope with fighting off the illness.

Know what you mean - went out a couple of weeks ago for 4 hours and it only crept above zero for the last hour. Couldn't feel my feet at all and didn't dare get in the bath for about an hour after the ride until they'd started to warm up a bit

I was kind of hoping for 'stay in bed & leave it this weekend' advice.

Think I'm going to see how I feel first thing tomorrow and, if I'm not too bad, go out on my own about 7.30 am and do my prescribed 13 miles. Got to get it out the way early as my dog's running in the 11.08 at Crayford so got to get up there to see him.

If I'm feeling dog rough in the morning then I'll do it with the running group through the trails Sunday morning.