We realise that we contacted you not long ago about our previous postponement. At that time, the signs were very positive that April was the best option for everybody, and we started the considerable planning to put the infrastructure in place.
However, whilst working with our trusted stakeholders and as further time passed it became apparent that there was an increasing lack of certainty for us to confidently deliver various essentials needed for the Marathon this early in 2021.
This is of course due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the often-changing restrictions in place. As we approach a time when we must invest your money from entry fees into the huge amount of costs that are essential to a major marathon, we felt it would be irresponsible to continue when we feel October gives us a better chance of doing the event justice in 2021.
EDIT - forgot about the covid canx thread. please merge
To be fair, it was previously called the Manchester Marathon, with the vast majority of it being held in Salford and Trafford.
Only this year was it moved to actually come into Manchester.
It used to go through the city centre, then didn’t run at all for 10 years. Only since the return has it not come into the city but they had changed it back now, even if it is only a little jaunt into the centre.
I didn’t realise about the early routes until I just looked to varify what I was saying was actually true
The first marathon in the Manchester area was run in 1908 and started and finished at the Saracen’s Head pub in Warburton, although at this point the run was 20 miles (32 km) only. The first marathon to be run over 26 miles and 385 yards was the race in 1909, it started in Sandbach and finished at the Fallowfield Stadium in Manchester. A marathon has been run along various routes in the Manchester area intermittently throughout the years with various start and finish points. Until 2012, the last marathon to be held in the city was in 2002
There was a Commonwealth Games marathon (Ozzy women went 123 in it) but there was also a public one too. I’ve no idea why they pulled it.
They also pulled Salford Triathlon for a few years before bringing it back. That used to bike into the city centre. Now it is just shitty laps of the Quays & industrial estate.
I did Salford the last time it was an ITU race (2007 IIRC), by then it was not going into the city centre so short laps round the quays, but better than the current short bike lap past the sewage works and back over the footbridge.
Anyone else training for this? I’m now two weeks into my plan and playing catch up on the volume needed and trying to balance increasing my weekly mileage against not getting injured. Its my A race of the year as well
I think this very much depends on your running and endurance background though. I’m pretty confident i could go from my current ~30km/week that i’ve averaged in 2021 to 60-80 immediately without any ill effects. I’d be careful with the makeup of that mileage, but i wouldn’t be worried.
I’m not saying that’s a good idea. But if you’ve a good running background then i’ wouldn’t be worried with that 20km jump. 80 km isn’t massive, just be sensible in the type of running that you are doing.
Obviously the opposite applies as well if you’ve not been running much for the past few years.
I guess maybe I’m being too conservative. I’ve been at 20-30km/week through 2021 and when I started a mara build have gone 40km then 50km over a few weeks. Could try push up to 60 sooner and just back off a little if it doesn’t feel right.
I mean it’s your call obviously, but the whole 10% thing for me is just waay too conservative. Especially for the likes of most of us that have been doing a few hours a week of endurance stuff for years on end.
Unless you have a history of suffering with running or high mileage, then i’d be tempted if i were you to sneak that up a bit quicker. Like you say, you can always bring it back down if you sense any issues.
The longer long runs will obviously have a quick impact on that weekly figure, but chucking in an extra super easy 10-12 km a week is unlikely to put any major stress on a fit body.
I’m tentative as I have previous. I stupidly went from 45 to 85 over two weeks at the beginning of last year and strained my anterior fibula and it had me off running for about 2 months solid, before that I had done the same 2 months previously but not as badly. It would just tense up very quickly and then become agony. Physio put it down to strength imbalance and the obvious over use. I now strength train twice a week. So i’m just erring on the side of caution. Admittedly before I had thrown myself at the training plan waayy to hard. You live and learn!
I’ve had issues with calf strains before but I’ve done a lot of rehab on them and I know the signs. They were triggered by moving to a lower drop shoe and not transitioning slow enough. The biggest difference now is that I do 2km very very easy at the beginning of every run. I can’t go straight into any sort of normal run pace too quickly but find that once warmed up I’m fine. Will see how this week, maybe I’ll do a bit more but depends on how family stuff falls.
Been thinking about my pacing strategy. Go at 4 min Kms but no faster, which gives me a bit of time for the enevitable slow down towards the end and hopefully come in below 2:55, by how much will remain to be seen. I’ve been training to 4:05s as my race pace. Is going for 4s a likely strategy for the wheels to come off? First marathon, so I’m probably being naive!
