Yes, that’s the way i’m approcahing it. But it’s hard to find a number to even start with !
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Yeah that’s good advice to be fair. Maybe i’ll go out to the seafront on Sat morning. Lock into a ‘feels like’ pace for an hour, with just HR on the watch. Then see what comes out.
As for trying to win, i have another mate that’s using this race as a long training run for his sub 2.30 attempt at Seville or Valencia or something a few weeks after. He was originally planning to do 10 miles with us at 3 pace, then clicking up to 2.30 pace!! haha.
So i do have an extra ally there. He’d likely tag along with me for 10 miles at whatever pace i asked of him, to keep me disciplined in the first half.
Like i said, decisions, decisions!!!
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Marathon’s a long way, I’d be tempted to use the first half as thinking time for how I wanted to run the second
Worst that can happen is ,well, zombie apocalypse. But how you pace the race makes no difference in that scenario. You need food, water and a boat that can be parked 10 miles offshore because we all know Zombies don’t swim.
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Well make it 2.4 miles and i may just about be able to swim to it, with my stuff in a Huub towfloat! 
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Well yes maybe but my point was, don’t go out and try to bank at the start, that ends up in quite a positive split.
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@gingerbongo I’d love to offer some advice here but… 
Maybe run the first half at 4:10-15s then see how much you could step it up for the second half/10km? Read as, this is what I should have done 
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Run it with your mate, keep him company, you’re not trained, no point picking some arbitrary target.
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aren’t they all? Nobody really gives a sh*t if you can run a 3.00.01 mara or a 2.59.59 or even a 2.20! 
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But it’s entirely arbitrary for you, because you are a much faster runner, so it’s just picking a number way below what you’re capable of. Choosing a goal for you personally which is meaningful within your personal capabilies is good, encouraging etc. But just picking 3:10 vs 3:00 based on how you feel this week doesn’t get you doing anything for even a personal goal.
That’s a fair point Jim.
I have thought about it though and i think i’m going to set off with a sub 2.50 in mind. For me this would be a large official PB (current is like 3.0x) and still a decent chunk off my unofficial PB which was 2.53/4 from the short Manchester course (i ran 2.52 something, and i think it was about 400m short).
I think for my current level of fitness that will be a pretty big ask, with a decent chance of failure. But will be motivating enough to dig in when the going gets tough. Few weeks left for me to change my mind! haha. Also weather will have a big impact as it’s a very exposed and windy course.
Encouragingly i just went for a real easy run. Was on the handbrake the whole way, yet still pushing out 4.30 kms on the flat. No major fatigue from my race, just a few little niggly bits from the climbing and descending that will chill out in another week.
As i said, plenty of time for me to totally flip flop on this statement. But it’s in writing now!
ETA - keep it to here though. This is my closed confidant group.
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I was thinking of going for a sub 2:50 tomorrow but if that’s a big ask for you then it’s not going to happen for me! My MP in training has been between 4:00 and 4:05. In 2019 I ran 2:58 (PB) and got stomach pains/stitch at 32k - but was holding 4:01/km up to that point. This year I’ve trained more, feel like I have a better fueling plan, and new shoes. Last minute strategy plans!
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Well that’s because I’ve not trained for the marathon. It’s just an incidental goal. Whereas you’ve been putting in the effort, so go with what training is telling you. 
My average weekly mileage is less than 35km. Not really classic mara feed.
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Well, my training has been short and sporadic overall so not ideal prep either! I think I might give it a go though. Maybe if I get to halfway at 1:25 and don’t feel great, then I’ll just drop the pace at the point and aim for sub 2:55.
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That all sounds very similar to my pb. I was training at about 4:07ish per km on my MP runs, and managed 3:59 ave when it came to race day. Shedding the training fatigue during taper does make quite a bit of a difference.
I did start off deliberately slower early on, and then picked the pace up from 10k. I think I’d always run a mara that way now. I wouldn’t worry about what GB is saying in comparison to your goals, as he says, he’s not properly trained. It’s ridiculous that I have a pb way faster than his for example…he’s way quicker than me!
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Paced it OK but at 34k legs started cramping so I had to dial it back. Ended up with low 2.54 so 4 min PB. I just used maurten and water so perhaps I should have grabbed some hi5 fluid as well. Will give it another go next year, with a bit more focused training.
Garmin now reporting that I’m unproductive and marathon prediction of 3:04
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Yeah I’d read about starting first 10k slightly slower and building up. It was in my head but in the end tried to stick to even splits. Garmins pacepro feature was quite useful.
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Nice! That’s certainly not to be sniffed At. 2.54 is a cracking mara, and things crapping up at 34km is basically normal right?!
How do the legs feel?
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Legs broken, couldn’t get out of the car! Hoping they recover by next week as I have a 10k. I’ve not done one for a while so hoping to beat my PB of 37.55, maybe 36.
I’ve not experienced cramping legs like that before. I’ve only done one before and struggled with stomach issues that time. One fella in front of me collapsed with cramps.
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I’m a cramper. Had them at Manchester mara.
Also got destroyed by them last weekend on my hilly race. Calves looked like they were inside out, they almost took me off my feet they cramped so violently and quickly. Stupid ass muscles! 
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I should have given them a blast with the massage gun this week.
I had really bad cramp when I was swimming the other month. I can normally stretch it out but it was really intense! Maybe it’s an old age thing!
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