Next year in Lanza!
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Did a test today and did 20 miles in av. 7:35 minute mile pace which works out at just under 3:20 for a marathon.
I wasnāt at full pace but it certainly wasnāt easy, the conditions were really good as well.
Reckon I will pace for a low 3:2x on race day (conditions dependent) and see how I hold out.
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Perfect. And if that was in a training run. Slap some super shoes on, get some Maurten and add some power of the crowd. And youāve just got to hold it together. Itās deffo in there.
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Yep, and the taper
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My COROS app seems to rather accurately reflect how poor I am at converting my shorter distances paces to the marathon. I did a 3:39 at London last year and have improved a bit (at the shorter stuff) since then.
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Iāve come to the realisation over a number of years that a HM, especially raced HM, is a very poor predictor, at least for me. Theyāre totally different types of physiological runs. You have about 90mins of glycogen stored in the body from what Iāve read, so a lot of people can run one in an entirety different manner to a marathon.
These kind of training runs are a way better predictor I feel. Depending on your current training state, fatigue, equipment and nutrition you were using, etc, Iād generally say race day might offer an extra few second per km/mile off that pace, even with the extra 6 miles, but that can come back to bite if you overcook.
That saidā¦what was the purpose of running at that pace in training if not to condition the body to operate at that level? Iād generally either be running long runs pretty easy, or at target pace. If youāre now aiming to run the actual marathon at a slower pace, then Iād say do the next long run at that target pace
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@stenard thanks for the feedback.
I think the main purpose at running that pace in training was to get some confidence into trying to predict the pace to race at.
I thought if I can do 20 miles at that pace in training then I should be able to do 26 miles at a slightly slower pace.
I donāt reckon I will do too many marathons so want to try and get it as right as I can to get the optimal finish time for me.
Question on nutrition, Like you I am using Maurten which I am finding really good but how do you use it during a marathon? Do you carry a bottle with you or load up on it before your race.
In training I have been wearing a hydration vest with a soft flask of it in a pocket on the front and sipping as I go along.
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Are you following a particular marathon plan?
For me is was a full bottle before and then the gels throughout. At my pb race, I had my family with some mini 250ml water bottles filled with a little bit of 320 and a gel elastic banded to it. I collected two of those. Couldnāt face the fluid though. Was too sweet so just had the gels. I think I started with three of my own in my shorts pocket.
Iām lucky at Boston that Maurten are the on course gels, so Iāll probably start with three and then pick up another two or three during the race
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I just carried gels when I did my mara in November. Iāll dig back and work out how many I had. But think I carried a couple slotted into my running buff that was toes around my wrist, and then another 3 maybe in the back pocket of my shorts. Also had 3 salt tabs in my pocket to take every 45-50 mins as the Maurten doesnāt have any electrolytes remember.
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I always like Clif Shot Bloks, would have a few of them and wash them down with water.
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Not a particular marathon plan but doing two 8ish mile runs during the week and have been building up a long run at the weekends which has got to 20 miles and I have my last one next weekend before my taper.
Have been doing one Zwift cycling session a week as well.
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I have pretty much trained specifically for marathons for the past 5 or 6 years. i.e. many miles, long reps, long runs, over distance, long MP efforts etc.
Can I get near my predicted marathon from the many halves I have run un-tapered in a buildup. Can I b0llox.
All it did was make me wonder what I could achieve if I tapered for one. But then I ran a near 2 minute pb in a time way faster than I could ever have dreamed of just one week after a marathon. So now I just ignore any kind of sensible tapering reasoning 
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Did my final long run 22 miles today and looking forward to my taper now.
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My neighbour did a 3:56 at Manchester today, rather impressive given it was 31 years since he last did one, took the win in VM70.
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Finally did my first stand-alone marathon today and was pleased with a 3:18:08.
Secretly wanted a sub 3:15 for a GFA at London but after a couple of miles in that plan was not on as the wind was too strong so went for a sub 3:20 instead.
It was a 2 lap run on the coast straight up and down so no hiding from the wind.
Mile splits all ended up in the 7 min range so really pleased with that as I didnāt want to blow up with a few miles to go and crawl to the finish.
All in all happy with it but would like to try out a big city marathon now, maybe Manchester to see if i can get that sub 3:15.
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Great work Sir. Well done. Just bad luck with the windā¦.
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Excellent workš
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