London Marathon 22/4/2012

Tyrone_03

I am in under a charity entry. Up as far as thirteen miles now with my training and feeling great.

Brianderunner

Podge83 wrote: »

Get to Victoria - not too far from finish but with crowds its a bit unpredictable. Gatwick express goes every 15 minutes and takes about 30-35 minutes to get there.

Gatwick express is a ripoff, it catches out out-of-towners all the time, just like the Stansted Express. Get the train from London Bridge to Gatwick for half the price (about £9 single compared to the £19 of Gatwick Express) and takes 35-40 mins also. Jubilee line tube from Westminster (closest tube to finish) to London Bridge and your sorted.

You can get £5 advance fares from Victoria alright if you know what train your getting. Check the national rail website from 3 months out.

Podge83

Brianderunner wrote: »

Gatwick express is a ripoff, it catches out out-of-towners all the time, just like the Stansted Express. Get the train from London Bridge to Gatwick for half the price (about £9 single compared to the £19 of Gatwick Express) and takes 35-40 mins also. Jubilee line tube from Westminster (closest tube to finish) to London Bridge and your sorted.

You can get £5 advance fares from Victoria alright if you know what train your getting. Check the national rail website from 3 months out.

Marathonm@n:- Ignore me - go with the local advice!!

marathonm@n

looking to fly home straight after (as you can gather). bit of a silly question but are the bags you use to store your stuff large or small?
Reason I ask is that I know they will probably only allow storage of their plastic bags. I am going to try and travel as light as possible but would another bag fit inside it (say a small backpack)?

village runner

marathonm@n wrote: »

looking to fly home straight after (as you can gather). bit of a silly question but are the bags you use to store your stuff large or small?
Reason I ask is that I know they will probably only allow storage of their plastic bags. I am going to try and travel as light as possible but would another bag fit inside it (say a small backpack)?

Big enough. You would fit a decent change of clothes. But what about phone wallet passport etc?? Dangerous if you ask me

marathonm@n

village runner wrote: »

Big enough. You would fit a decent change of clothes. But what about phone wallet passport etc?? Dangerous if you ask me

good thinking.Never thought of that. Thanks

village runner

marathonm@n wrote: »

good thinking.Never thought of that. Thanks

I am staying within 5 min walk of the finish so if you want stuff minded i could help ?? Going over thurs to sunday.

ThePiedPiper

12 weeks to go I think!! Just starting to crank up the long runs a bit now. I did a 16 mile run in strong winds last weekend, was a toughie. Might chance a 17 or 18 this weekend. I don't think I'll have the time to get in the 55-70 mile weeks that I'd need to get another sub 3 but I'm not going to get bogged down on what time I run.

Are any of you lot flying home on the Sunday evening after the race? Is there anything resembling shower facilities afterwards? Or is there showers at Heathrow even?

robinph

Not going to get as many miles in this week myself either, have a regional XC race tomorrow as well. Next week loads of us from the club are going on a 17 mile run from the centre of the city to the next one and then spending the rest of the day in the pub, usually gets pretty messy before we then get the train back after a curry. Not sure if that session overall would count as a good long run for the marathon build up, but it will have to do.

Looks like there are showers at Heathrow, but as I'd expect you're going through T1 there doesn't seem to be any there:
http://www.heathrowairport.com/heathrow-airport-guide/services-and-facilities/toilets-and-showers

You should hang around in London fora an extra night and have some beers instead.

marathonm@n

village runner wrote: »

I am staying within 5 min walk of the finish so if you want stuff minded i could help ?? Going over thurs to sunday.

That's very good of you. That would be great. I will pm you. Thanks

Cartman78

The McMillan Calculator comes up with a 2:58 marathon based on my time in Dungarvan yesterday :D:D

Don't have much confidence in these types of things tbh - the Reality Calculator in my brain is coming up with sub-3:10 being an achievable time.

I haven't done enough long runs yet at all - longest has been 30k and won't be able to get one in this week the way things are shaping up (no car :mad: and in Dublin for the rugby at the weekend ).

Will be doing Adare 10k on Feb 26th and prob Kinvara Half in early March - so might have a clearer target in mind after those.

robinph

Who is staying for pints on the Sunday night? Any general area that you have booked hotels in?

Just trying to figure out what region to book myself to limit walking as much as possible, both before and after the race.

robinph

Just put in a predicted time on this map:

http://www.virginlondonmarathon.com/interactive-map/

...and it then shows little dots moving around the route. Looks like I may just about be able to Tower Bridge as the elite women come back the other way.

marathonm@n

am looking to do a half on sat 25th feb as part of training. Would anybody know of any on that day?

opus

robinph wrote: »

Who is staying for pints on the Sunday night? Any general area that you have booked hotels in?

Just trying to figure out what region to book myself to limit walking as much as possible, both before and after the race.

I'm sticking around anyway, have a few friends coming along so we're staying 'til Tuesday to make a long w/end out of it.

Cartman78

marathonm@n wrote: »

am looking to do a half on sat 25th feb as part of training. Would anybody know of any on that day?

Don't know of any on that weekend - Kinvara and Bohermeen (Meath) are on the following weekend

Cartman78

Well peeps - how is everyone getting on?

The weeks seem to be flying by :eek:; depending on the length of your taper there's probably only 6 or 7 weekend LSR's to go.

Feeling in pretty good shape although the amount of niggles I have seems to be increasing on a weekly basis.

Did 30k very slowly on Sunday and 12k last night at a handy enough pace and felt grand. Intervals tonight, 14k on Thurs or Friday, hill run on Sat and will be aiming for 32k on Sunday.

Still have no concrete target time - will be breaking the race down into 4 x 10k and trying to go sub 45 mins for each one and then sprinting the last 2k to scrape under 3hrs :cool:

robinph

Got up to doing an 18 at the weekend. Had a couple of of days off since though due to Man Flu.

Next couple of weeks have to be a bit less mileage due to other things going on, but just need to keep ticking over in between. It is actually getting a bit close now, but I'm happy that I've done loads more than ever before in the lead up to a marathon. I think I will aim for 2:55 pace and hope to get a good bit under that.

Will just need some good weather then.

Brianderunner

First 20 miler last Saturday and up to 60+ mile weeks for the first time. Aiming for sub 80-81 mins in the Silverstone Half in 4 weeks. That should be the launchpad i need to break 3 hrs at long last.

Loads of runners out here these days. Approaching peak mileage time now.

robinph

Do they have pacers in London?

If they do then they will obviously not be as good as those famed Dublin ones, but just wondering if there will be any balloons that I should be keeping an eye out for chasing behind me?

Brianderunner

robinph wrote: »

Do they have pacers in London?

If they do then they will obviously not be as good as those famed Dublin ones, but just wondering if there will be any balloons that I should be keeping an eye out for chasing behind me?

http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/event-editorial/runners-world-pace-team-2012/7852.html

They run by minute miling and not by overall time i think.

Cartman78

Yeah...this is by FAR the most I've ever done in terms of marathon training, also London will be my first ever Spring marathon.

2 things I've noticed:
1) My runners are absolutely stinking. I'm well used of smelly training footwear but things have reached a new level in recent weeks with all the rain etc. I can't leave them in the house for more than 60 seconds without the wife reaching for her hazmat suit.

Have a new pair ready to go so will be breaking them in gently in the coming weeks. I reckon the other ones wouldn't make it thru customs at Heathrow!

2) My body fat is vanishing big time - haven't weighed myself in a few weeks (I quit my gym membership after xmas & don't have a proper scales at home) but don't think I've lost weight as such. Had to drop my wedding ring into the jewellers to get it downsized as it slipped off a couple of times and my jeans are literally hanging off me.

Krusty_Clown

robinph wrote: »

Do they have pacers in London?

Not only do they have pacers, they even have an official sponsor:

Powered by Timex
Proud sponsor of the Runner's World Pace Team, Timex has been helping runners keep time for 25 years. The official timepiece of the RW Pace Team is the all-new Timex IronMan Run Trainer™ GPS watch, which is due to launch in the UK in February 2012.

TFBubendorfer

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Not only do they have pacers, they even have an official sponsor

Does that mean all the pacers get a new toy?
Now there's an idea for Dublin!

Krusty_Clown

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

Does that mean all the pacers get a new toy?
Now there's an idea for Dublin!

Nah, they're sponsored by Guinness.

Peckham

Not sure how the pacing system works in this race, given that there are two different starts and numerous corrals at each start. How do they decide which corrals have which pacers, and how do you find your pacer? Do they have two sets of pacers for each target pace, with one set at each start?

When I did this race in 2010 I don't remember seeing any pacers, and the 3 hour pacers should have overtaken me (given that they presumably start behind the GFA corral and I finished in 3:03).

Not sure I'd be relying on them to be honest.

robinph

Wondered how it would work with the multiple starts myself. I expect that those of us in the GFA area have a choice of the Kenyan runners in Shaftesbury colours or nothing and all the pacers start from in Greenwich park. We start from Blackheath I think.

Krusty_Clown

Peckham wrote: »

Not sure how the pacing system works in this race, given that there are two different starts and numerous corrals at each start. How do they decide which corrals have which pacers, and how do you find your pacer? Do they have two sets of pacers for each target pace, with one set at each start?

When I did this race in 2010 I don't remember seeing any pacers, and the 3 hour pacers should have overtaken me (given that they presumably start behind the GFA corral and I finished in 3:03).

Not sure I'd be relying on them to be honest.

You should ask Wounded Knee., who has been one of the RW London pacers on a number of occasions.

dermCu

They have official pacers from sub 3 upwards in half hour increments. For each target time one starts from red the other from blue. The idea being that they meet en route.

If I remember right they had an unofficial sub 2:45 pacer last year.

My own training is going ok. Racing a half in early March. That'll give a better indication.

Cartman78

I've been humming and haaahing about doing a half before London for a while now but reckon I'll give it a miss.

The options are limited (Kinvara or Meath, Connemara might be too late) so I think I might leave it altogether and stick with the LSR's.

I'd personally find it very hard to drive 2+ hours to a race, pay the entry fee and not run full tilt. Will deffo try to get one in during the summer to take advantage of the marathon training base and smash my PB.

Might sneak in a 10k though in the coming weeks....more for social reasons than anything else. The lonlieness of the long distance runner is starting to kick in big time