Connemarathon 1/4/2012

TFBubendorfer

bc.co. wrote: »

Hi,
I am in the middle off training for the connemarathron ultra.
Currently I am training 4 days a week
1. speed work currently at 12 miles at 9 mins per mile will increase over the next 2 months.
2. mountain bike or swim session
3. 1.5 – 2.5 hour runs this will increase over the next 2 months running on roads
4. 2-3 hour runs usually on trails with plenty of hills

I have run 2 marathons best time is just over 4 hours. Running almost years.

Can any one advise me if I am training enough?
Just not sure as this is my first ultra and I would to be well prepared as it will be a long enough day
Cheers

That's the thread for 2010. This year's race is discussed here.

At a quick glance I'd say running three times a week is not enough for an ultra. If you want to take it seriously, train more than 4 times a week and possibly forget about biking and swimming until after the ultra.

iancairns

Does anyone know if you can swap or return your ticket for Connemarathon?

I've paid €70 for the half marathon but can't go now?

jester1980

I have a friend who wanted to do the half but missed the deadline but i can say it to him if you want about buying your place off of you if thats allowed?

menoscemo

iancairns wrote: »

Does anyone know if you can swap or return your ticket for Connemarathon?

I've paid €70 for the half marathon but can't go now?

Afaik you can only defer it until next year.
Best to get back onto them by email as it will free up a slot for someone on the waiting list

funrunner95

Can anyone recommend a hotel in Galway to stay in for the Sunday night? I don't know the city well at all. Is there much banter around the place on the Sunday?

belcarra

If you click the link to enter you will be brought to a page telling you the race is sold out but there are a limited number of charity places still available if you REALLY want to do the race...

EauRouge79

I think im gonna chicken out of the ultra and go back to the full. Dont think im as tough as some of you lads.
Afraid I will get injured and jepoardise Berlin and my sub 3 marathon in September which this year is all about.
Ran a hilly 20mls on Sunday and was shagged after it, just cant get my head around the fact that thats only half way!

Canine Marathoner

EauRouge, I'm in the same boat as you - did a hilly long one on Sunday & was pretty wrecked and a similar thought did go through my head...it's my first Ultra...but look, I remember my first marathon and thinking when I was doing the lsrs that I'd never be able to finish a 26.2 at a good pace...kind of thinking it's the same deal here...as the ultra vets will testify? stick to the ultra?:cool:

ned_strange

Hi ,
Ive signed for full marathon in connemara this year and as its my first im not really sure if im training properly. I have done some halves and some longer endurance events(geal force and half iron) in recent past.Normally Id run 3-4 times a week typically 10/12km with maybe 16 - 20 k at weekends.At the moment,and for last 3 or 4 weeks im doing about 12k on the road on Monday, 10K on treadmill on wednesday and friday (mostly hills and speed) and longer run on saturday or sunday. On the long run for the last 2 weeks ive ran 30k and 25k the week before that prior to that it was 20k. Would usually run long run at around 5.00 - 5.15 per km so haven't ran for longer than 2.35 or there about. Someone mentioned to me that i may be adding too much to long run and may get injury. I've had injury's before although thankfully not for couple of years. Any advice on how best to proceed with training would be greatly appreciated.

TFBubendorfer

EauRouge79 wrote: »

I think im gonna chicken out of the ultra and go back to the full. ... Ran a hilly 20mls on Sunday and was shagged after it, just cant get my head around the fact that thats only half way!

Canine Marathoner wrote: »

EauRouge, I'm in the same boat as you - did a hilly long one on Sunday & was pretty wrecked and a similar thought did go through my head...it's my first Ultra...but look, I remember my first marathon and thinking when I was doing the lsrs that I'd never be able to finish a 26.2 at a good pace...kind of thinking it's the same deal here...as the ultra vets will testify? stick to the ultra?:cool:

That's perfectly normal, lads. I always feel shagged after a 20 mile run, and I'm always perfectly aware that's only half way. That's just the way things are. Don't give up - you're definitely getting there and the race is still almost 10 weeks from now - plenty of time to build some more endurance.

EauRouge, the "injury" argument is a poor one. You are no more likely to get injured during ultra training than you are during marathon training.

menoscemo

lads, Hilly 20 milers are great but bear in mind there are reall no hills in Conn until you are 27 miles in (and there's only 12 to go ) so you will still be feeling much fresher after 20 in the race than you will after doing a hilly 20 miler.

digger2d2

Re: Ultra.... I'm up to 5 days a week now and 50 miles plus but I'm pretty wrecked. I've no doubt however that as in Marathon training the mileage will count and during taper I'll begin to feel fresher and stronger. I did an 18 miler last week and did think jaybus there'll be another 21 to add on come the big day but that's all just in the head if you cover the training miles.

EauRouge79

Canine Marathoner wrote: »

EauRouge, I'm in the same boat as you - stick to the ultra?:cool:

Looks like their ganging up on us! Will give it another 3 weeks or so and will see where I am before making a final decision.

Oisin11178

Lads training is meant to be harder than race day. If your getting getting to the end of a hilly 20 in one piece your not doing to bad. There is alot of training to do and you should only get stronger and add in taper and race day nutrition you will be flying come race day.

EauRouge79

Oisin11178 wrote: »

. There is alot of training to do and you should only get stronger and add in taper and race day nutrition you will be flying come race day.

I have a lot to learn in the nutrition dept. Any marathons I have run would only have been on some GU Jellies and a banana, Maybe 1/2 gels. Never took on more that 2 gels or experimented with Salts etc. Im very green when it comes to these things.

Oisin11178

I took about 8 gels in conn, 6 high 5 salt tablets, 2 each in 500 ml of flat coke. So 1.5 litres of coke. I had 3 mars bars but only ect one. Also a fair amount of water. Others will have completely different stories but thats what worked for me.

EauRouge79

Holy sh*t did you miss breakfast?:)

Oisin11178

EauRouge79 wrote: »

Holy sh*t did you miss breakfast?:)

Yeah i cant eat before races:-)
thats not much for the ultra i dont think. Better to have it and not need it ect...

NoGutsNoGlory

training for first ultra.(aiming for sub 5).. 6 marathons under my belt, best 2.58.. trying to keep the pace slow (7.30- 8mm)for the long runs, finding this hard as getting pains etc.. especially between my shoulder blades, when i open things up and increase the pace to 7mm there is not a bother on me and i feel better when i finish, did 10 slow today and got the shoulder pain so did 6 at 7mm and not a bother,... any advice ?? thanks??

Bugsy2000

I'm up in the air about this now. I'm signed up for the full but I've just lost the last two weeks training & its not looking good for another few weeks yet.

I did a 20 miler on the 15th and my tendonitis (left foot) flared up the next day. Needed the crutch just for walking. Had it strapped & R.I.C.E'd as much as possible & finally was pain free last Friday. Stupidly tried a run on Saturday morning but after 4 miles easy pace I had to stop with the pain & it's now worse than ever. I'm looking at another 2 - 3 weeks off which will eat up most of February so I'll probably have a week to see if I differ to next year or drop down to the half. Aaaaaaaaaarrgh!!

Was really looking forward to this. It was to be my first full & was in good form so I'm really pissed at the minute.:(

EauRouge79

Sorry to hear that bugsy, there really is nothing worse than injury. I had shin splints for a while up to June 2010 had to rest it fully after a few attempts to get back to early, after the lay off I have been injury free ever since. If I were you I would let it heal. Hard thing to do though and it looks as if your training was going well.
Sorry I cant be more positive.

mithril

I am out. MRI has shown a stress fracture on the second metatarsal which I picked up at the start of December in Argentina. Trying to cross-train at the moment since consultant thinks its another 4 weeks before I can start easy jogging. On a flat course maybe possible, but would need to be doing hard up-hill running at the moment to be in with a chance of a competitiive time for the marathon. I have run the race in varying distances three times already so just getting around the half course does not hold much appeal. Will try to defer to next year.

elvis jones

I'm out of the full but ok for the half, can this be done when i've paid for the full. The money doesn't matter.........being able to run does:)

belcarra

I believe if you contact the organisers before March 1st then you are free to change between Half, Full and Ultra.
No cost implications afaik.

menoscemo

belcarra wrote: »

I believe if you contact the organisers before March 1st then you are free to change between Half, Full and Ultra.
No cost implications afaik.

Yeah the full, half and Ultra all have the same entry fee so you can move up or down as you like once you lett he organisers know in time.

griffin100

This could have been answered earlier but I didn't see it so apologies if I'm repeating a question.

Is there are sort of consensus as to how much longer the full would take when compared to a flat course? I've a target in mind but don't know if I could hold that pace over the second half of the course. Looking at last years results negative splits were few and far between and some of the differences even in the top runners were huge. I'm pretty happy I can hold my target MP over the first 13.1 miles but I'm worried about some sections of the second half.

Melanoma

I did a fair bit for about 6 weeks after a 3 week injury to my calf before Christmas. I ran up to 18 miles on the treadmill and done a few ten mile runs. I then ran a 22 mile run to get some experience on the road over distances longer than ten miles. This was going grand up to mile 15 when I started to feel runners knee coming on. I was still far from home so rather than just walk home I ran/walk for another 5 mile and then walked home. I felt sore in the lower legs so I took it easy the next week. Then I went out the following week and ran ten miles in 96 minutes (easy pace) finishing strongly.

Now I went out on Monday after ran three miles and then done 5 320 meter hill runs at max sprint, the best being 55 seconds on a steep hill.

My trainer tells me this was a mistake as I am relatively new back to running about a year ago. I aggravated the lower leg muscle pain and now have multiple strains on both legs.

The point is folks if your new to running long runs take it easy on other type of runs and maybe take two rest days off after each one. I'm currently off the feet and doing physio and exercises to get back in. I think I'll be ok but will adjust my target speed down by half an hour and do no more sprinting till after the race.

Canine Marathoner

quiet on here...

sorry to hear about those with injury woes, there by the grace of God go the rest of us...

meanwhile, as we enter the 8-week countdown, any tips for the home straight from ultra vets?

had a weird week just gone...but did get a lone marathon-distance done...a weird feeling finishing it with no one there to cheer - some soaked people standing at a bus stop looking in a perplexed way at the nutter who raised his arms in the air in triumph as he passed a lamppost marking the end line...

in an inadvertent way, found that 750ml of water with honey stirred in it & 50g of chocolate worked superbly for that effort...

was looking at ultra blogs for inspiration...this one puts it all in perspective - what a girl:

http://notallergictoadventure.blogspot.com/

TFBubendorfer

Canine Marathoner wrote: »

meanwhile, as we enter the 8-week countdown, any tips for the home straight from ultra vets?

had a weird week just gone...but did get a lone marathon-distance done...a weird feeling finishing it with no one there to cheer - some soaked people standing at a bus stop looking in a perplexed way at the nutter who raised his arms in the air in triumph as he passed a lamppost marking the end line...

If you just completed a marathon distance training run, you will be in better shape than most on the start line.

Congratulations!

If I would have to give you one single tip, it's make sure you're not overdoing it between now and the ultra. Recover from your training marathon, listen to your body, take it easy for a bit.

Running Fool

Hi guys,

Doing the Connemara Ultra – my first Ultra.

Running 6 days a week, sometimes 5days. Weekday runs are made up of hour long slow recovery runs and 2 hard sessions. A tempo run one day, hill repeats on another (with a recovery day in between of course!)

So I’m up to my first 20mile run today, the last few weeks have been around 16/18 etc with usually about a 10mile run the day before to try and have back t back runs.

So, to plan what long runs to do between now and April 1st – there are 8 weekends between now and then, that’s including taper. I want to do the long runs and keep back to back ones too, but how much is too much? Here’s a sample, all advice appreciated.

What I really want and what i seem to read in most places is that the 2 most important workouts are back to back 20milers and also a 30 mile run. I dunno if I have time to fit them all in the weeks I have left though..............





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