London Marathon 2011

[taper]

I managed to get in on the ballot. Did anyone else?

If so, we ought to set up a support thread on the EDF. I ran it a few years ago and spent a rather tough winter plodding around the streets of Peckham and Dulwich, culminating in a 20 mile epic which took me from Peckham to Herne hill, Dulwich and then Deptford; all in horizontal sleet.

So really looking forward to the next six months.

[Pickle]

Brilliant! I did it in 2005, best experience of my life despite the training runs in (like you) horizontal sleet, hail and winds. I ran the majority of my long training runs with a group from Dulwich Park Runners - worth looking into if you're not already a member of a running club. They were great support, made the long runs a lot easier to have someone to talk to (the longest I did by myself was about 17 miles).

I've returned to running after a few years break due to babies, but am already looking forward to my next marathon. Maybe next year...

[Sheltie]

I'm in too taper. I was supposed to do it this year but got injured in February and had to eventually give up on the idea. I have seriously let the fitness levels slip over the summer so I'm now back to struggling round Dulwich park a couple of times before practically crawling home! I'm going to take it slowly though and build things back up without risking injury this time I hope.

I'd love to see a support thread on the forum, anything that is going to help get through the long winter training. I am also planning to join the Dulwich park runners for extra encouragement, think it'll help to do at least a few of the runs with others.

Good luck with it!

[Sandperson]

I'm in through the ballot. Did it in 2009 and exploded at around 17 miles so I'm back for more and aiming for 3:45!

[zephyr]

I am in again this year after running (well a bit anyway) in 2009.

Need to lose a bit of weight think.....

[taper]

Fantastic! We have a support thread.

I upped my long run by five minutes last Saturday. I need to shed some weight though. And get a new Garmin as mine's gone dead.

I did it in under five hours last time, which was good for a fat bloke. But this time round, under 430's my goal.

[Sheltie]

My long run is about 3.5 miles at the moment! I'm also concentrating on the weight loss first I think, then everything will be easier hopefully. Got about a stone I'd like to get rid of.

Had been aiming for sub 4.30 last time but I think just getting round will do me, sub 5 would be ideal though.

Got a very long way to go!

[taper]

What routes do people take on their long runs? I tend to do a circuit between a mix of local parks - so Ruskin, Brockwell, Dulwich, Belair, The Rye, Burgess and sometimes Kennigton Park. When I got up to very long distances the last time around, I found that mixing up the surfaces really helped with the pain.

[Sandperson]

Last time my long runs ended up going out through Lewisham and Catford and down to Beckenham and back through Forest Hill. If you have some cash and want an invaluable training aid get yourself a Garmin Forerunner watch. They are on the pricey side but you can use it to map routes ad monitor your progress etc. Best bit of kit I've bought and you can use it on a bike as well!

At one point I was injured and kept breaking down part way through long runs, sometimes far from home, so I decided the only thing to do was to run round Dulwich Park so I didnt have too far to go if I had a problem. I think I ended up doing an 18 mile run round the park. I guess it made me psychologically tough. :)

[taper]

How's the training going? I'm up to 3 hour long runs, which are killing me. Biggest problem though is the smug bastards who overtake me in Dulwich Park. By the time I get there I've run a half marathon; but they don't know this, show me no respect and clearly think they've just overtaken a slow fat bloke rather than an athlete on his long slow run.

Anyway, I'll show them.

[ClaireClaire]

Hello,

congrats on getting a place all of you

I did it last year when I was living in Sydenham

On my long runs I used to come down to Dulwich, then along S circular to Clapham, Battersea, and then run along the Embankment before making my way back along the same route

It was a good route, lots of greenery, open space, straight roads, no need to take a map with you! I would usually just take an Oyster card in case I got into trouble and had to get the bus back. I never carried any electronics - not even a watch, actually. Just gatorade.

Taper: I've seen a lot of runners around who are clearly training for the marathon. They're the ones who are out at 11pm on freezing cold nights when everyone else is watching TV indoors, and the ones on the weekend running at a slow steady pace, with expressions of grim determination!

Enjoy the training, everyone.

Claire

[cincinatti kid]

Dulwich and it's surroundings is a great place for marathon training because there are so many parks and green spaces. You can do a loop of, say, nunhead cemetary - peckham rye - dulwich park - crystal palace park - belair park - southbank uni playing fields - finish at brockwell park. Once round each park and that's about 15 miles, which is a good solid marathon training run out and very hilly to boot.