London Marathon 2013 - help!

[edresident]

Hi - I decided to try for a place in the London Marathon - I'm about to turn 40 and have a charitable cause very close to my heart so thought I'd do something dramatic and apply through the charity for a place - even though I am not much of a runner and my fitness levels are pretty hopeless (2 small kids!)

I got a place!

I'm determined to do it and so I need some serious help.

Any advice on what to do would be very welcome - I was thinking of getting a personal trainer??

Has anyone gone from being a very basic level runner to running it successfully in the time that I now have?

x

[Pickle]

It's possible, but be prepared to put in a lot of hard work! My recommendation would be to get yourself to the level of happily running 5-10km (whether by following a programme yourself, or using a trainer - Liz Stuart does running courses I think and is great). Once you're at that level, join a running club.

I used to run with Dulwich Park Runners, and trained for the London marathon with them. There was always an influx of new members a few months before the marathon who were welcomed. The experienced runners will help with training schedules, and it means there are plenty of people to keep you company (and motivated) as you do your weekly long run.

Good luck!

[ifnobodyspeaks]

Good luck! I have a place too, and am slightly worried about what I have taken on. If anyone fancies doing some long weekend runs together let me know - I'm slow (recent half marathon in 2hr10). I'm also thinking about joining a local running club to keep me motivated, so if anyone has any recommendations or will act as a friendly face to get me started in a new group then please drop me a line.

Thanks!

[HollieES]

Hi all...I got a marathon place too (eek) and am currently following the 24 week beginners programme from the Virgin website. I'm on week 3 so am running between 20-30 minutes (between 2-3 miles) every evening at the moment. Would you fancy joining forces and running together some evenings, or maybe even just doing the long weekend run together in the future?

PM me if you're interested in doing this.

Hollie x

[taper]

First thing: you have enough time to get to London in a position to finish and finish well.

There are lots of training plans out there. I would join the Runners World Forum online and lurk around or join one of the VLM groups. Lots of tips there and support. Check out Jeff Galloway's walk run plans.

I would consider joining a running group. Depends on your character. I am a lone runner and can run for over three hours happy in my own company. But a group like Dulwich Park Runners will give you a lot of support and encouragement if that's what you need.

But before all of that, get down to a good running shop and get yourself the right shoes. You will need them and the wrong ones will bugger up your bones. And build up your miles and running frequency. By March you will need to be running three or four times a week, with a long run of at least 15 miles. Your last long run should be at least twenty.

[cupatea]

I agree with Taper that you should be ok as long as you start fairly sharpish. When I got my place a few years ago I was only doing the odd jog and during the November I upped it to about 3 x 45 minute runs per week. Then I started the official marathon training programme (which was in the magazine that was sent to us) and followed it religiously for the 17 or so weeks that it ran for.

My advice is : buy very good shoes. Try run and become near st James park tube. They are excellent.

Mix up your runs with some slow jogs, some runs over mix of terrain, some interval runs (fast for 2 mins, slow for 2 mins etc), some hill sprints (sprint up jog down) and a long run once a week increasing your distance each week until 3 weeks before.

I trained mostly by myself but laterally joined an Adidas group and ran with them in Hyde park which was fun. Also post marathon joined the Serpentine running club which is also great.

Good luck with your training. I loved running London so much I signed up for New York and ran it 7 mOnths later!

[edresident]

Hi everyone - thank you so much for your replies. It's all very helpful. Hollie - I will PM you x

[KidKruger]

If you can cover the distance at least once before the event it'll work wonders for confidence on the day.

[Sandperson]

You'll be fine, you should be getting up to about 10-12 miles in one go by Christmas/New Year and then get onto a 16 week programme which suits your level or target time at that point. The usual recommendation for building up distance is adding around 10% per week to your runs. But up to half marathon I found adding about a mile a week was doable and worked well. Remember to mix your training up with a shortish 3-4 mile run at a good pace, an interval session and then your long run and if you can do more runs in a week all the better. Good luck.

[Earl Aelfheah]

I got a place too! Currently running around 20 miles a week with a 9 mile long run. I read somewhere that your long run should be between one quarter and one third of your weekly total, but certainly not as much as a half. Is this right? As I progress in my training, I really only intended to increase the distance of my long run (with the other runs remaining relatively short, but increasing in intensity). Any advice appreciated. This is my first marathon (I?ve only been running since May), so I don?t have any experience of training for something like this. Thanks

[Earl Aelfheah]

Oh, by the way, check out the post on Home Run London. If any ED marathoners fancy adding their vote for a new route, that would be great.

[Earl Aelfheah]

HollieES Wrote:

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> currently following the 24 week beginners

> programme from the Virgin website. I'm on week 3

Shouldn't you be on week 2, or have I got th race date wrong?