41st Berlin Marathon

adrian522

belcarra wrote: »

Time to reawaken this thread!

Just been thinking about the question of a HM before Berlin myself.
Looking like Longford at the end of August could be the most suitable.
Plan would be to race it and then throw in my last 35k+ run the following weekend before beginning to taper.
At this moment the goal would be to aim for sub 90 which would leave me in a great position for the big day a month later.
Even if I was within 91:30 I'd be quite happy.

Anyone else thinking similarly?

Yep, but I was more thinking Tullamore the previous day than Longford, with a 20 Miler the following weekend,

The other option I was considering was RNR half, which is 8 weeks out but moving away from that line of thought currently.

Whatis your marathon goal for Berlin btw?

belcarra

adrian522 wrote: »

Yep, but I was more thinking Tullamore the previous day than Longford, with a 20 Miler the following weekend,

The other option I was considering was RNR half, which is 8 weeks out but moving away from that line of thought currently.

What is your marathon goal for Berlin btw?

Yeah, I reckon R'n'R is a bit too far out as I want to get an indicator of where I'm at. The 4 weeks 'til Berlin should allow for full recovery from the race effort.

Have you ran Tullamore before Adrian? I know Longford is pretty flat with perhaps a few little bumps. The Sunday will probably suit me better for the race though so likely to be Longford for me.

I'll be vague about goal time until I get through the HM but at this stage my 20:06 in Docklands on Thurs suggests 3:15. I'd be hoping I push on fitness wise and that I might be in a position to consider 3:10 in September, but as I say I'll need to assess that properly much later in the training.

adrian522

Pretty much same as myself then. 20:06 from Enfield a few weeks back, though an obvious danger in using a 5K to predict a marathon time!

Were you going to race the Frank Duffy 10 Mile or the Mullingar 10 Mile?

No, never done either Tullamore or Longford, Saturday race would suit me better though not supposed to be exactly flat.

belcarra

adrian522 wrote: »

Were you going to race the Frank Duffy 10 Mile or the Mullingar 10 Mile?

I'm working back from Berlin in my plans so that's the next thing to sort out!

wowzer

There's a 10 mile in monaghan exactly 6 weeks out from Berlin. I think this will be my only race in the build up to Berlin.

Is racing a half marathon four weeks out a good idea?

belcarra

wowzer wrote: »

There's a 10 mile in monaghan exactly 6 weeks out from Berlin. I think this will be my only race in the build up to Berlin.

Is racing a half marathon four weeks out a good idea?

I was thinking about that 10 miler but dates don't suit now.

I'd have no worries about racing the HM 4 weeks out as I've done far more other times!
It all depends on what your relevant experience is and how many miles you have covered.
They say to rest a day per mile raced which would mean less than two weeks.

loughie

Ran RockNRoll half and Tullamore Half before Berlin last year. Worked out really well.

I'm doing Berlin again this year and will run those two halfs again this year.

Half 4 weeks out should be fine.

sideswipe

Just noticed this thread bump. Think I'll be sticking to 10 km to 10 mile tune up races. Looks like there might be a few of us aiming for similar times- would there be much interest in a meet up for one of the longer marathon paced run at some stage of the next few weeks?

annapr

Great to see this thread and good luck to everyone heading to Berlin... was there as a spectator/supporter last year and it's an amazing event and great city... and there was a great bunch of boardsies there last year (Hi Belcarra and Loughie) and no doubt will be again this year. You'll all have a day to remember (hopefully all good).

adrian522

sideswipe wrote: »

Just noticed this thread bump. Think I'll be sticking to 10 km to 10 mile tune up races. Looks like there might be a few of us aiming for similar times- would there be much interest in a meet up for one of the longer marathon paced run at some stage of the next few weeks?

Yeah, I'd be up for that, but I signed up for Rock N Roll Half today with the intention on using that as a marathon pace session, but I'm up for meeting up for sure.

adrian522

annapr wrote: »

Great to see this thread and good luck to everyone heading to Berlin... was there as a spectator/supporter last year and it's an amazing event and great city... and there was a great bunch of boardsies there last year (Hi Belcarra and Loughie) and no doubt will be again this year. You'll all have a day to remember (hopefully all good).

Thanks Anna, really looking forward to it, trying not to get too excited about it yet.

I'll arrive on Friday afternoon, hopefully hit up the expo straight from the airport. Do the breakfast run on Saturday morning, other than that no plans.

Travelling over alone but I know a few from the club are doing it and Belcarra too.

Heading home Monday morning I think, which may be a mistake.

Anyone know any apres marathon watering holes?

annapr

adrian522 wrote: »

Thanks Anna, really looking forward to it, trying not to get too excited about it yet.

I'll arrive on Friday afternoon, hopefully hit up the expo straight from the airport. Do the breakfast run on Saturday morning, other than that no plans.

Travelling over alone but I know a few from the club are doing it and Belcarra too.

Heading home Monday morning I think, which may be a mistake.

Anyone know any apres marathon watering holes?

We arrived Friday too, and left Tuesday morning... we really enjoyed sight seeing on Monday when the pressure was off... with thousands of people hobbling around

...as for watering holes... a bit early for that now!!!

adrian522

Probably would have made sense to stay an extra day, may look into that actually...

annapr

adrian522 wrote: »

Probably would have made sense to stay an extra day, may look into that actually...

I would definitely recommend it... you won't be doing much on Saturday and Sunday is all Marathon and watering holes

belcarra

sideswipe wrote: »

Just noticed this thread bump. Think I'll be sticking to 10 km to 10 mile tune up races. Looks like there might be a few of us aiming for similar times- would there be much interest in a meet up for one of the longer marathon paced run at some stage of the next few weeks?

adrian522 wrote: »

Yeah, I'd be up for that, but I signed up for Rock N Roll Half today with the intention on using that as a marathon pace session, but I'm up for meeting up for sure.

I'd also be on for meeting for a run.
I usually try to do my LSRs on Friday afternoons in the Park but if alternative times were more convenient for others I could alter my schedule (hopefully!).
Hoping to do MP (4:40-4:45/km) segments in most of my LSRs from now til September, building from 6km at the moment to about 15km come the end of August.

Kevin - What is your goal time going to be? Sub 3:10?

belcarra

belcarra wrote: »

Have you ran Tullamore before Adrian? I know Longford is pretty flat with perhaps a few little bumps. The Sunday will probably suit me better for the race though so likely to be Longford for me.

OK, so time for change of plans already!
Turns out I am unavailable for the Sunday in Longford now so will be travelling to Tullamore instead.
So, by my reckoning that means Loughie, Adrian, myself and my GF all doing Berlin and all racing Tullamore!
Anyone else??

loughie

Few lads from my club running Berlin too, with plans to do rocknroll and tullamore

adrian522

Are they racing both flat out?

I was thinking of using the RNR half as a MP session. Due to do 16 with 12 @ MP the week before so will use it for that session.

loughie

RNR will be run as an MP and tullamore flat out race but I can see both ending up as races. Raced both last year, tullamore 2 mins quicker than RNR!

sideswipe

belcarra wrote: »

I'd also be on for meeting for a run.
I usually try to do my LSRs on Friday afternoons in the Park but if alternative times were more convenient for others I could alter my schedule (hopefully!).
Hoping to do MP (4:40-4:45/km) segments in most of my LSRs from now til September, building from 6km at the moment to about 15km come the end of August.

Kevin - What is your goal time going to be? Sub 3:10?

Sorry J, just spotted this now. Racing a half next week so will have a better idea of target pace then. Hoping for sub 3:10 alright.

My next MP run is 26th July (16 w/12 @MP), might look for a half to run as a training run- anybody know of any that weekend?

bigslice

I'm down for Berlin myself.

Have a 3.15 target with a PB of 3.21 from Dublin 2013. Depending on training, I might revise the 3.15 to a 3.10 over the next coming weeks.

Was struggling to target a HM to test the legs but some good pointers here.

We have our clubs ten miler (Blayney Rockets 10miler) on 25th July, so it will give me a good pointer as to where I am.

belcarra

How'd you go in the 10 miler bigslice?

belcarra

I've a long run on Sat to negotiate...
34km with final 14km @ MP (4:40/km, 7:30/m)
Anyone else fancy a meetup in the Phoenix Park? I'll be parked near the Castleknock gate.
I'll be there for about 8am (time to be confirmed later in the week)

adrian522

Sounds like a good session. I think if I'm in a state to run long distance this weekend I'll just do the RNR half which I'm signed up to.

I don't think I'd be up for that sort of pace anyway at the moment.

seanin4711

how hard/easy is it to navigate?
thanks
J

belcarra

seanin4711 wrote: »

how hard/easy is it to navigate?
thanks
J

A few of us jumped into a taxi from the airport (Schoenefeld) and went directly to the Expo (Templehof - disused airfield near city centre).
Took about 35mins from what I recall and that was during rush hour.
Ended up with about 45mins to register and check out everything else before closing for the evening. Ideally would have had an extra 15-20mins but we were happy enough.

EDIT: Just looked up GoogleMaps now and the S-Bahn (s-45 route) will have you from the airport (Berlin Schönefeld Airport) to within 400m walk of the expo (S+U Tempelhof) in 28mins.
Add a 5 min walk either end.
Might well go for that this year instead.

seanin4711

belcarra wrote: »

A few of us jumped into a taxi from the airport (Schoenefeld) and went directly to the Expo (Templehof - disused airfield near city centre).
Took about 35mins from what I recall and that was during rush hour.
Ended up with about 45mins to register and check out everything else before closing for the evening. Ideally would have had an extra 15-20mins but we were happy enough.

EDIT: Just looked up GoogleMaps now and the S-Bahn (s-45 route) will have you from the airport (Berlin Schönefeld Airport) to within 400m walk of the expo (S+U Tempelhof) in 28mins.
Add a 5 min walk either end.
Might well go for that this year instead.

fair play!

adrian522

What flights are people getting over this year?

Think I'm on Ryanair, Friday afternoon around 2pm. Anyone else on this flight?

May try and organise a shared taxi to the expo.

bigslice

belcarra wrote: »

How'd you go in the 10 miler bigslice?

Aplogies for not replying belcarra, been offline/on holidays since.

Was a last minute change for the 10 miler and I ran it as a guide for a visually impaired runner. We still went well finishing in 1.10.38 and was first time we ran together, so happy enough. Legs felt great and had a lot more in me.

Under 50 days to go to Berlin, its flying by. Up to 20miles in the long runs and training going well.

belcarra

How are plans ticking along for this?
I ran a slightly disappointing HM in Tullamore on Sat last so have targeted sub 3:20 now and anything else is a bonus.

Last 'long' LSR for me this weekend!