London Marathon 2016

AAD

I was looking for a 20 mile race before the main marathon and this looks like a winner. Flights to Bristol are only €45 return and there's an ibis in Gloucester so happy days might jump in this one.

Clearlier

robinph wrote: »

I wouldn't be too worried about missing the Bath Half entry. I don't like the look of the course as it's two laps but with a nasty short hill on each one, and unless you are sub 1:20'ish I've seen that you get caught up in overcrowding at the point where lap two people start going past lap one people on what is too narrow a road with cones down the middle so people will just be randomly hopping between them as their side of the road gets too busy.

Bath is also very expensive and a pain to drive to.

There are plenty of other good half marathons out there but I think that it might be in order to correct a couple of misperceptions. I've only run it once back in 2011 but according to the website the course hasn't changed since 2006.

There aren't any hills at all on the course. A couple of very gentle inclines perhaps but that's all and I say that as someone who has a tendency to make a mountain out of a molehill when running as I'm pretty poor going uphill.

I ran 1:27 that day and I certainly did lap a few people but there wasn't any hint of congestion at any stage of the race aside from the starting line.

It's a big event which brings its own issues with corrals and the like especially as at that time of the year it can be absolutely freezing.

It's a genuinely fast course - the quickest that I've even run but I don't expect to go back unless I've improved to the point where I can get an elite entry as I hate hanging around getting cold for half an hour before a race.

robinph

I just don't like Bath.

robinph

Here is a question for the local London residents. What route would be the best to take to get between Paddington and The Strand when travelling with a co-passenger using wheels (a fairly large running buggy)?

Also getting from The Strand to ExCeL as well, but appears that all of the DLR stations are accessible so a bit less of a challenge except for the station to use in central London. We are also trying to figure out which parkrun we can get to on the Saturday with the buggy too.

robinph

Here is a question for the local London residents. What route would be the best to take to get between Paddington and The Strand when travelling with a co-passenger using wheels (a fairly large running buggy)?

Also getting from The Strand to ExCeL as well, but appears that all of the DLR stations are accessible so a bit less of a challenge except for the station to use in central London. We are also trying to figure out which parkrun we can get to on the Saturday with the buggy too.

Woden

I'd probably just take the tube from Paddington. I'm not on it much these days but the newer trains which I think are on the circle line would have space for the buggy if its not rush hour. Although it would be a longer trip than on the bakerloo e.g.

Circle line to monument or tower hill to connect onto the DLR for Excel.

Parkrun wise I don't know it as well but it will be early on sat so you should be fine. You could do the Highbury one which was my local one. It's right at the exit of Highbury & Islington station (Circle line back to Victoria and Victoria line to H&I). Course is not great though. Its 5 and a bit laps around Highbury fields

http://www.parkrun.org.uk/highburyfields/

Picadilly line to the Finsbury park one perhaps also. I've not done this one though

Update: This will involve lifting the buggy up and down some stairs though

robinph

I found a document showing stations with lift access between street and platform, but it's not clear if it is possible to get from the platform out again from Embankment station, or if there are stairs how many. I know District / Circle are not deep lines so shouldn't be much in the way of escalators or stairs, but it's not obvious if I could get out of the station.

I know Charring Cross is to be avoided on post marathon Monday due to the steps.

Woden

So embankment at least has an escalator that goes up to street level so its not step free in that sense and I believe some stairs also. I've come across this tfl guide which has more information than I knew existed..

http://content.tfl.gov.uk/step-free-tube-guide-map.pdf

robinph

They were saying on the Chris Evans radio show this morning that this year will see the 1,000,000th finisher of the London Marathon. They also said there will be some way of finding out what number finisher you were in the history of the marathon and buying a tshirt with that on. Not too bothered about the tshirt, but if that means they have got the results for previous years available now and I will then be able to find out what time I actually did back in '96 I'll be happy.

To be the 1milionth finisher you'll need to finish in about 35,000th place this year, which is going to be pretty much last.

Edit: Here's the link to what it's all about:

https://www.virginmoneylondonmarathon.com/en-gb/news-media/latest-news/item/millionth-finisher-in-2016/

Woden

Just to close out the above. For trips (particularly with multiple people) Uber is very good here and can work out to be not much more and will eliminate the hassle of the tube (with buggy) its worth looking into that. You can get a fare estimate before you commit and its not like Dublin where the fare is the same price of the cab. Also if you're a first time user there is usually codes for £10-20 free credit. Avoid the black cabs. For fixed fare minicabs you can look at the Kabee app.

Also for anyone looking to get around get the citymapper app for your phone and just plug in where you want to get to. Also available on the web e.g.

https://citymapper.com/london/?start=51.515994,-0.176174&saddr=Paddington&end=51.507242,-0.12236&eaddr=Embankment

tomred1N

Got an email regarding a cancellation Tour entry for London on Tuesday .

Decided to dive in as I had been considering it before XMAS but price was putting me off and I have a GFA for 2017.

As I was considering other marathons in April I have mesocycle 1 of P&D 18w/55M complete last Sunday ( excluding the MP miles in 2 long runs , just didn't have the drive to complete them without a specific target )

Looking forward to it now but reality of having to train harder to keep an upward improvement curve going has just dawned on me....... as I postpone an 11 miler till tomorrow evening due to being wrecked tired :eek:

ooter

Just got an email to say that due to the large number of people who have qualified with good for age times, they have had to move some runners to a different start, anyone know if this has happened before, hopefully it doesn't effect me?
It doesn't say that I have been moved, just that I have been issued with a new number.

robinph

Just got the same myself with a new number but nothing specifically saying about moving start.

Depends on what category the sudden increase in numbers is due to, is it more women with sub 3:45, or more men with sub 3:05, or more other age categories. It's most likely just a move between the red and green starts, which I think previously has been sub 3:15'ish for red and any other GFA categories on green.

Bulmers74

Got the same mail.
When the say about receiving your registration in March does this come via email or to your 'home address'?

robinph

Bulmers74 wrote: »

Got the same mail.
When the say about receiving your registration in March does this come via email or to your 'home address'?

Yes, it will be to your home address and you'll be needing the paper form that they send you at that point in order to collect the number.

ooter

I was in London yesterday and flew in and out of Gatwick, bought an all day travel ticket that covered me on trains, tube and bus, it cost £15/16 and was fine for getting around but I heard an announcement in one of the stations about contactless payment.
I'm flying in to Gatwick for the marathon and will be heading out to the expo and then to my digs near Charing cross, would I be better using contactless payment or is there a 2 day/weekend ticket I'd be better off buying?

Bulmers74

Booked flights & hotel today
Where's the boardsies after party??

Woden

ooter wrote: »

I was in London yesterday and flew in and out of Gatwick, bought an all day travel ticket that covered me on trains, tube and bus, it cost £15/16 and was fine for getting around but I heard an announcement in one of the stations about contactless payment.
I'm flying in to Gatwick for the marathon and will be heading out to the expo and then to my digs near Charing cross, would I be better using contactless payment or is there a 2 day/weekend ticket I'd be better off buying?

How did you get from Gatwick to central London Ooter? I'm not on the public transport regularly these days so just use my contactless cards. These should be capped at a daily rate: http://content.tfl.gov.uk/adult-fares.pdf They recently started doing contactless cards from Gatwick on regular services and Gatwick express. https://tfl.gov.uk/campaign/pay-as-you-go-to-gatwick?intcmp=35637

However if its an Irish card watch out you may get done with a foreign transaction charge every time you use it and might be better off with an Oyster card and putting some credit on that.

ooter

Yeah it's an Irish card and I do get charged a currency transaction fee so that's obviously something to factor in.
I wasn't travelling in to central London yesterday, just out to Wembley stadium and back.

Polster

ooter wrote: »

Yeah it's an Irish card and I do get charged a currency transaction fee so that's obviously something to factor in.
I wasn't travelling in to central London yesterday, just out to Wembley stadium and back.

I would suggest getting an oyster card, think they are £3, can get that back if you return it, but best just keep hold of it for future trips, never know. Once you top up, the maximum daily charge on Oyster trips around London which includes buses, tubes, london overground, dlr, tram, river boat is about £11. You can mix and match journeys on the above modes. So definitely worth having in my opinion. Likewise it is capped if you use contactless, but as pointed out, best not use a foreign contactless card for travel over here.

It's a bit of piece of mind also that you are somewhat protected on being charged huge amounts, and if you are overcharged, they will automatically refund that back onto your card in a few days, so keep that card :-)

Hope the training is going good for everyone.

Polster

Woden wrote: »

Cool that's good to know. The Vitality series in generally is a bit pricey. On the 20th March also is the North London half which is £40 or so. Similar to the Hackney half (although i'll continue to do this as its my local borough and nice to do). These are almost twice the price of Fleet.

No worries on Bath I thought I could dovetail in a weekend away and we have some friends down there to stay with but perhaps next year.

Doing North London, finishing in Wembley stadium will be a decent touch to it. Doing Silverstone half the week before, done if before, lovely surface but bit out in the middle of no where. Did Eton Dorney in gales a few weeks ago, perfectly flat but if the wind is up, tough. Eton Dorney have a marathon prep day on April 3rd, 16/20 and 24 miles, £18. Depends on your psyche as it is 5k laps of the lake, so around and around you go, I quiet enjoyed my half there, pushing for 4 individual 5k's that were easy to pace.

Anyway, best of luck to everyone running London :-)

ooter

Polster wrote: »

I would suggest getting an oyster card, think they are £3, can get that back if you return it, but best just keep hold of it for future trips, never know. Once you top up, the maximum daily charge on Oyster trips around London which includes buses, tubes, london overground, dlr, tram, river boat is about £11. You can mix and match journeys on the above modes. So definitely worth having in my opinion. Likewise it is capped if you use contactless, but as pointed out, best not use a foreign contactless card for travel over here.

It's a bit of piece of mind also that you are somewhat protected on being charged huge amounts, and if you are overcharged, they will automatically refund that back onto your card in a few days, so keep that card :-)

Hope the training is going good for everyone.

Thanks polster, will definitely look in to getting an oyster card.
Do you have a link to that £11 maximum daily charge?
From what I can see it will cost me £6.50 from Gatwick airport to zone 2 and then a cap on travel between zones 1-3 of £7.60 so £14.10 for the day.

robinph

ooter wrote: »

Thanks polster, will definitely look in to getting an oyster card.
Do you have a link to that £11 maximum daily charge?
From what I can see it will cost me £6.50 from Gatwick airport to zone 2 and then a cap on travel between zones 1-3 of £7.60 so £14.10 for the day.

Here is a table of the adult capped fares for the various zones:
http://content.tfl.gov.uk/adult-fares.pdf
https://tfl.gov.uk/fares-and-payments/fares

Polster

Good info from Robin above, this is also a very good resource for finding what the cost of a single fair from anywhere to anywhere in London will cost, can save a lot of money, rather than for example spending 16-20 quid on a Gatwick express to just get you to central London, you could get a fair for about a tenner to a specific spot/underground station.

https://tfl.gov.uk/fares-and-payments/fares/single-fare-finder

RubyK

How is everyones training going for London? Can't believe how quickly the weeks are going by, and the marathon is next month :eek:

Polster

RubyK wrote: »

How is everyones training going for London? Can't believe how quickly the weeks are going by, and the marathon is next month :eek:

Training is good, 70 miles last week, averaging 50-55/week this year, started in earnest back in October.

Looking forward already to taper and the day itself, should be good, and a nice cold beer or two afterwards. My fingers and shins have been cracking up under the cold though.

How about yourself?

robinph

I was trying to ignore that it was getting that close. :eek:

Training is going badly. Not injured or anything, which is good. But have very few miles run, very few long runs done, very little of anything done and struggling to generate the will to head out the door and run right now.

RubyK

Polster wrote: »

Training is good, 70 miles last week, averaging 50-55/week this year, started in earnest back in October.

Looking forward already to taper and the day itself, should be good, and a nice cold beer or two afterwards. My fingers and shins have been cracking up under the cold though.

How about yourself?

Nice mileage Polster!! You must be looking forward to it.

I'm sticking to the plan, but I'm finding myself working hard on the long runs to make the planned training paces.

robinph wrote: »

I was trying to ignore that it was getting that close. :eek:

Training is going badly. Not injured or anything, which is good. But have very few miles run, very few long runs done, very little of anything done and struggling to generate the will to head out the door and run right now.

Not having any niggles is a big positive. It's hard training in this cold windy weather alright. Still lots of time for long runs

Polster

RubyK wrote: »

Not having any niggles is a big positive. It's hard training in this cold windy weather alright. Still lots of time for long runs

Aye, trained on my own two years ago, with a local club now in North London, pack of lunatics training for Manchester/Brighton and London. I have peaked twice at this stage since starting, had all sorts of niggles and come back again, just hope I manage to time it right and get to the start line fit. A lot different to my last time anyway when I followed the virgin marathon intermediate plan which worked a treat in the end.

AAD

Looking forward to it now, training has been difficult. Tore my calf in January and have been struggling if the truth be told. Ran the Dune half two weeks ago and got on grand, the walled city 10 mile on Saturday is next up.

I'm heading to London on the 2nd if April so will hopefully get to 20 miles that day on the course route. Fingers crossed.