ICYMI BMW Berlin 2016 Marathon Open

Bluesquare

Have signed up for this as part of a team ! Seemed liked a great idea when I didn't think we would get in! Finally got round to booking flights and accomadation . Flying with aerlingus and staying in some chain - oh I know the holiday inn!!

Would ideally like to go sub 4 but will see were the training takes me !

Krusty_Clown

Weather forecast is for 12'C, with some cloud and a light breeze from West-Northwest.



/kidding...

paulers06

How's the training goring for everyone? Not quite where I would like to be but I only have myself to blame. Missed a few good few long runs with weddings, holidays etc. Was hoping to do a 3:35 but that might be dead in the water. Just ordered my shoes for the big day and beginning to get excited.

lmguillou

paulers06 wrote: »

How's the training goring for everyone? Not quite where I would like to be but I only have myself to blame. Missed a few good few long runs with weddings, holidays etc. Was hoping to do a 3:35 but that might be dead in the water. Just ordered my shoes for the big day and beginning to get excited.

So far so good for me, fingers crossed... I actually got a PB on the rocknroll HM in 1:35 so i may aim for something more ambitious in Berlin closer to 3:30 rather than 3:45...the HM was on hilly and very windy course so Berlin being a fast one makes me more optimistic !

Duanington

Steady as she goes for me - I've managed to get through most of the key sessions so far ( tough going at times), haven't missed any runs but had a lacklustre 10 mile race in Mullingar....would have been nice to bag a good time there but I'll just put it down as a good session.

Racing a half this week which should hopefully set me up for another few weeks of good work before taper

Krusty_Clown

Can't believe it's all happening so fast. It feels like training is only really getting going. I'm looking at the calendar, thinking that there's only 6.5 weeks left. Factor in a 2-3 week taper, and... gulp....

Training has been going pretty well, but at this point I have to come to terms with the fact that my target was unrealistic. I'm in good shape, but not nearly good enough shape for what I wanted. But I'm a stubborn fecker, so will see it out, for better or for worse. If nothing else, there'll be lessons learned. Have also signed up for Dublin, so looking forward to running that one at slightly less optimistic pace.

Too early to start talking about watering holes?!

adrian522

Never too early for that!

Ruu

8 hour ultra this weekend for my long run, half the following weekend.

adrian522

My training is progressing well. Like Duanington above, I'd a poor 10 Mile race in July but running Tullamore half in a few weeks so hopefully get a better idea from that.

tailgunner

Training is going well for me. I'm signed up for a half marathon this weekend, but can't make that now, so I'm just going to keep plugging away for the next few weeks and give it a good lash. Aiming for sub-4, which I'm hoping is a conservative goal for my first marathon.

Bluesquare

Training going okay - not in sub 4 condition though . Rock n roll half didn't really go as planned so looking to re- think target. Getting nervous , accidentally applied for Dublin yesterday as well. Whoops

Krusty_Clown

Bluesquare wrote: »

Training going okay - not in sub 4 condition though . Rock n roll half didn't really go as planned so looking to re- think target. Getting nervous , accidentally applied for Dublin yesterday as well. Whoops

I wouldn't let that be a determining factor. R&R was not set-up for individual success, between the heat, head-wind, and uphill nature of the course. Few managed to achieve what they hoped they might, before they crossed the start-line.

davedanon

I ran 1:35:16 in the RnR, but I'm quite sanguine about my prospects for Berlin. Beforehand I told myself that 1:35 would be a good performance in the conditions, and I know I had something left at the finish, even with a decent sprint to the line. With a few weeks to go yet, and key sessions to come, I'm reasonably happy with my preparation.

lmguillou

davedanon wrote: »

I ran 1:35:16 in the RnR, but I'm quite sanguine about my prospects for Berlin. Beforehand I told myself that 1:35 would be a good performance in the conditions, and I know I had something left at the finish, even with a decent sprint to the line. With a few weeks to go yet, and key sessions to come, I'm reasonably happy with my preparation.

I also finished around that time on Sunday and had the same feeling as you after the finish so i d be interested to know what is your objective for Berlin ?

davedanon

lmguillou wrote: »

I also finished around that time on Sunday and had the same feeling as you after the finish so i d be interested to know what is your objective for Berlin ?

I'm looking to run :10. If you ran 1:35 on that pig of a course/day, you should have no trouble whatever running sub-3:30.

Bluesquare

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

I wouldn't let that be a determining factor. R&R was not set-up for individual success, between the heat, head-wind, and uphill nature of the course. Few managed to achieve what they hoped they might, before they crossed the start-line.

I knew before r&r fitness was not up to where it should be - ran Fingal in 50:47 the two weeks previous . I was happy with the performance and was hoping to do R&R in 155 factoring in the hills. Made a mess of the race and let the little man in my head talk me out of pushing too hard and just scraped sub 2 by the skin of my teeth! So I'm thinking now 4:10 might be a reasonable target . 26.2 miles seems an awful long way. Also what distance should I add on to the end to come up with an average pace to take the race distance versus Garmin distance into account ? For instance R&R I clocked 21.35 on my Garmin - so Berlin should I expect to clock 42.7 or some variation or because of the more circular nature of the course the difference won't be that much !!

Krusty_Clown

Bluesquare wrote: »

I knew before r&r fitness was not up to where it should be - ran Fingal in 50:47 the two weeks previous . I was happy with the performance and was hoping to do R&R in 155 factoring in the hills. Made a mess of the race and let the little man in my head talk me out of pushing too hard and just scraped sub 2 by the skin of my teeth! So I'm thinking now 4:10 might be a reasonable target . 26.2 miles seems an awful long way. Also what distance shoukd I add on to the end to come up with an average pace to take the race distance versus Garmin distance into account ? For instance R&R I clocked 21.35 on my Garmin - so Berlin should I expect to clock 42.7 or some variation or because of the more circular nature of the course the difference won't be that much !!

Hi Bluesquare, you really can't rely on Garmin pace in Berlin marathon. Too many tall buildings. Far better to print off a pace band, use your Garmin like a stop-watch and check your pace at the various km markers on the course.

davedanon

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Hi Bluesquare, you really can't rely on Garmin pace in Berlin marathon. Too many tall buildings. Far better to print off a pace band, use your Garmin like a stop-watch and check your pace at the various km markers on the course.

Is it marked in miles as well?

Krusty_Clown

davedanon wrote: »

Is it marked in miles as well?

Haven't done it in 5-6 years, but it wasn't back then (IIRC) so I wouldn't think it will be now. Bloody europeans!

Bluesquare

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Hi Bluesquare, you really can't rely on Garmin pace in Berlin marathon. Too many tall buildings. Far better to print off a pace band, use your Garmin like a stop-watch and check your pace at the various km markers on the course.

Will do thanks . Better practice the new marathon pace so!

davedanon

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Haven't done it in 5-6 years, but it wasn't back then (IIRC) so I wouldn't think it will be now. Bloody europeans!

Noooo. Now I have anxiety!

ClashCityRocker

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Hi Bluesquare, you really can't rely on Garmin pace in Berlin marathon. Too many tall buildings. Far better to print off a pace band, use your Garmin like a stop-watch and check your pace at the various km markers on the course.

Yeah my garmin went haywire at around 20 miles last year, it had me running a couple of 5 min miles. Sadly im not quite that fast...

paulers06

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Hi Bluesquare, you really can't rely on Garmin pace in Berlin marathon. Too many tall buildings. Far better to print off a pace band, use your Garmin like a stop-watch and check your pace at the various km markers on the course.

Good to know. I rely on my Garmin for pace far more than I should.

Duanington

paulers06 wrote: »

Good to know. I rely on my Garmin for pace far more than I should.

Have to admit that I'm guilty of this too - even though I run quite a bit without the watch. Pace bands it is so !

Question re gels - its not Berlin specific obviously but how is everyone planning on carrying them on the day? I'm dreading the thoughts of using a gel belt again, I found the thing shifting all over the place on the day last year (DCM) so I'm contemplating getting creative with some velcro tape this time around.

Krusty_Clown

Duanington wrote: »

Have to admit that I'm guilty of this too - even though I run quite a bit without the watch. Pace bands it is so !

Question re gels - its not Berlin specific obviously but how is everyone planning on carrying them on the day? I'm dreading the thoughts of using a gel belt again, I found the thing shifting all over the place on the day last year (DCM) so I'm contemplating getting creative with some velcro tape this time around.

Have really gone off the gels in recent years, but will likely carry one or two in pockets in shorts. IIRC they hand out PowerBar gels on course - but again, it's been some 5-6 years since I last competed in this race.

*Edit*: yep, was still PowerBar last year.

adrian522

Duanington wrote: »

Have to admit that I'm guilty of this too - even though I run quite a bit without the watch. Pace bands it is so !

Question re gels - its not Berlin specific obviously but how is everyone planning on carrying them on the day? I'm dreading the thoughts of using a gel belt again, I found the thing shifting all over the place on the day last year (DCM) so I'm contemplating getting creative with some velcro tape this time around.

I'm going to pin the gels to my shorts like below, but to the pocket rather than the waistband. Tried this for RNR half and it worked ok. I need to see how it feels at race pace though.

http://coachlevi.com/running/how-to-pin-energy-gels-to-your-running-shorts/

tailgunner

Ingenious.

davedanon

I use a gel belt. It's ok, but when it's fully loaded it does give off that 'about to slip down/fall off feeling'. A chap in the club has a pair of shorts with four deep, narrow pockets that take a gel each (High5 isogels). might investigate that.

Ososlo

Best shorts with pockets for gels. They are perfect, you can't go wrong.

http://www.ultramarathonrunningstore.com/Mens-Running-Shorts-With-Pockets-s/1831.htm

davedanon

Ososlo wrote: »

Best shorts with pockets for gels. They are perfect, you can't go wrong.

http://www.ultramarathonrunningstore.com/Mens-Running-Shorts-With-Pockets-s/1831.htm

Cheers.