Do cursory stretching despite making resolution to sort out my inflexibility. Will have to put more effort in or I’ll really suffer post marathon.
Join the VARR boys and girls for an evening session. Get there a little late and Rick’s in full flow. Have a quick word with Helen and Russ; they seem agreed that it was somewhere between miles 19 and 22 that got them. Not sure how I can avoid that other than skipping from mile 18 to 23 – not literally skipping ‘cos that would look silly, though you can’t half move quickly if you adopt the skipping technique (when nobody’s looking). Had a chat with Andy Scott earlier in the day – he reckons when he’s failed to bring it home it’s usually down to nutrition/hydration. A gel every twenty minutes is his recommendation. This seems a bit extreme, but with the Lucozade sports stations and gel stations it may be possible to get some sort of nutrition into the system pretty regularly. Also need to bear in mind the “don’t do anything different” advice though. The main reason for not gulping down gels on my long runs is financial rather than choice. Must look at buying in bulk if I ever do this again.
Helen is not dressed for running but demonstrates her post marathon shuffle. Russ just seems to be running normally. He obviously didn’t run the marathon hard enough! Michael and I have a quick chat and decide to use Helen as role model post London.
Groups 4 and 5 are combined and I tag along and find myself on the canal at Armley Mills. Déjà vu. Blimey my computer speaks French; pity it couldn’t manage some simple Spanish the other day. We head out of town as a group at a brisk pace and turn round after three miles and charge back. I’m surprisingly chipper considering how knackered I was after Mondays’ run. Put it down to competitive spirit as I certainly wouldn’t have gone back that fast on my own. Thanks Sam for keeping me going. Not sure how useful a fast fifth mile at London would be, but you never know.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
...a gel every 20 minutes is more than extreme! for a 3.30 marathon no more gels should be required, unless it's for comfort issues ;-) ...and with so many people handing out jelly babies on the route better to munch some of those than gels!
ReplyDeleteLucozade stations...that lucozade tends to be so sweet! Scientifically proven as well, better sip it in your mouth and spit, has the same effect in the brain as taking it down and drink water instead.