Aug 2019
9:15am, 23 Aug 2019
2,313 posts
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B Rubble
As I've said on the GFA thread I've missed out this year, caught on both of the new rules. I'm thinking about doing Manchester instead, or maybe even Boston.
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Aug 2019
9:21am, 23 Aug 2019
4,155 posts
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Windsor Wool
Really a bit shocked by that ^ BR. Really sorry....
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Aug 2019
9:30am, 23 Aug 2019
2,314 posts
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B Rubble
Thanks WW. TBH I thought 42s was a bit tight. 2 minutes out in the end so no thoughts of if I had pushed a little bit harder, I wasn't going to get 3:12 on the day unless I had maintained my 3:10 starting pace - which I tried.
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Aug 2019
9:41am, 23 Aug 2019
4,156 posts
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Windsor Wool
that’s it isn’t it? As long as you’ve run as fast as you could on the day then no regrets.
I suppose one thing that the GFA targets do is to serve as targets when things aren’t going perfectly on the day.
Manchester is defo a faster course...
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Aug 2019
9:59am, 23 Aug 2019
8,376 posts
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larkim
I reckon with a margin of safety built in, I need 3:06:30 to have >80% confidence of getting in as a 45-49yo - London was fast this year, so there'll be a good chunk of decent times set there which are eligible for the 2021 entry, plus this autumn and next spring everyone running now knows that 3:09:59 just won't cut it.
That's at the top end of my hopes, so it'd better be decent weather!!
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Aug 2019
10:09am, 23 Aug 2019
6,591 posts
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paul the builder
BR - sorry to hear that. Good luck getting a wee bit faster (or older) for 2021
WW - that'd be my attitude too (run as fast as you can, and then see what you get later with no regrets). But then jda had written: ""There will probably be a lot of people thinking they could have gone 30s quicker if they knew they had to...""
Really? Who coasts in the last part of a marathon (unless the wheels are entirely off, and you're grabbing cans from spectators)?
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Aug 2019
10:18am, 23 Aug 2019
4,157 posts
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Windsor Wool
lark - is that right? VLM times from 2019 will still be eligible for 2021 applications?
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Aug 2019
10:20am, 23 Aug 2019
8,377 posts
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larkim
In my head, that's about pacing the first 13-18 miles or so. If GFA was your sole aim and towards the top end of your expectations (though not unrealistically so), you'd plan a first half at GFA pace (with say 30s comfort) and then work hard in the 2nd half to get out whatever you can - whether that's 3 minutes inside, sneaking it by a few seconds or finding it too hard and missing out.
If you have to take off a further 30s then you'd run that first half quicker, or be banking on being able to find it in the second half. No-one cruises the last bit of a marathon (unless that is their aim, of course), but you could lose a GFA place by planning too soft a pace in the first half by mistake, before you get to the hard part.
So for me if 3:06:30 is the target, I'd have to be looking at 1:33 first half and crossing my fingers that I can maintain that to the end - I ought to be able to do that, but I wouldn't be 100% confident. If 3:10 was the target, I'd probably go for 1:34:30 and potentially be hoping that I could run 1:32:xx to the finish on a great day, but a secure 1:34:30 on an average day and tolerate a 1:35:29 on a day when things don't quite go to plan.
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Aug 2019
10:22am, 23 Aug 2019
8,378 posts
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larkim
Isn't that the way it works WW? Spring marathons have eligibility for 2 iterations, Autumn ones only once?
From their page, the window for this year was 1 January 2018 and 6 August 2019, so 2018 and 2019 VLM eligible for 2020. Though the time / age bracket has to match on race day etc.
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Aug 2019
10:25am, 23 Aug 2019
5,031 posts
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jda
PTB, you only have to look at finishing times. About 200 people finished in 2:59:xx in London, versus 100 at 3:00:xx. And about 150 in 2:57:xx. I'm not saying many of them were coasting, but it certainly looks like some found something extra just to duck under the threshold. If there had been a big reward for sub-2:47 this spring I would have certainly tried a bit harder towards the end, though I can't absolutely guarantee I would have made it.
There's always a difficult judgement to make with "as fast as you can" in any race, and a marathon really exaggerates this. None of us really know what "as fast as you can" is on the start-line, it's a balancing act between optimism, ambition, realism, and the penalty for failure.
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