SKME2013 Member

The taper is really important, so take it seriously. Eat a lot of carbs the last week and drink a lot of water. I just finished my fifth marathon (Berlin) and for the first time I took the carb loading seriously. I qualified for Boston. Best of luck with your marathon!

Thanks Iporter229 for your kind words. I have not applied for the 2018 race but was hoping that my result of a 2:30 buffer will be enough to qualify for 2019. If not...in 2020 I turn 55 and this gives me 10 minutes more. Time will tell, perhaps the buffer time goes down for 2019? It seems like it always alternated between…

I just ran the Berlin marathon and qualified with a buffer of 2:30. Until today I was confident to make it into Boston in 2019. Guess I can forget about it...bummer as my next marathon is in Vancouver (where I live) and that is not exactly the fastest race as it is quite hilly.

I use the high-end Polar V800 and am super happy with it. I believe you can't go wrong with Garmin but you might want to look at the Polar products as well.

Best of luck to all of you Boston runners!!!

Training for a couple of half marathons over the next couple of weeks, a marathon in Vancouver, B.C. in May and hoping to qualify for Boston at the Berlin marathon in September

I am a runner, training for marathons more or less the whole year around, with a very short break over winter, where I run only three to four times per week. Strength training and cross exercising are supplemental for me, so running comes first. My mileage per week is around 60 miles.

I am running the Berlin marathon in 2017 and want to qualify for Boston. Otherwise, stay the same I am: happy, healthy, content and positive. Stef.

Yes different runs for different goals. Some of my short runs are: either recovery (after a race); hill repeats or tempo runs. My mid-long runs are often race pace and my long run is long and easy. Also do not build up volume too quickly or you run the risk of an overuse injury.

Buying the wrong shoes

I had a similar issue with pain at the outside of my knee. It turned out to be peroneus longus tendonitis, which is an inflammation of the tendon that attached the muscle to the knee. I saw a sports therapist of it who gave me massages, ultrasound treatment and exercises to do. I did not take it too seriously to begin with…

I have personally not tried it, but I have read: use razor foam and rub it in. Do not wash it off. Apparently that helps against fogging up.

I run more or less the whole year around as my race season starts in February and ends at the end of November. But...I do not target all of these races. I ran two marathons this year, but only the second one was full effort. I also did 5 halfs, but only two of them were full effort and a couple of 10Ks. I believe your body…

If it is a charity race than yes otherwise no. I prefer to wear something that I am used to and with new shirts you never know.

I am in the same situation as you. Two halfs in two days. I have just completed my third marathon and ran 7 halfs this year. I will take the first one as my "serious" one and the second as a slow recovery run. The reason why I signed up for both: the first one is great for a new personal best time while the second one is a…

Eggs with mustard- love it!

Iuse my food scale daily as I had realised that I underestimated my portions regularly.

I usually run in the mornings before breakfast, but...if I go for a long run over 15km than I will have breakfast before. Also, two weeks or so before a race I try to change my running times to the times the race will take place. Stef.

I use the top end Polar sports watch V800. For somebody to begin with exercise I would recommend the Polar M400 or a Garmin watch. Be aware: these watches work fine for cardio but not so much for weight training. You will use them with a heart rate monitor.

Diet for losing weight, strength training for looking good and cardio for overall fitness. I do all three, but I prefer cardio as I am a marathon runner.

No icing before a workout. I agree with the above, get it checked out if it seems to be different to normal soreness. Working out with an injury is not a good idea.

I work out approximately 10 days and then have a rest day. I have been doing this for a long time with no problem. But I do not do the same thing every day. I cross exercise regularly. Sleep is equally important to proper nutrition. Finally, as already mentioned, listen to your body and do not ignore aches and pain.

It depends on what you're interested in. Personally I prefer to do a lot of my exercise outside. I'm very much into running and I second the advice to look into the C25K program. I started running two years ago with the above mentioned free app. I could have never imagined that I would end up loving to run. Since my…

Asics Gel Nimbus for around 10K races; Hoka One One for marathons and half marathons; For training: Merrell, Brooks and Nike. I like changing my shoes for each run as they are all different and therefore different muscles in your legs and feet are trained. And the one thing that I have learned after long distance runs: get…

I have no coach. Just a bit of background: I started running in May 2014 and never, ever ran before. At that point I was 49 years young. I started with the free app C210K which gets you from couch to 10K. This worked very well for me. After that I started to build up my weekly running base. I started with somewhere around…

I started once in 2013 and kept my goal weight successfully ever since. I made "dieting" a life changing exercise, throwing out bad habits and introducing good ones. Reasonable healthy eating, with some treats and a lot of exercise are now part of my life. I never gained my weightloss back, but I keep it within 4lbs up and…

+1 Small changes go a long way as long as you keep to them and do not introduce treats for being a good girl. I gave up pop and I am now a tea and water total. This saves a lot of calories! I started exercising. To begin with, just walking, then I downloaded the C25K app and got into running and now I am running full…

Nobody told me that it can addictive like hell...started with running 5Ks and now running marathon and half marathon races. Nobody told me that I would come up with tons of excusses why I need to buy new running shoes...started with one old pair and am now circulating between 8 (!) different pairs of running shoes - leave…

You could do some body weight exercises in the evening. Just google it. There are tons of links out there.

Rowing if done correctly targets a whole bunch of muscles. See here for some information: http://www.livestrong.com/article/96719-areas-rowing-fitness-machines-target/ I do both. I am mainly a runner but a strong core and good muscles is vital for me to run injury free. Stef.