Honest opinion, should I even try ?

[GlennUk]

Stay well hydrated, have an energy gel or two handy - for 3 hours, you will need some fuel.

This was different for me. No calorie intake at all during the FM and I wasn't too slow. First half at steady pace 2:05 (which is ~75% HR max for me) and then decided to go faster for the second half with ~2:00 and 85% HR max effort to see how this feels. I could manage a "sprint" at the end getting to 1:48 splits without the feel of losing power at all.
That could have been different, when I already started with 85% effort, I will check in my next attempt.

Id say its rower specific, i drank during my last FM, a mix of orange squash, sugar and salt, but didn't eat. My average work rate was c.88% HRM value, with the 1st 3/4 with peaks at 92%.

[Sakly]

Stay well hydrated, have an energy gel or two handy - for 3 hours, you will need some fuel.

This was different for me. No calorie intake at all during the FM and I wasn't too slow. First half at steady pace 2:05 (which is ~75% HR max for me) and then decided to go faster for the second half with ~2:00 and 85% HR max effort to see how this feels. I could manage a "sprint" at the end getting to 1:48 splits without the feel of losing power at all.
That could have been different, when I already started with 85% effort, I will check in my next attempt.

Id say its rower specific, i drank during my last FM, a mix of orange squash, sugar and salt, but didn't eat. My average work rate was c.88% HRM value, with the 1st 3/4 with peaks at 92%.

I will report my experience with higher efforts in a full marathon, never tried, so I have to try

[HornetMaX]

Thanks all for the replies. My summary of your opinions is: go for it, not a lot to lose and it may work out (emphasis on may).

I'm still not 100% convinced <3h is reachable for me right now, but yeah, only one way to figure out.
I'd hate to handle down but I'd be moderately happy to just improve my 3h11.

Last minute bad news: I woke up with a bad cough this morning, not ideal.
I did 2x30min SkiErg steady state and numbers didn't seem to show any problem, all went as usual.
So yeah, maybe it's nothing: if confirmed tomorrow (I'll do another 30min steady state, maybe rowing this time), FM on Friday is a go.

[Pranav]

Definitely give it a go! While you did a HM and a FM is a much different animal because there is so much time for things to go well or not, you'll never know if you don't give it a shot. Your data seems to indicate that a sub-3 FM is within reach, esp with the HM PB, so I would go in with and try to settle into target pace within the first 15:00 to 20:00 or so and really try to make that feel smooth, steady, and easy. Kind of like some others, I use a HRM for a lot of things but will ditch it when I have a certain pace/power I want to hit so I have one less thing distracting me. With the FM/50k I am going to do here soon, I will be wearing the HRM but following the lead of others and putting a small piece of tape on the monitor so I don't see it - want the data after the fact but want to focus on the main goal.

Of course, go ahead and do it! There are new obstacles to overcome when moving from a half marathon to a full marathon, but your statistics indicates that a sub-3 marathon is doable, particularly given your outstanding half marathon PR. It's important to have a smooth and steady feel and to settle into your ideal tempo early on. Replicating other people's strategy, putting away distractions like an HRM during particular pace/power targets helps improve attention. Wishing you luck in your next 50k and marathon—tape on the monitor seems like a wise way to keep focused!

[GlennUk]

FWIW, if you try, you will always learn something if you want to, whether the session is judged a success or failure.

You wont know what you're capable of you don't try, it would not be the first time someone has sat on the erg and found they can row faster than they expected (or slower than they hoped!)

The trick IMHO is to be prepared to learn and then go with the flow.

I have had a few all time PBs recently, and learned about about my body and my mind in doing so, which i hope will stand me in good stead when i try to shave a few secs/tenths off my new PBs.

Ive been erging on and off since 2010 when i was 49, Im now 62, so as i say we can always learn something new about ourselves.

[HornetMaX]

OK, judgment day today

I hesitated until the very last minute to do the FM or nothing at all:

• this week I had a bad cough (that didn't seem to impact too much, despite how bad it sounded). My watch monitoring my nightly HRV has been indicating unbalnaced status (too low), which accoridng to Garmin could indicate you're fiughting some sort of infection. Nice.
• more worrying, last 2 days my right knee was swollen like hell. I have and almost thorn ACL, it happens I get some small-to-medium trauma just doing something weird or not being careful while on stairs.

In the end I decided to got, ready to stop anytime if something was unusual.

TL/DR version: FM PB down from 3:11:18 to 3:00:24.

Code: Select all

Time 		Meters 		Pace 	Watts 	Cal/Hr 	S/M 	HR
3:00:24.1 	42,195m 	2:08.2 	166 	870 	24 	159
16:55.1 	4,000m 		2:06.8 	171 	889 	23 	150
16:58.0 	8,000m 		2:07.2 	170 	884 	24 	154
16:58.8 	12,000m 	2:07.3 	169 	883 	25 	156
16:56.4 	16,000m 	2:07.0 	171 	887 	25 	156
16:57.0 	20,000m 	2:07.1 	170 	886 	25 	159
16:58.6 	24,000m 	2:07.3 	170 	883 	25 	162
16:58.0 	28,000m 	2:07.2 	170 	884 	25 	163
17:01.6 	32,000m 	2:07.7 	168 	878 	25 	162
17:05.1 	36,000m 	2:08.1 	166 	872 	25 	168
17:41.2 	40,000m 	2:12.6 	150 	816 	26 	160
9:54.4 		42,195m 	2:15.3 	141 	785 	26 	163

More details:

• All went surprisingly well up to 36Km: I went even a bit faster than my target 2:08 pace.
• Last 6Km however I lost my arms. Completely, no more strength. Very unusual for me, I usually die from the legs. Maybe my knee problem pushed me to be lighter on my legs and compensate with the arms.
• I tried to follow some sort of last minute nutrition plan (carbs the day before, 100gr carbs + 25prot +600ml fluids breakfast T-3h, Banana + 300ml fluids T-1h, Gel T-15min).
• During the effort I had 3L of fluids with electrolytes and 190gr of carbs (plan said 220, but that was so sweet that I couldn't stand it). In the ned I drank only 1.5L (it was 12C 85% humidity).
• Super weird thing: at the end, my right knee was back to normal, not swollen at all (still some discomfort when bending it fully)

Overall, I'm happy but can't hide that those 24secs do f%$#!ng bother me.

Thanks all for the encouraging messages and yes, you were right: it was doable (or borderline doable ).

[jcross485]

OK, judgment day today

I hesitated until the very last minute to do the FM or nothing at all:

• this week I had a bad cough (that didn't seem to impact too much, despite how bad it sounded). My watch monitoring my nightly HRV has been indicating unbalnaced status (too low), which accoridng to Garmin could indicate you're fiughting some sort of infection. Nice.
• more worrying, last 2 days my right knee was swollen like hell. I have and almost thorn ACL, it happens I get some small-to-medium trauma just doing something weird or not being careful while on stairs.

In the end I decided to got, ready to stop anytime if something was unusual.

TL/DR version: FM PB down from 3:11:18 to 3:00:24.

Code: Select all

Time 		Meters 		Pace 	Watts 	Cal/Hr 	S/M 	HR
3:00:24.1 	42,195m 	2:08.2 	166 	870 	24 	159
16:55.1 	4,000m 		2:06.8 	171 	889 	23 	150
16:58.0 	8,000m 		2:07.2 	170 	884 	24 	154
16:58.8 	12,000m 	2:07.3 	169 	883 	25 	156
16:56.4 	16,000m 	2:07.0 	171 	887 	25 	156
16:57.0 	20,000m 	2:07.1 	170 	886 	25 	159
16:58.6 	24,000m 	2:07.3 	170 	883 	25 	162
16:58.0 	28,000m 	2:07.2 	170 	884 	25 	163
17:01.6 	32,000m 	2:07.7 	168 	878 	25 	162
17:05.1 	36,000m 	2:08.1 	166 	872 	25 	168
17:41.2 	40,000m 	2:12.6 	150 	816 	26 	160
9:54.4 		42,195m 	2:15.3 	141 	785 	26 	163

More details:

• All went surprisingly well up to 36Km: I went even a bit faster than my target 2:08 pace.
• Last 6Km however I lost my arms. Completely, no more strength. Very unusual for me, I usually die from the legs. Maybe my knee problem pushed me to be lighter on my legs and compensate with the arms.
• I tried to follow some sort of last minute nutrition plan (carbs the day before, 100gr carbs + 25prot +600ml fluids breakfast T-3h, Banana + 300ml fluids T-1h, Gel T-15min).
• During the effort I had 3L of fluids with electrolytes and 190gr of carbs (plan said 220, but that was so sweet that I couldn't stand it). In the ned I drank only 1.5L (it was 12C 85% humidity).
• Super weird thing: at the end, my right knee was back to normal, not swollen at all (still some discomfort when bending it fully)

Overall, I'm happy but can't hide that those 24secs do f%$#!ng bother me.

Thanks all for the encouraging messages and yes, you were right: it was doable (or borderline doable ).

This is AMAZING! Congrats on such a big PR! I am confident that with even a bit more training, both steady state and some harder efforts so that the marathon effort/pace is more "sub-max", sub 2:55 will be there in the not so distant future. Very well done!

[edward.jamer]

That's a fantastic PR time for the full marathon. Great job!

It's a shame that your arms gave out near the end, otherwise you would've hit target for sure... but that just means you have motivation to come back stronger next time.

Are you glad that you decided to go through with it, especially after being so close to not even making an effort?
Hopefully it's inspiring for others thinking of doing the same!

[Elizabeth]

Well done! Congratulations on the new PB.

[HornetMaX]

Are you glad that you decided to go through with it, especially after being so close to not even making an effort?

Totally. Anyway the alternative was to give it a try after xmas break, but that means after at least 1 week of no training at all.
So doing it know seemed to make more sense.

In general, I go into time-trials pretty humble/honest, maybe a bit too much even: for example,recently I only managed to marginally improve my 500m and totally failed at improving my 2K, and I knew beforehand that these were very likely the outcomes.
But this time has been the 1st time I've done much better than expected: I would have been OK with a 3h03-3h05 and was really convinced 3h was not possible.

[DavidA]

OK, judgment day today

I hesitated until the very last minute to do the FM or nothing at all:

• this week I had a bad cough (that didn't seem to impact too much, despite how bad it sounded). My watch monitoring my nightly HRV has been indicating unbalnaced status (too low), which accoridng to Garmin could indicate you're fiughting some sort of infection. Nice.
• more worrying, last 2 days my right knee was swollen like hell. I have and almost thorn ACL, it happens I get some small-to-medium trauma just doing something weird or not being careful while on stairs.

In the end I decided to got, ready to stop anytime if something was unusual.

TL/DR version: FM PB down from 3:11:18 to 3:00:24.


Overall, I'm happy but can't hide that those 24secs do f%$#!ng bother me.

Thanks all for the encouraging messages and yes, you were right: it was doable (or borderline doable ).

Congratulations!
A FM is definitely quite an accomplishment, except now you know have to do at least one more to get rid of those 24 s

David

[GlennUk]

OK, judgment day today

Overall, I'm happy but can't hide that those 24secs do f%$#!ng bother me.

Thanks all for the encouraging messages and yes, you were right: it was doable (or borderline doable ).

Now you have the experience, you can decide whether to re-do the effort and focus on shaving those 24s off and going sub 3, had planned on working in a sub 3 marathon but i needed to take 11mins off, havent gone back to it been 'seduced' by sprints (which was always the plan but was tempted to give the FM anther/few more goes).

And on the 'doable' front, id say that is a pretty good time, for anyone, looking at the ranking thats in the top 25% for all ages/weights

[HornetMaX]

Now you have the experience, you can decide whether to re-do the effort and focus on shaving those 24s off and going sub 3, had planned on working in a sub 3 marathon but i needed to take 11mins off, havent gone back to it been 'seduced' by sprints (which was always the plan but was tempted to give the FM anther/few more goes).

And on the 'doable' front, id say that is a pretty good time, for anyone, looking at the ranking thats in the top 25% for all ages/weights

I wasn't sold on long distances (10K / HM / FM) when I started rowing, but I have to admit I kind of prefer them to shorter ones now.

I was hoping to improve my 2K but I failed recently, so I plan to go for a FM-oriented long training cycle and see if (on top of hopefully bringing the FM PB below 3hrs, which now seems really doable) it also brings some benefits on my shorter distances.

[GlennUk]

I was hoping to improve my 2K but I failed recently, so I plan to go for a FM-oriented long training cycle and see if (on top of hopefully bringing the FM PB below 3hrs, which now seems really doable) it also brings some benefits on my shorter distances.

FWIW I set my all time PBs at 100m and 1 minute (both since broken) whilst training for my 100k/FM which really surprised me. There was a c.10yr difference between the original PB and the new PBs. so arguably as i am 10 years older this shouldn't have been on the cards, but perhaps reflects that following a professionally devised training plan (and in my case taking some coaching advice from Eddie Fletcher) were both significant factors in the improvement in ability.

Good luck whatever you do.

[HornetMaX]

Just did day 2 of the 14-weeks plan (3 sessions/week, with a 4th recovery one so that I can keep some SkiErg up).
For once, I plan to just follow the plan and not tinker with it.