My first ever time this morning running as a pacer. 10k race and I was pacing 45min group (fairly easy pace for me). Finished in 44:58 gun/ 44:55 chip time so pleased with that and 6 second difference between slowest/fastest km so steady pace. Pleased with that and lots of happy runners getting PB and sub 45 for first time. Really enjoyed it.
On separate topic how do people find cross over benefits of v02 work on run/bike to the other. I.e. if I do v02 work just running does that cross over to v02 benefit/improvement on bike and vice versa?
Apologies 
I totally forgot Manchester was this weekend.
Well done for a first marathon! You live and learn. You’re going to be so much more prepared for the next one! Enjoy your rec
Running crossover to bike in my experience is that I’ll have the cardio, but not the legs. HR/cardio will be fine, but the legs will either not have the strength to push the watts or the strength endurance to hold the watts.
Going the other direction (bike to run), biking does not prepare your body for the punishment of running. You have to run to maintain economy as well durability which you won’t get from biking.
If not focused on race prep or once it gets hot here, I’ll run easy but do intensity on the bike. But if focused on a running race, almost all bike is easy. Occasionally on a Fri or Sat, I’ll smash the bike before the Sun long run which is always easy. Mon rest. Then Tue back to running intervals. etc… This can’t be sustained for too long into a race block as the fatigue starts to add up. After 6-8wks, all bike becomes easy.
Behold! An almost perfect execution of how not to run your first 50miler.
I was in 12th place before all the wheels fell off, leaving me trudging towards the finish with quads so sore that I couldn’t even run downhill.
I see from my pace graph that I did periodically try. I don’t really remember great chunks of it.
As ever, the people around me saved the day and I forged mutual alliances on the fly.
A brilliant, terrible, wonderful, horrible day.
Am very proud of getting to that finish line.
As well you should be, that’s a long way to run.
Sometimes you reach your goals, sometimes you learn. I’m sure next time will be at a more even pace with better execution, and you’ll have more fun. Strong showing on the resilience and tenacity fronts! 
I am done with the marathon… What a shit show… Missed my goal by a solid 20 minutes…
Quads were done by mile 10. To the point that I felt every little decline on the course… It was super painful to go down… And super slow to go up… And then could gain any speed on the flats… Terrible.
Wether was great to be out, but not to run a marathon. Full sun, and mid 60s temperature. 
But it’s done…
3.19.39
Shit, man
I can just about feel your pain
Seems to be the trend today. Tons of people not feeling particularly great about their runs.
Sucks to hear it didnt go as you had hoped… but a ‘bad run’ in Boston is still a great day.
Yeah. Many people with hamstring and quad problems on the course. It was a bloodbath. Multiple people I know had problems. But also know people who had great days… Hard to tell what happened. It was hot tho.
From all I’ve read and seen online as well as first hand accounts from friends that ran, it was hot 
Late start on a warm day for age-groupers made for carnage! Tough to swallow after months of preparation, but given enough time I’m sure you’ll be back for more suffering 
@grawp Well done! 50mi is no joke! Enjoy some recovery now!
Thanks.
Can I ask a question to try help me understand what happened?
What stopped me running was muscle soreness. Mainly my quads. They hurt so much that each step was pain, but also refused to work properly.
I put this down to lack of long distance training, my long runs being roughly 30km/3hrs. (Which is about how long i lasted before deteriorating). I imagine that its micro tears in the muscle creating enough damage to be felt as pain.
However. I walked and ate a good amount from then on and after a few hours I could start an agonising hobble again, and then on the last 3km of flat tarmac when we came off the hills, i found myself running properly again. So is there an element of depleated muscle glycogen which I then restored to a degree coming into the equation?
Just for clarity, I felt i did a good job on my fueling and hydration thoughout. Never felt bonked or anything, just super sore legs. My pacing for the first 3hrs looked fast in hindsight, but at the time I felt i was cruising within myself and was happy and chatty.
Downhill running crushes the quads if you’re not used to it! If your long runs were only 30km, then what was your weekly mileage like? 30km is very diff than 80km. Probably not enough time on your feet in training and/or you pushed too hard early on and paid the price on the back end.
I was under the impression that one ran an ultra from start to finish. Then, a friend who does ultras told me it’s normal to be walking up and down hills during a race especially the back half of the race due to fatigue.
As for fueling, if you were fueling well prior to the wheels coming off, then it probably wasn’t a fueling issue. I’d say overworked and fatigued muscles.
Yeah my weekly milage is only about 30mpw. I don’t take training that seriously at the moment. I’ve only been running for 3 years so am progressing gradually.
Any more insights on this? Oh more experienced ones!
I’d like to go into my summer with a clear plan for training my weaknesses. Have a brutal 50miler in Oct - Lakes in a Day (Cumbria, UK)
Sounds very similar to me except i did walk. Can you imagine the despair on feeling like that still with a hilly marathon to go? For two days after i could barely walk either. Had to do the stairs on my bottom.
It shows how slow ultras can be that i still managed around 50th out of 400 despite everything. There’s a lot of walking going on back there.
@grawp if you had it to do over, how would you pace it?
more weekly miles… and try train your legs either downhill or weight training. Your quads will be shredded if you go hard downhill…
your longest runs should be close to 80% of the final distance… OR, multiple days of high millage in a row… say back to back days of easy 20 milers, or a 15 easy miles and a harder 15 milers the day after…
In a nutshell, you need to learn to run on very tired legs.
Ha Joel. I’ve heard that phrase somewhere before
In terms of pacing. I feel that actually it was bang on. I think it’s in me to comfortably get into the top ten on this course once my legs are conditioned. My overall engine felt fine and I was eating well. Indeed one helper asked me if i was a human squirrel, after watching me stuff my pockets with goodies. I shall work on getting my milage and strength up over the summer. Should be really fun.
The engine is there… just need to make sure the legs can match the engine, which is a problem on itself
Tired legs is kind of way to say, your legs need to be use to the pounding and the only way to get there is by running more miles… It is “easier” to train your engine on the bike… sure they can get sore, but running its SO much harder on the legs… ridiculously so.
I almost certain i had a similar issue than you on Monday… HR indicated the fitness was there… legs were telling something totally different… my quads are so sore today… 3 days out and I still VERY sore… today is how i should have felt yesterday… 
