Sunday 15 February 2015

Manchester Marathon Build Up

After the Brass Monkey the aim was to get a decent block of training under my belt with no distractions with the aim of increasing the long runs from the bases of 16/18 miles to 21/22 miles whilst maintaining some quality.

Its been a simple formula that seems to have worked for me.   Monday - easy recovery, Tuesday tempo run up to 8 miles, Wednesday quality session based around 3 or 4 x 10 minute intervals at 10km pace, Thursday steady aerobic run, Friday recovery, Saturday medium long run (off road) then Sunday long run.   So 4 weeks at about 70 miles a week done and I'm ready to move onto the next block of training which will start to introduce some marathon pace work into the long runs.

I decided to have a run round the North Eastern 6 stage relays yesterday at Hetton.  Its been two years since I last did this event and so it represented an opportunity for me to see how much effect the marathon training has had over the shorter distances.  Yesterdays run was 21 seconds quicker than two years ago which was really pleasing considering the event came towards the end of a tough four week block of training at over 70 miles per week.

Results here relays

The long runs have felt consistently easier with a 21 mile, 18 mile, 20 mile and a 22 mile run over the four weeks.   The Myprotein recovery whey protein certainly seems to be helping promote recovery from the long runs and after an easy run on the Monday Ive felt strong enough to do a decent tempo run on the Tuesday without feeling any ill effects from the Sunday run.  

I was lucky enough to be selected as one of four Asics Greater Manchester Marathon Ambassadors and received a nice load of Asics Kit including a pair of the new Asics Gel Kayano 21's.   So far the shoes feel very responsive, provide great support in my long runs but feel light enough to use them in faster paced runs over the shorter distances.  The best thing is they feel great out of the box so haven't felt the need to break them in slowly.  I would definitely recommend this shoe for longer distances and marathon training


This week is an opportunity for a bit of a recovery week before racing over 10 miles at Snake Lane on Sunday.   Last year this was my first long run of 2015 as i was recovering from Sciatica.   This year I've had a fantastic build up so far so I have the opportunity to use this race as a mid programme test to see how my training is going and try and get a decent 10 mile race in the bag.

Its just 9 weeks to go now until the Asics Greater Manchester Marathon so still time to enter.   http://www.greatermanchestermarathon.com

For those seeking an alternative to London and a chance to hit a big pb then Manchester is a great option.  Well organised, fast and flat it is a super well organised event.