Manchester Marathon Build up Week 3

You know you're a marathon runner when......

Last week a slightly disappointing week of training if you look at quality of sessions and total mileage.  You know your a marathon runner when you are disappointed not hitting your scheduled mileage and 59 miles is a low volume week.  Quite a tough week balancing training , work and pre-christmas build up so on the whole 59 miles is not something to be disappointed with.  There is still 15 weeks to make up for this week and so far I feel like I'm on track.

Other than a few tempo sessions during the week (7 miles on Tuesday and a 3miler on Thursday) the week has been fairly steady and not much to write home about.    A rare complete rest day on Saturday meant Sunday was the opportunity to salvage something from the week and get the long runs back on the agenda.

My schedule said 18 miles.  In the end I did 21 miles.  This included 8 loops (16 miles) of the seafront (or pink) path around the seafront at Redcar.   Not everyones cup of tea but an opportunity to test out my mental resolve with some work on pacing.  

After a steady 2 mile warm up mile splits were 6-36, 6-39, 6-40, 6-38, 6-39, 6-36, 6-36, 6-39, 6-31, 6-27, 6-30, 6-31, 6-34, 6-30, 6-32, 6-34, 6-38 followed by a 2 mile warm down.  

For anyone tackling a marathon in the Spring its worth checking out this article by Alberto Salazar who knows a thing or two about running marathons...

http://www.outsideonline.com/fitness/running/Alberto-Salazars-Ten-Golden-Rules.html

GOLDEN RULE No 9. TACKLE DOUBT HEAD-ON At some point you're going to push yourself harder, you're going to enter into a gray area that can be painful, and you're going to doubt yourself. Push through it. Never think you are mentally weak.

That was kind of the point of my Sunday long run this week....

Stats for the week:

Total Miles:   59.5 miles
Longest Run:  21 miles
Ave Speed:   9 miles per hour.
Best Run: Long run 21 miles @ ave pace 6-43.
Weeks until Manchester Marathon:   15 weeks
Next Race:  Helsby Half Marathon.

Merry Christmas...

Manchester Marathon build up Week 2

Week 2 of 18 done and a little bit of jiggery pokery in terms of the "plan".  The thing with plans is that when they work they are great, when they don't work you can blame the plan, when you find the plan too restrictive you can juggle it a bit.  So what about when you have written the plan?  Well you can change it can't you?

On the plan yesterday was a 10 mile tempo at marathon pace to be followed up by a steady 16 miler today. Almost a replica of last weeks plan.  

What wasn't in the plan was spending the best part of 8 hours on Saturday on a poolside coaching and organising club swimmers to make sure they were all in the right place at the right time.   So the Saturday involved two runs.  One at 6:30 in the morning and the other a 4 miler at the end of the day!  Sundays "planned" 16 miler also went out of the window after a late night Saturday night and an early start on Sunday taking one of my boys to a junior football game.  

So Sundays 16 miler was split into two parts.   10 miles at marathon pace in the morning followed by 6 miles later in the day on the treadmill at the gym.  

Where there is a will there is a way!

Stats for the week:

65 miles
Key sessions:
Tuesday - Road based tempo including 6 x 800m at 10km pace with marathon pace recoveries.
Thursday - track session with. 5 x 1200m at 10km pace with a 400m jog recovery.
Sunday - 10 miles at marathon pace followed up with a 6 mile treadmill run.

Manchester Marathon Build Up Week 1

Week 1 of 18.   Had a very decent week.  65 miles of running with some good sessions in the bag.   Highlights of the week were a tempo based session using my usual interval loop.  This involved alternating half marathon pace with marathon pace for 30 minutes and managed to clock up over 5 miles.  Saturday's run was a decent effort over 10 miles at marathon pace (around 2-40 marathon pace) and this was followed up with a 16 mile effort on Sunday at a nice relaxed 7 minutes per mile.

All good?   Well its a decent start but it made me think about recovery runs?   As the marathon training progresses so will the need to include some proper recovery runs.  Using the very popular Pitzinger book my recovery runs should be around 7 minutes 30 seconds per mile.     My "recovery" runs have been based more on feel and at a nice easy pace.   Probably not quite slow enough for me to feel the benefit so the learning point from this week is to slow down!

So the weekly stats....

Total miles for week:   64.2 miles
Longest Run: 16 miles - comfortable!
Average Speed: 9.1 mph
Best Session:   10 miles at marathon pace (6-07 per mile).  Consistent run with the heart rate nice and low (around 132bpm).

Its a long road ahead...

A Dashing Good Race!

Perfect conditions today at the Dash and some super quick times.  The course was slightly different to last year but followed the same basic out and back course.  It was a super loaded field at the front end and the times on the day reflect the quality of the field.  Local athlete Matty Hynes took the win in a super quick 29.23.  14 athletes went under 30 minutes and of these  10 set personal bests including Vet 40 winner Andrew Ward of Clowne AC in 29.57.

In the Ladies race Louise Damen took the win with a quality 33.04 (pb).   Ist Vet 40 Lady was Emma Stepto of Cornwall in a pb of 33.23.    Emma ran 2:35.02 at the Amsterdam Marathon which shows what a quality athlete she is.  

My own race went to plan.   I was hoping for a sub 34 and managed to just achieve that with a 34.02 gun time translating into a 33.58 chip time.   First 5km 16:50, Second 5km 17:08.   In comparison to last year I'm two seconds down so don't think Ive hit the downward slide yet.   Half joked today that I would like to do a sub 34 every year until I'm 50!   1st Vet 50 today was Keith Smith of Tyne Bridge Harriers in 34:05.   Think I may have found a nice long term target for myself!


 
Setting off with intent!  Honestly I enjoy this running lark!



The finishing straight.   Clock ticking towards 34 minutes!

That's it now.   End of the season and no more races until Helsby Half Marathon in January.  Time for some rest and recovery and a few easy weeks.

Dashing Ahead!

A week tomorrow and it's the Abbey Dash!  Looking back at last years training diary I'm in much better shape this year than last.  I have a marathon pb in the bag just five weeks ago and have had the most consistent year that I can remember.

So far in 2014 I have averaged 57 miles per week and clocked up 2561 miles.    In the world of Garmin stats I can also say with confidence that this is my best year in recent times as my average speed is 9.2 miles per hour.  That's what the stats say but actually more importantly for me is that I feel like this has been my best year for a long long time.  The stats just confirm that! Ive also managed to stay relatively injury free.  My training has been a bit different this year with a bit more emphasis on endurance and less on all out speed..maybe that's a sign of ageing as a runner!

Next week at the Abbey Dash will be the end of my racing season and time to put my feet up for a few weeks and look forward to some marathon training again. 

I'm hopeful of a decent run but although my fitness seems in a great place my speed post Chester Marathon doesn't seem to be quite there.  Ive put in some decent sessions in the last two weeks and don't feel too far away from being in top shape but I know I haven't done the sessions to think about smashing the sub 34 barrier.  I managed 33.56 and 130th place last year and all being well I will be in that region again.  I'm sure it will be a great race and competitive at all levels.  its one of those races!

Last two week block of training looks like this:

Sunday 27th October - Steady 7 miles in the wind @ 7 minute miling followed by a treadmill session later in the day 5 miles in 29.20.

Monday 28th October - Easy 4 miles @ 7 minute miling

Tuesday 29th October - 4 miles am then an interval based session on the road (pm).  6 x 800m (2.46 to 2.48) with 600m recovery at marathon pace with a 5:50 mile to finish.

Wednesday 30th October - 5.5 miles am @ 7 minute miling.   Treadmill session pm 4 miles in 24 minutes.

Thursday 31st October - Tempo based session at the track with efforts at 10km pace.  1 x 1200m, 2x 800m and 2 x 400m with 400s at marathon pace as recovery.   Managed 4.5 miles in total!  

Friday 1st November - Easy recovery run on grass.  5 miles @ 7 minute miling.

Saturday 2nd November - 10 mile tempo run @ 5-53 pace. 

Sunday 3rd November - Easy 4 miles am recovery run @ 7-30 miling.  Opted for a treadmill run later in the day and did 2 x 4 miles in 23.01 and 22.50.  

Monday 4th November - Easy 4 miles am @ 7-15 miling.

Tuesday 5th November - Easy 4 miles @ 6-35 miling.  Pm run 8 x 800m with a 2 minute recovery between.  All reps between 2.41 and 2.45. 

Wednesday 6th November - Easy recovery run am 3 miles @ 7-30 miling.  pm.  Treadmill run 4 miles in 23.44.

Thursday 7th November - 4 x 1 mile on the track @ 10km pace.  5,27, 5.27, 5.26 and 5.25 with a 400m jog recovery between.

Friday 8th November - steady 5.6 mile recovery @ 6-50 pace.

Saturday 9th November - 11 miles in 65.07 (ave 5.55 pace).  

Taper time now and all set for the Dash!