Ok, so it's Friday, bag packed, off to the airport tonight and I'm really looking forward to it now. Final week of training went great, 50 miles done and the final weekend of running was particularly good. On Saturday I went up to Norwich parkrun (as we were back visiting the folks in Suffolk) and ran 17:40 for 2nd place. Not quite as quick as my pre-London 17:23 but a good indicator all the same. Then Sunday was a final medium-long run run of 12 miles. I didn't expect much from it as I was slightly hungover from a wedding reception the night before, so I decided to not look at the watch and just push-on with it. I knew I was pushing harder than I should have been but I felt good so stuck with it; Darren, if you're reading this, do as I say not as I do right : ) . Still, I was genuinely surprised when I checked the garmin at the end to see I averaged 6:29mm pace! Well pleased with that as it didn't feel brutal, I would have guessed I was going 20secs slower. It was really the confidence booster I needed that something good might be in there.
This week has been pretty light, just a steady run on Monday, 4x 1 mile on Tues (sub 6-min pace felt comfortable) and a steady 4 miles yesterday on the treadmill, just to turn the legs over. I've been making sure I'm getting enough sleep, eating cleanly and on the scales this morning I think I'm the lightest I've ever been pre-marathon (69.2kg). I feel ready, as ready as I'm going to be anyway.
There's been no talk of target times in this blog, I'm aware. And that's been intentional. London certainly knocked my confidence. I'm still pleased I put it all out there and went for the low 2:5*, but I don't think I can justify doing it again (whether I am, or am not in that shape) when my PB is still 2 years old and could be revised with a much more conservative run than that. So being conservative will officially be the plan. I'd happily take another sub-3 of any sort (as although I've spent a lot of time trying to run them, I still only have one to my name), but equally I'm also prepared for it to go completely wrong. Because with the marathon, it's just so long that there's always a risk it might. And I feel better being on-board with that from the start.
It seems likely there will be some sort of race-day tracking on the marathon website so my bib number is 576 if any of you want to see how I'm getting on. Race starts at 9:30am (8:30am UK time) on Sunday...
Friday, 19 October 2012
Sunday, 7 October 2012
Weeks 8, 9, 10 of 12 - (17th Sept > 7th Oct)
WEEK 8
Mon - REST
Tue - 3 miles easy (7:54mm)
Wed - AM 5.4 miles easy (7:47mm) // PM 10 miles inc 6 x 2km @ 5:57mm av. (2min rests)
Thu - 11.5 miles easy (7:22mm)
Fri - 4 miles easy (8:04mm)
Sat - 5 miles easy inc. Bushy parkrun in 21:46
Sun - New Forest Marathon - 3:09:06 (7:12mm) 18th / 577 finishers
TOTAL MILEAGE = 65.2
WEEK 9
Mon - REST
Tue - 5.2 miles easy
Wed - REST
Thu - 3.1 miles easy (8:12mm)
Fri - REST
Sat - Battersea Park 10km DNF (5km in 18:02; miles 5:40, 5:44, 5:57)
Sun - 11 miles including 2x 20mins tempo @ 6:26mm & 6:21mm
TOTAL MILEAGE = 30.8
WEEK 10
Mon - 1 mile (9:30)
Tue - Track 1700, 1400, 1100, 800, 500 (3min rests) - Reps @ 5:41 > 4:54mm
Wed - 7 miles easy (7:40mm)
Thu - Track 15 x 750m in 2:46 (3min rests) - Reps @ 5:57mm
Fri - 6 miles steady (7:10mm)
Sat - 4 miles inc. 2mile tempo in 11:25
Sun - 16 miles (7:08mm)
TOTAL MILEAGE = 47.4
I have been literally inundated with 3 or 4 emails from you lot asking where the blog is so thought it about time I brought you all up to date. In truth, I guess I haven't got round to writing it because the last couple of weeks haven't gone great and it feels harder to lay it all out when that's the case. Still I've had a well-received pep talk or two (including the one from Harry, above) and it is important to roll with the punches, so here it is.
Week 8, leading up to the New Forest Marathon, was much like the ones that preceded it. Pretty high mileage, one good big reps session and a bit of a lighter end to the week than usual as a half-hearted taper for NF. In truth, I don't think that made much difference. Running steady around Bushy parkrun on the Saturday morning my legs still felt tired and achey from the recent mileage so I was stuck with taking that into Sunday's 26 miler.
The weather forecast for that Sunday was awful, persistent heavy rain with gusty winds. It also turned out to be accurate. I actually felt fine in the early miles, apart from being cold and wet (running in a vest probably wasn't the best idea) and I easily settled into averaging 7:10 min/mile pace. I was only monitoring the pace in 5mile segments on the watch and as I got into the second 5 miles I picked up the pace a bit. But in doing so my quads really started to tighten and knot up. I could run still and had plenty of energy but my quads were just uncomfortable. That really set the scene for the rest of the run. I did away with ideas of speeding up as I was worried that my legs might seize completely and just concentrated instead on holding that pace. I got to around 16 miles still feeling ok-ish but the end of the run from there was pretty unpleasant, the cold and rain had really permeated into me by then. Passing lots of people in the last few miles, as they slowed and I didn't, helped get me through it but mostly I just wanted it to be over. As soon as I crossed the line and stopped running I was shivering badly and Lyndsey (faithfully waiting with gels and drinks on the course in that terrible weather, what a wife!) later said my lips were blue. It certainly felt like that. Thankfully I managed to get a hot shower straight after and started to feel normal again, the only lasting feeling being a deep stiffness in my quads. The time of 3:09:06 was definitely a good result but in hindsight I think I probably dug too deep to run it.
That was certainly reflected in the following week's running, of which there was very little! For the first few days I couldn't do much at all as my legs just felt thoroughly dead and the feeling in my quads verged on pain rather than an ache so I tried to be patient. Of course, us runners aren't naturally the most patient of creatures, especially when we're not running. And so by Saturday morning I'd convinced myself that I must be fully recovered and fresh and I headed off to the Battersea Park 10k fully expecting to PB. I kid you not, that was the thought process in my head. I guess I wasn't that surprised when I walked off the course after just 5km having faded badly and proved to myself I was still far from fresh. I punished myself through an 11 mile tempo session on the Sunday just to check that Saturday's experience hadn't been an one-off. It hadn't been, Sunday's run was just plain shite as I struggled in the 20 minute efforts to hit a pace that was my half marathon PB pace over three years ago. And so, I started week 10 feeling very deflated.
Monday was no better. I drove over to join my club mates for a running technique session which we've recently started but even just attempting to jog in the warm-up felt ludicrously hard. One mile covered in 9:30 and I knew it was time to get back in the car and draw a line under this one before I'd even got started. That was probably when I started to get a bit panicky, wondering if the legs were ever going to come back to life and whether running NF as a 'training run' had indeed turned out to be the suicide move that I thought it might be. But as is so often the case, that was also probably the turning point - or at least the start of it. Tuesday came and I decided to take an all or nothing approach to the track session that was scheduled. Warm-up felt better and, whilst I was having to dig very deep still, the numbers were coming out as they should be; covering the final 500 metre rep in 91 secs showed me there probably wasn't a lot wrong with me still other than some residual fatigue. I conscientiously took a 10-minute ice bath before bed (no actual ice, just cold water, but severe enough!) and slept in my 2XUs that night. Anything I could think of to keep the recovery rolling on.
As this week has progressed the legs have indeed continued to improve. By Thursday's track session I could really feel some zip coming back into them and running was much more enjoyable again. Yesterday morning I tried a really short, sharp 2 mile tempo session along Eastbourne promenade and it actually felt great to be pushing hard with a tailwind in the second mile to close out with a 5:33 mile. And today's long run...well it certainly didn't feel great, but it wasn't terrible either; and that last long run is never the positive affirmation of marathon-readiness that we'd like it to be! Key thing is, I feel normal again. The only question that lingers in my head is, 'what have I lost from having that forced cutback of 10 days or so with little/no quality running?'. The answer probably, is 'very little'. The official postmortem is, rather than trying to string together endless weeks of 60-70 miles and effectively running myself into the ground, I should have proactively scheduled in a lower volume week or two. Lesson learnt. Maybe : )
And so here I am, officially at the start of the taper. With 14 days to go I probably can't make myself much more, or less, fit so it's about being sensible and just keeping up the running. If you've read this far, nice work, and be reassured that I am feeling fairly positive again. I don't have the very fast long runs in the bank that I'd done pre-London but maybe I'll be less burnt-out on the start line for that very reason. Hopefully, there's still a good result to be had from marathon number eight in Amsterdam.
Mileage so far: 46, 57, 60, 64, 70, 73, 70, 65, 31, 48
Mon - REST
Tue - 3 miles easy (7:54mm)
Wed - AM 5.4 miles easy (7:47mm) // PM 10 miles inc 6 x 2km @ 5:57mm av. (2min rests)
Thu - 11.5 miles easy (7:22mm)
Fri - 4 miles easy (8:04mm)
Sat - 5 miles easy inc. Bushy parkrun in 21:46
Sun - New Forest Marathon - 3:09:06 (7:12mm) 18th / 577 finishers
TOTAL MILEAGE = 65.2
WEEK 9
Mon - REST
Tue - 5.2 miles easy
Wed - REST
Thu - 3.1 miles easy (8:12mm)
Fri - REST
Sat - Battersea Park 10km DNF (5km in 18:02; miles 5:40, 5:44, 5:57)
Sun - 11 miles including 2x 20mins tempo @ 6:26mm & 6:21mm
TOTAL MILEAGE = 30.8
WEEK 10
Mon - 1 mile (9:30)
Tue - Track 1700, 1400, 1100, 800, 500 (3min rests) - Reps @ 5:41 > 4:54mm
Wed - 7 miles easy (7:40mm)
Thu - Track 15 x 750m in 2:46 (3min rests) - Reps @ 5:57mm
Fri - 6 miles steady (7:10mm)
Sat - 4 miles inc. 2mile tempo in 11:25
Sun - 16 miles (7:08mm)
TOTAL MILEAGE = 47.4
"It's been a long road, you should write the blog. Its not all about the triumphs but also the hardship. I think if you write it down you will feel better..."
Harry Johnston - 5km (16:14) and 100km (7:51:21) runner, & training buddy.
I have been literally inundated with 3 or 4 emails from you lot asking where the blog is so thought it about time I brought you all up to date. In truth, I guess I haven't got round to writing it because the last couple of weeks haven't gone great and it feels harder to lay it all out when that's the case. Still I've had a well-received pep talk or two (including the one from Harry, above) and it is important to roll with the punches, so here it is.
Week 8, leading up to the New Forest Marathon, was much like the ones that preceded it. Pretty high mileage, one good big reps session and a bit of a lighter end to the week than usual as a half-hearted taper for NF. In truth, I don't think that made much difference. Running steady around Bushy parkrun on the Saturday morning my legs still felt tired and achey from the recent mileage so I was stuck with taking that into Sunday's 26 miler.
The weather forecast for that Sunday was awful, persistent heavy rain with gusty winds. It also turned out to be accurate. I actually felt fine in the early miles, apart from being cold and wet (running in a vest probably wasn't the best idea) and I easily settled into averaging 7:10 min/mile pace. I was only monitoring the pace in 5mile segments on the watch and as I got into the second 5 miles I picked up the pace a bit. But in doing so my quads really started to tighten and knot up. I could run still and had plenty of energy but my quads were just uncomfortable. That really set the scene for the rest of the run. I did away with ideas of speeding up as I was worried that my legs might seize completely and just concentrated instead on holding that pace. I got to around 16 miles still feeling ok-ish but the end of the run from there was pretty unpleasant, the cold and rain had really permeated into me by then. Passing lots of people in the last few miles, as they slowed and I didn't, helped get me through it but mostly I just wanted it to be over. As soon as I crossed the line and stopped running I was shivering badly and Lyndsey (faithfully waiting with gels and drinks on the course in that terrible weather, what a wife!) later said my lips were blue. It certainly felt like that. Thankfully I managed to get a hot shower straight after and started to feel normal again, the only lasting feeling being a deep stiffness in my quads. The time of 3:09:06 was definitely a good result but in hindsight I think I probably dug too deep to run it.
That was certainly reflected in the following week's running, of which there was very little! For the first few days I couldn't do much at all as my legs just felt thoroughly dead and the feeling in my quads verged on pain rather than an ache so I tried to be patient. Of course, us runners aren't naturally the most patient of creatures, especially when we're not running. And so by Saturday morning I'd convinced myself that I must be fully recovered and fresh and I headed off to the Battersea Park 10k fully expecting to PB. I kid you not, that was the thought process in my head. I guess I wasn't that surprised when I walked off the course after just 5km having faded badly and proved to myself I was still far from fresh. I punished myself through an 11 mile tempo session on the Sunday just to check that Saturday's experience hadn't been an one-off. It hadn't been, Sunday's run was just plain shite as I struggled in the 20 minute efforts to hit a pace that was my half marathon PB pace over three years ago. And so, I started week 10 feeling very deflated.
Monday was no better. I drove over to join my club mates for a running technique session which we've recently started but even just attempting to jog in the warm-up felt ludicrously hard. One mile covered in 9:30 and I knew it was time to get back in the car and draw a line under this one before I'd even got started. That was probably when I started to get a bit panicky, wondering if the legs were ever going to come back to life and whether running NF as a 'training run' had indeed turned out to be the suicide move that I thought it might be. But as is so often the case, that was also probably the turning point - or at least the start of it. Tuesday came and I decided to take an all or nothing approach to the track session that was scheduled. Warm-up felt better and, whilst I was having to dig very deep still, the numbers were coming out as they should be; covering the final 500 metre rep in 91 secs showed me there probably wasn't a lot wrong with me still other than some residual fatigue. I conscientiously took a 10-minute ice bath before bed (no actual ice, just cold water, but severe enough!) and slept in my 2XUs that night. Anything I could think of to keep the recovery rolling on.
As this week has progressed the legs have indeed continued to improve. By Thursday's track session I could really feel some zip coming back into them and running was much more enjoyable again. Yesterday morning I tried a really short, sharp 2 mile tempo session along Eastbourne promenade and it actually felt great to be pushing hard with a tailwind in the second mile to close out with a 5:33 mile. And today's long run...well it certainly didn't feel great, but it wasn't terrible either; and that last long run is never the positive affirmation of marathon-readiness that we'd like it to be! Key thing is, I feel normal again. The only question that lingers in my head is, 'what have I lost from having that forced cutback of 10 days or so with little/no quality running?'. The answer probably, is 'very little'. The official postmortem is, rather than trying to string together endless weeks of 60-70 miles and effectively running myself into the ground, I should have proactively scheduled in a lower volume week or two. Lesson learnt. Maybe : )
And so here I am, officially at the start of the taper. With 14 days to go I probably can't make myself much more, or less, fit so it's about being sensible and just keeping up the running. If you've read this far, nice work, and be reassured that I am feeling fairly positive again. I don't have the very fast long runs in the bank that I'd done pre-London but maybe I'll be less burnt-out on the start line for that very reason. Hopefully, there's still a good result to be had from marathon number eight in Amsterdam.
Mileage so far: 46, 57, 60, 64, 70, 73, 70, 65, 31, 48
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