M 7.5 miles (7:15mm), 6 miles (7:14mm)
T 8 miles (6:30mm)
W 7.5 miles (6:58mm)
T 11.5 miles including Session 10 mins(3mins), 8X2mins(1min) (5:49mm)
F 8 miles (7:06mm)
S 11 miles including 15X1minute on/1 minute off (5:54mm)
S 14 miles (6:09mm)
Total - 73.6 miles (6:29mm)
Aerobic Efficiency 953 beats per mile average
Average Weight 139.8 Lbs
The first week of taper and this week was all about reducing the mileage significantly from previous weeks to try and freshen up as well as trying to finally nail a session that would give me a decent bit of confidence for next week's race.
After the previous week's exploits in Sopot and the session I did including the half last Sunday my legs were very tired on Monday and Tuesday, so much so that I decided to take one more easy day to be ready for the final hard session on Thursday. It was 10 mins (3:00), 8X2mins (1:00) with the goal of running c. tempo for the 10 minutes and the 2 minutes at a fast pace. The last time I did this pre-Yorkshire it was a good confidence building session as it said to me that I was in great aerobic shape and had decent speed too but for any readers of my previous few weeks' training I have been concerned about my current ability to run quickly! Thankfully the session was almost exactly the same as last time I did it. The tempo bit coming in a couple of seconds per mile quicker at 5:08 and the 2 minute intervals ranging from 4:44-4:53. Interestingly and unbeknownst at the time I also ran the recoveries a bit quicker this time so all in all a really morale boosting session.
Saturday was another speed session but this time a touch lighter than Thursday's. This one was recommended by Mike Baxter to try and sharpen up a bit. It was to be 15X '1minute on, 1 minute off'. So the plan being to run hard but not all out for 60 seconds and then recover at a steady pace. So for me this would mean running around 5:00mm for the hard bits and 6:00mm for the steady bits with the half hour effort section coming in around marathon race pace. Encouragingly I found it quite hard to keep the running as slow as I wanted meaning (hopefully) that I am indeed coming to the boil just in time for race day. The hard bits were anywhere from 4:38-4:56 pace and the steady bits were 5:49-5:56 giving an average pace for the 30 minutes around 5:17 per mile. This is definitely above marathon pace, of that I'm sure but I would be happy to run for 30 minutes at even pace 5:17s in any training session so to have this as the average as a run with the surges is particularly pleasing. This was a really nice sharpening session and although my legs did feel it a little on this morning's run I felt pretty strong and ticked off a nice 14 miler in 6:09 pace which had a couple of cMP mile at the end. This run did bring on a slightly niggly glute/hip though so I'll be rolling on a baseball quite a lot this week to try and loosen it up but I don't feel like it should be too much of a problem.
Weight is back to just below 10 stone which is a big relief as it's what I raced Yorkshire at last year. I am now restricting my carb intake until Thursday morning now before loading up. I've had a positive experience the last couple of times I've tried this and felt really strong energy wise on the day and I also know it should prevent me from putting on additional weight before next Sunday.
Aerobic efficiency has been a bit of strange one this week and it has theoretically got a bit 'worse' with my average beats per mile increasing to 953 beats per mile. I partly put this down to being so tired at the beginning of the week which caused the heart rate to rise a little but it could also be very much down to the taper and the fact that excitement is building, especially given I have been so encouraged by what I have seen this week. The HRM will be put to one side this week now as I could do without my mental fragility being tested any more right now.
So I'm nearly there and I think I am in roughly the same shape as last time. If everything goes perfectly I may even scrape a PB but one thing's for sure, I will run to feel on the day and I will be conservative. Too many times I have screwed it up and too many times have I seen good athletes under deliver at this epic distance. The marathon does find you out if you're greedy. You cant afford to have eyes bigger than the engine so whatever happens next Sunday I just want to be able to reflect and say I ran as well as I could on the day. Only time will tell if that is good enough for another step up. See you on the other side.
Sunday 19 April 2015
Tuesday 14 April 2015
2015 London Marathon - Week 6: 6/4 - 12/4
M 12 miles (6:24mm), 6miles (7:11mm)
T 7.5 miles (7:10mm)
W 20.4 miles Marathon Session 30mins(3:00), 4X5mins(2:00), 30 mins
T 11 miles (6:18mm), 6 miles (7:09mm)
F 11 miles (6:09mm), 5 miles (6:30m)
S 8 miles (6:48mm)
S 22 miles including 2X10k (3:00), incorporating Ackworth Half Marathon
Total - 110.4 miles (6:24 mm)
Aerobic Efficiency 938 beats per mile average
Average Weight 140.4 Lbs
I mentioned on last weeks blog that this would be the week that would tell me whether I am in PB shape. To be honest things could have gone better and it hasn't left me super confident of how things may pan out on the 26th April. That said, it has at least relieved some of the pressure I put on myself as the goal has now largely changed much more to ensuring I race the best I can on the day (which is what one should always do anyway really!). So rather than setting off at PB pace regardless of how that feels I will be taking a much more sensible approach to the race.
The two key sessions for me this week were the big Wednesday marathon session and then Ackworth Half marathon which was to include a couple of 10k efforts at c. marathon effort. The Wednesday session was 30 minutes, 4X5minutes, 30 minutes with the goal of hitting MP for the 30 minute efforts and c. threshold for the 5 minute intervals. I spent last week in Sopot, Poland which is the most stunning place to run with a perfectly flat paved stretch that runs for a good few miles along the coast between Sopot and Gdansk. It is here that I did virtually all of my running. I went to Poland at a similar time last year too but I had forgotten that the block paving and complete flatness is anything but kind to the legs so it ended up making the Wednesday a pretty gruesome affair. The first 30 minutes effort went OK averaging 5:29 pace and then the 4x5minute efforts went, 5:10, 5:21, 5:05, 5:22 (guess which way the wind was blowing!) but the final 30 minutes didn't go very well despite starting very strongly. I ended up slowing to an average of 5:36 pace which was 10 secs per mile than the corresponding session last build up. And my legs were ruined. Thankfully completion was never in doubt this week though and I felt strong enough to complete it all but the legs really were very dull. This could be partly due to the reasons I mentioned but possibly also due to the previous week's training marathon still being in the legs. Also the fact that it was a mega session and my first 'speed' session of any note for some time given the aborted one the previous week.
Thursday and Friday's running went very well (Friday in particular I did a nice progression run) but looking back at the week now I think I may have run those days a bit too hard as my immediate thought following Sunday's session was that it still felt harder than I would hope at this stage and that could have been due to a couple of slightly-harder-than-called-for days! I wanted to get a decent length run in but wanted to incorporate a bit more speed work so did 7 miles warm up and then jumped on the start line for the Ackworth half marathon which is relatively local. I don't know the area too well but understood the course to be pretty undulating so it was to be a real test of gauging my effort accordingly. On reflection it went OK. I won the race by a few minutes and the efforts came in at 5:28(166HR avge) and 5:29 (171HR avge) pace which isn't too far off marathon PB pace and given the hills (there were some real testers in there), wind, solo run and the fact that I got back from Poland very late on Saturday night this was OK. In fact now I'm writing about it I actually think it was probably quite a promising session. My HR suggested that I was running below marathon effort (my HR averaged 177bpm at York last year and has typically been in the range 177 - 180 for 'good' marathons) but the legs felt about right and I suspect I could have done another decent chunk at a similar sort of pace but I couldn't have gone much quicker if that makes sense.
Now having put this together I'm all slightly confused! I may be in PB shape, but I don't think I quite am. But what will be, will be I guess. I certainly don't feel like I did pre-York where I was so certain that I would run somewhere around 2:22 (and did) but then a few things have been different this time round with bugs and the like. But for me to be confident of nailing a PB I do need to see quite a bit of freshness coming back into the legs and will try a couple of sharpeners this week to really ensure that marathon pace feels a bit more sustainable!
My big worry with going to Poland every time is that I will succumb to the temptation of their fantastic cuisine and naughty treats. Thankfully I have come back the same weight as when I went pretty much so despite 'going off the rails' and devouring an inordinate amount of goodies, I'm still just about race weight! As the mileage comes down this and next week though there will certainly have to be extra focus on ensuring I don't put on much chunkiness!
T 7.5 miles (7:10mm)
W 20.4 miles Marathon Session 30mins(3:00), 4X5mins(2:00), 30 mins
T 11 miles (6:18mm), 6 miles (7:09mm)
F 11 miles (6:09mm), 5 miles (6:30m)
S 8 miles (6:48mm)
S 22 miles including 2X10k (3:00), incorporating Ackworth Half Marathon
Total - 110.4 miles (6:24 mm)
Aerobic Efficiency 938 beats per mile average
Average Weight 140.4 Lbs
I mentioned on last weeks blog that this would be the week that would tell me whether I am in PB shape. To be honest things could have gone better and it hasn't left me super confident of how things may pan out on the 26th April. That said, it has at least relieved some of the pressure I put on myself as the goal has now largely changed much more to ensuring I race the best I can on the day (which is what one should always do anyway really!). So rather than setting off at PB pace regardless of how that feels I will be taking a much more sensible approach to the race.
The two key sessions for me this week were the big Wednesday marathon session and then Ackworth Half marathon which was to include a couple of 10k efforts at c. marathon effort. The Wednesday session was 30 minutes, 4X5minutes, 30 minutes with the goal of hitting MP for the 30 minute efforts and c. threshold for the 5 minute intervals. I spent last week in Sopot, Poland which is the most stunning place to run with a perfectly flat paved stretch that runs for a good few miles along the coast between Sopot and Gdansk. It is here that I did virtually all of my running. I went to Poland at a similar time last year too but I had forgotten that the block paving and complete flatness is anything but kind to the legs so it ended up making the Wednesday a pretty gruesome affair. The first 30 minutes effort went OK averaging 5:29 pace and then the 4x5minute efforts went, 5:10, 5:21, 5:05, 5:22 (guess which way the wind was blowing!) but the final 30 minutes didn't go very well despite starting very strongly. I ended up slowing to an average of 5:36 pace which was 10 secs per mile than the corresponding session last build up. And my legs were ruined. Thankfully completion was never in doubt this week though and I felt strong enough to complete it all but the legs really were very dull. This could be partly due to the reasons I mentioned but possibly also due to the previous week's training marathon still being in the legs. Also the fact that it was a mega session and my first 'speed' session of any note for some time given the aborted one the previous week.
Thursday and Friday's running went very well (Friday in particular I did a nice progression run) but looking back at the week now I think I may have run those days a bit too hard as my immediate thought following Sunday's session was that it still felt harder than I would hope at this stage and that could have been due to a couple of slightly-harder-than-called-for days! I wanted to get a decent length run in but wanted to incorporate a bit more speed work so did 7 miles warm up and then jumped on the start line for the Ackworth half marathon which is relatively local. I don't know the area too well but understood the course to be pretty undulating so it was to be a real test of gauging my effort accordingly. On reflection it went OK. I won the race by a few minutes and the efforts came in at 5:28(166HR avge) and 5:29 (171HR avge) pace which isn't too far off marathon PB pace and given the hills (there were some real testers in there), wind, solo run and the fact that I got back from Poland very late on Saturday night this was OK. In fact now I'm writing about it I actually think it was probably quite a promising session. My HR suggested that I was running below marathon effort (my HR averaged 177bpm at York last year and has typically been in the range 177 - 180 for 'good' marathons) but the legs felt about right and I suspect I could have done another decent chunk at a similar sort of pace but I couldn't have gone much quicker if that makes sense.
 |
| Photo Credit: Andrew Thrippleton |
My big worry with going to Poland every time is that I will succumb to the temptation of their fantastic cuisine and naughty treats. Thankfully I have come back the same weight as when I went pretty much so despite 'going off the rails' and devouring an inordinate amount of goodies, I'm still just about race weight! As the mileage comes down this and next week though there will certainly have to be extra focus on ensuring I don't put on much chunkiness!
Monday 6 April 2015
2015 London Marathon - Week 5: 30/3 - 5/4
M 6 miles (6:51 mm)
T 10.5 miles (6:46mm), 6 miles (7:02mm)
W Aborted Marathon session - 16 miles (6:08), 6 miles (7:11mm)
T 11 miles (6:35mm), 6.5 miles (7:11mm)
F 7 miles (7:04mm), 5 miles (6:59mm)
S 27.5 miles including Middleton Marathon 2nd edition (5:59mm)
S 13 miles (6:33mm), 6 miles (7:14mm)
Total - 122.2 miles (6:35 mm)
Aerobic Efficiency 940 beats per mile average
Average Weight 140.2 Lbs
So. After the previous weekend's tribulations I wasn't sure where this week was going to take me. It took me until Wednesday to finally blog the previous week's training due to a sheer lack of enthusiasm and mojo-lessitis. This was down to a bad run at the Northern 12-stage and a bug that I had and one that threatened at least psychologically, if not physically, for me to think about pulling out of London in a few weeks' time. Thankfully this running thing can put you in magnificent places as well as dark and I was served big dose of the latter as this week progressed.
This week meant a return to the Steve-Way-Marathon-Tastic training sessions given last week had been about running easy after Wilmslow Half. And so given me being ill I approached it with some trepidation and although still bunged up felt fine within myself so decided to go out and do the prescribed 4X18mins at MP (3:00 recovery). Now, it was a pretty blustery day but I knew fairly earlier on that it wasn't going to be worth the effort given the the first two came in at 5:29 pace feeling like I was really starting to work a bit too hard. I decided halfway through the third effort to abort the session and just run a few more miles easy. My legs just weren't happy with it at all. I felt like all strength had been drained out of them so rather than pushing on and putting myself in a deeper hole it was I hope sensible to call it a day there.
So after that I remained positive in that I had just got over being ill and thought there would still be time but the big focus would then revert to looking at this weekend's long run. A 27.5 miler was planned and given it had been three weeks since my last proper long run I was also a little bit nervous about how the legs would cope with it. A very easy day preceded the run which I think helped the legs be quite fresh. It was another early start though as we had a busy Saturday planned, so fuelled with just a banana before the off and a couple of gels 'just in case' off I set to my tempo loop for the second Middleton Marathon. As the run progressed I realised that all was 'back on'. I felt good and strong and whilst 26.2 miles is always a long way I never felt in any issues and could have pushed on at any stage. I decided to lift the effort a bit in the final nine miles basically because I was starting to feel quite hungry and it was the only way to take my mind off scrambled eggs on toast. I ended up covering the full distance in a shade under 2:37 so just under a minute quicker than the last time I did this training run and if I remember correctly feeling quite a bit fresher.
Aerobic efficiency has pretty much stayed static again which is unsurprising given the slightly lower mileage last week and coming off the back of the cold. It is around exactly the same level as it was pre-Yorkshire Marathon now so that is a real positive. If I can get a little improvement over the final couple of weeks of training a PB attempt should very much be on the card.
Weight has dropped another couple of lbs so I am getting very close to race weight now which is good with still three weeks to go. It means I can eat without trying to operate at a calorie deficit which is pleasing as I like food. A lot. :-)
All in all given my mental state last week I am absolutely over the moon with how the week ended up panning out. The test of my final two marathon specific sessions coming up this week will give me the greatest insight in to whether I really am in with a chance of bettering 2:22:49 on 26th April.
T 10.5 miles (6:46mm), 6 miles (7:02mm)
W Aborted Marathon session - 16 miles (6:08), 6 miles (7:11mm)
T 11 miles (6:35mm), 6.5 miles (7:11mm)
F 7 miles (7:04mm), 5 miles (6:59mm)
S 27.5 miles including Middleton Marathon 2nd edition (5:59mm)
S 13 miles (6:33mm), 6 miles (7:14mm)
Total - 122.2 miles (6:35 mm)
Aerobic Efficiency 940 beats per mile average
Average Weight 140.2 Lbs
So. After the previous weekend's tribulations I wasn't sure where this week was going to take me. It took me until Wednesday to finally blog the previous week's training due to a sheer lack of enthusiasm and mojo-lessitis. This was down to a bad run at the Northern 12-stage and a bug that I had and one that threatened at least psychologically, if not physically, for me to think about pulling out of London in a few weeks' time. Thankfully this running thing can put you in magnificent places as well as dark and I was served big dose of the latter as this week progressed.
This week meant a return to the Steve-Way-Marathon-Tastic training sessions given last week had been about running easy after Wilmslow Half. And so given me being ill I approached it with some trepidation and although still bunged up felt fine within myself so decided to go out and do the prescribed 4X18mins at MP (3:00 recovery). Now, it was a pretty blustery day but I knew fairly earlier on that it wasn't going to be worth the effort given the the first two came in at 5:29 pace feeling like I was really starting to work a bit too hard. I decided halfway through the third effort to abort the session and just run a few more miles easy. My legs just weren't happy with it at all. I felt like all strength had been drained out of them so rather than pushing on and putting myself in a deeper hole it was I hope sensible to call it a day there.
So after that I remained positive in that I had just got over being ill and thought there would still be time but the big focus would then revert to looking at this weekend's long run. A 27.5 miler was planned and given it had been three weeks since my last proper long run I was also a little bit nervous about how the legs would cope with it. A very easy day preceded the run which I think helped the legs be quite fresh. It was another early start though as we had a busy Saturday planned, so fuelled with just a banana before the off and a couple of gels 'just in case' off I set to my tempo loop for the second Middleton Marathon. As the run progressed I realised that all was 'back on'. I felt good and strong and whilst 26.2 miles is always a long way I never felt in any issues and could have pushed on at any stage. I decided to lift the effort a bit in the final nine miles basically because I was starting to feel quite hungry and it was the only way to take my mind off scrambled eggs on toast. I ended up covering the full distance in a shade under 2:37 so just under a minute quicker than the last time I did this training run and if I remember correctly feeling quite a bit fresher.
Aerobic efficiency has pretty much stayed static again which is unsurprising given the slightly lower mileage last week and coming off the back of the cold. It is around exactly the same level as it was pre-Yorkshire Marathon now so that is a real positive. If I can get a little improvement over the final couple of weeks of training a PB attempt should very much be on the card.
Weight has dropped another couple of lbs so I am getting very close to race weight now which is good with still three weeks to go. It means I can eat without trying to operate at a calorie deficit which is pleasing as I like food. A lot. :-)
All in all given my mental state last week I am absolutely over the moon with how the week ended up panning out. The test of my final two marathon specific sessions coming up this week will give me the greatest insight in to whether I really am in with a chance of bettering 2:22:49 on 26th April.
Wednesday 1 April 2015
2015 London Marathon - Week 4: 23/3 - 29/3
M 7 miles (7:18 mm), 4 miles (7:34mm)
T 12 miles (6:29mm), 6 miles (7:04mm)
W 16 miles (6:24mm) 6 miles (6:56mm)
T 11 miles (6:46mm), 6 miles (7:12mm)
F Rest
S 6 miles including Northern 12-Stage Short Leg
S Rest
Total - 75.4 miles (6:48mm)
Aerobic Efficiency 946 beats per mile average
Average Weight 142.5 Lbs
So a delayed blog for last week with the only reason being I've been feeling a bit sorry for myself! After the half marathon last week I was keen not to overdo things too much but like the numpty I am probably did which resulted in me feeling completely smoked by half way through the week. With the Northern 12-stage looming on the Saturday I could feel a dreaded cold coming on too. This is exactly what I didn't want at this point which is supposed to be my peak mileage, peak session time.
I took the rare opportunity to take a rest day on Friday in the hope that it would keep the cold at bay and although it did enough for me to run on Saturday I found the race incredibly tough. I was on our 9th leg which was a 2.4 mile short leg and my team mate passed over to me with us in second place with a short lead over Morpeth in third. Despite setting off quite strongly and feeling quite comfortable it only took me about a kilometre before I really started to blow! I grimaced (literally, see below - photo credit Simon Deakin) my way around the rest of the course averaging around 5:06miling absolutely all out. I hope that was down to the underlying virus rather than my ability or current underlying fitness! The Morpeth guy who was chasing me came past and so I unfortunately left the team in third with some work to do with three legs to go. Somewhat fortunately on the last leg we had got back into second place and the leaders Liverpool went off course, meaning we were winners by default. It was of course an undeserved victory but one that enabled us to retain our title as Northern Champions. It is the National in a couple of weeks time and I wont be able to make it due to holidays unfortunately. That said, not sure I'd make that team anyway given the performance on Saturday!
I was lucky enough to have some input from Leeds City and former international star Mike Baxter (28:16 for 10,000m!) who suggested quite rightly that I should back off a bit if feeling so rough. Sometimes it helps to hear it from someone else as I know what I'm like and I would have talked myself into going out and doing 20 miles on Sunday morning had he not suggested it. In a way I was quite relieved as it allowed me a day to recharge the batteries.
It is now the middle of Week 5 and although the beginning of this week has been far from what I had in mind about a week ago I feel like I'm coming out the other side of the virus. Full details should follow on Sunday/Monday.
Aerobic efficiency had gone down a bit, possibly due to the onset of the cold but weight remained constant.
T 12 miles (6:29mm), 6 miles (7:04mm)
W 16 miles (6:24mm) 6 miles (6:56mm)
T 11 miles (6:46mm), 6 miles (7:12mm)
F Rest
S 6 miles including Northern 12-Stage Short Leg
S Rest
Total - 75.4 miles (6:48mm)
Aerobic Efficiency 946 beats per mile average
Average Weight 142.5 Lbs
So a delayed blog for last week with the only reason being I've been feeling a bit sorry for myself! After the half marathon last week I was keen not to overdo things too much but like the numpty I am probably did which resulted in me feeling completely smoked by half way through the week. With the Northern 12-stage looming on the Saturday I could feel a dreaded cold coming on too. This is exactly what I didn't want at this point which is supposed to be my peak mileage, peak session time.
I took the rare opportunity to take a rest day on Friday in the hope that it would keep the cold at bay and although it did enough for me to run on Saturday I found the race incredibly tough. I was on our 9th leg which was a 2.4 mile short leg and my team mate passed over to me with us in second place with a short lead over Morpeth in third. Despite setting off quite strongly and feeling quite comfortable it only took me about a kilometre before I really started to blow! I grimaced (literally, see below - photo credit Simon Deakin) my way around the rest of the course averaging around 5:06miling absolutely all out. I hope that was down to the underlying virus rather than my ability or current underlying fitness! The Morpeth guy who was chasing me came past and so I unfortunately left the team in third with some work to do with three legs to go. Somewhat fortunately on the last leg we had got back into second place and the leaders Liverpool went off course, meaning we were winners by default. It was of course an undeserved victory but one that enabled us to retain our title as Northern Champions. It is the National in a couple of weeks time and I wont be able to make it due to holidays unfortunately. That said, not sure I'd make that team anyway given the performance on Saturday!
I was lucky enough to have some input from Leeds City and former international star Mike Baxter (28:16 for 10,000m!) who suggested quite rightly that I should back off a bit if feeling so rough. Sometimes it helps to hear it from someone else as I know what I'm like and I would have talked myself into going out and doing 20 miles on Sunday morning had he not suggested it. In a way I was quite relieved as it allowed me a day to recharge the batteries.
It is now the middle of Week 5 and although the beginning of this week has been far from what I had in mind about a week ago I feel like I'm coming out the other side of the virus. Full details should follow on Sunday/Monday.
Aerobic efficiency had gone down a bit, possibly due to the onset of the cold but weight remained constant.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)