Week 18 of 20 weeks to Sub 2:20?

M 12 miles (6:23mm), 6 miles (6:49mm)
T 8 miles (6:54mm), 5 miles (6:57mm)

W 20 miles including 30 mins(3:00), 4X5mins(2:00), 30 mins (5:43mm), 6 miles (6:52mm)

T 11 miles (6:22mm), 6 miles (7:01mm)

F 7 miles (7:00mm)

S 6.5 miles (6:44mm), 4 miles (7:17mm)

S 20.5 miles including Great North Run in 70:52 (5:24mm)

Total 113.5 miles (6:26mm)

Weight 139.5 lbs
Body fat 9.7%
Aerobic efficiency 958 beats per mile

So here it was the final big week of training and I was absolutely determined for it to go well after last week's poor track race. It was to include the biggest session of the campaign as well as a hard but controlled effort at the Great North Run on Sunday as part of my final long run.

I took last Sunday as a complete rest day, simply to try and regain focus for what would be the hardest week with the combination of the volume and the intensity of the two sessions I had planned. I was pleased I did as although I hardly sprung out of bed at 5:00am on Monday morning, I was pretty pleased to be running quite nicely at a strong pace for a 12 miler to start the week. Tuesday was taken a little bit easier as ever to try and have reasonably fresh legs for the big monster marathon session on Wednesday.

When you first see the sessions on paper, you think oh yeah that seems OK but as the day approaches you realise just how hard they're going to be! Especially when you have built up a level of fatigue from the previous weeks' training. Although I was excited about the session the day before you do feel a bit like you do before a big race; unsure of how it's going to go, a little anxious of how tough it is going to feel and also wanting it to go well to give you a strong feeling that all is on track.

I did this session before the Yorkshire Marathon last year and also before London this year too and although it went well pre-Yorkshire, it was pretty much a disaster before London although I did manage to complete it. I did the session then whilst on holiday in Poland and my legs were just absolutely ruined. For the second stint at MP I could only muster 5:36 pace which considering I was hoping for a MP of quicker than 5:27 obviously left me a little unsure of where I was at the time. The outcome of that session though was that it just allowed me to focus on what everyone should focus on and that is to run the best with what the fitness they have on race day and don't force for arbitrary targets. That said I still managed to PB at London so it all ended up fine in the end. So with all that in mind, I was still keen to nail it this time around as if it went well I was still sure that things could yet improve a little further with the freshness the taper brings back to the legs.  

The first 30 minutes was quite good and I was ticking along really well at 5:26 pace around my tempo loop. The 5 minute efforts came in at 5:09, 5:05, 5:04, 5:04 so really strong fro me and what should be theoretical 10k-10M pace.These 5 minute efforts are really quite nasty as they do get the legs really nicely fatigued for that last MP effort. That said I started off the next 30 minutes really strongly. In fact, the pace felt easy because it was a lot slower than the previous efforts but as the interval progresses it really does become hard work and the concentration levels required are very similar to what you have in the closing stages of the marathon. The legs are jellifying and you have too really focus to keep form, etc I managed to hold it all together for a very pleasing average of 5:27 pace. After last week's disappointing track race I was so keen to get a good confidence booster and this sure gave me what I needed. The session was marginally better than pre-Yorkshire marathon as the shorter efforts were slightly quicker on average and as a whole it was miles better than pre-London. Mike encouraged me that there was no reason to have a confidence wobble anyway as he quite rightly reminded me that there is no such thing as a perfect build up. He recalled Charlie Spedding's build up to the Olympics in LA in 1984 and how he had a few shockers/ sub par performances along the way.

Then on Sunday I had my last long run scheduled which was to include the Great North Run as a bit of a tempo effort. Of course I was going into this really rather tired from the cumulative weeks’ training and a massive session on Wednesday. This was never going to be a PB attempt for a couple of reasons; 1) it is too close to Berlin to properly recover from and 2) I wanted to still get in big volume for the week so I wasn’t going to be fresh for it at all.  I stayed up in Newcastle the night before at the University Halls which was absolutely perfect for the start. I couldn’t have been any closer really. I had managed to wangle an ‘elite entry’ off the back of my 2:22 marathon and was luckily enough to have my name on my vest rather than a number, which always seems a little cool. I must admit it felt a bit strange lining up with guys that I consider genuine elites. Guys like Mo Farah (who was just in front of me at the start line), Ryan Hall, Stanley Biwott, Mark Kiprotich, the list goes on! It was also humbling to share the start line with Ian Hudspith, a genuine British Road Running legend, who just shy of his 45^th birthday ran 66:08. Which is around 5 minute miling. Truly astonishing and a time that I can only dream of.


 

So having done a 7 mile warm up and 100 miles in total before the B of the Bang, I knew it would take a while to get the legs going again! Despite the downhill start and a couple of quicker miles, the legs really were tired and I knew it was going to be a struggle. I found myself clock watching in the early miles as I had been thinking to run at a fairly steady 5:25 pace for the whole race to bring me in somewhere around 71-72 minutes. After about 4 miles I wasn’t really enjoying it too much as I had focused on the 5:25s a bit too much rather than just running how I felt so took the decision to just run and enjoy it. So thereafter I ran hard but controlled to the finish without glancing at the watch and it became much more fun! I started reeling in folks that had gone off too quickly and I finished really strongly. I was pleasantly surprised to finish in 70:52 (5:24.5 per mile) and feel that I could have done another three or four miles at that pace on so I absolutely wasn’t flat out. That said, I was tired, very tired and the legs were achy to say the least but then they should after a run (and a week) like that. I was somewhat surprised at the course as I had expected it to feel quicker but it definitely felt quit a challenge and was more undulating than it looks the times I’ve watched it on the telly!

With the last week of big training drawing to a close that is all the training in the bag and I have to say it’s a relief,to get to this point relatively intact. Of course I do have ongoing niggles and cant remember the last completely pain free run with my glute and hamstring issues but at least I can run! Looking back to pre-London at the same point I do feel I am in marginally better shape, but running just under 71 minutes for a half marathon feeling as it did makes me wonder how on earth it is at all feasible that I will run twice the distance at a slightly quicker pace in two weeks time! The jury is still out and thinking rationally I won’t go under 2:20 this time but as I said last week the race will take care of itself now and I can’t wait to see what happen. Thankfully the marathon isn’t always about rationality; it is also about dreams, how much you want it, your hunger, desire and heart. I believe I have those qualities in spades and trust it will all come good on the day. One thing is for sure I will give it absolutely everything to get the best possible result. The taper can do miraculous things to the legs and I just have to trust the training and trust the taper. As Mike pointed out for Berlin, I won’t have run 100 miles the week of the race, I won’t have done a 7 mile warm up, I won’t have done a humungous session just four days before and I will be racing flat out all the way.

Weight has drifted down another notch so now I am at ‘race weight’ and think I should lock the scales away in a cupboard to prevent any last minute worries about how much timber I’m carrying.