Ribble Valley 10k - Week 6 of 8

M 3 miles (7:43mm), 10 miles (7:10mm)
T 10.5 miles (7:11mm), 6 miles HA (7:33mm)
W 8 miles including 6X10s flat out hill sprints (7:26mm), 6 miles HA (7:27mm)
T 12 miles including XC Fartlek (6:18mm), 5.5 miles (7:23mm)
F 10 miles (7:44mm), 5.5 miles (7:25mm)
S 6.5 miles (HA) (6:54mm)
S 17.5 miles (6:09mm)

Total 100 miles (7:04mm)


Weight 142.8lbs
Aerobic efficiency 984 beats per mile Vs 971 beats per mile

After last week's Stockport 10 I knew I would be a bit tired so decided to run really easily for any day that wasn't a session. This is reflected in the relatively slow average pace of this week's mileage. That said I was obviously keen to pick up the mileage with the Ribble Valley race just over two weeks away.

I managed to get in a couple of sessions through the week with the first on Thursday, following a run on Wednesday with six 10s flat-out hill sprints. It was nice that this session was to be on the grass. My first XC session this season. I would like to race well at the County Champs, Northern's and National, hence why it was about time to introduce some of this stuff again.

After a good nine months of running on the road it was a bit of a shock to the system to be running hard on boggy grass. The session was 6mins, 3X2mins, 6mins, 3X2mins, 6Mins with the plan to run the 6 minute efforts around 10k effort and the 2 minutes around 5k effort. The session went well and showed that the easy running up until Thursday had helped me recover from last week's race. As a road runner it is funny when you first get back on the grass as it is just a lot slower despite the effort! I am hoping that these sessions and the forthcoming races will help toughen me up a bit! Thanks to my darling wife, Hania for the snaps!

The second session was something that I was dreading a little! I wanted to do a hilly long run with some effort. Based on last week's race and how I generally fair on hills I thought it was sensible to move away from the flat for a change for a more challenging long run. I had planned to do around 17/18 miles but with 5 laps of the local park at c Marathon effort with a couple of minutes standing recovery. The park is set on quite a sizeable hill which means the first mile is downhill and the second mile is pretty much straight up. I was questioning my sanity on the first rep as it felt so hard, even the downhill bit! The legs were like jelly after the second one so I decided I would do one more rather than the full five. I then finished the run with a three mile stretch at a steady pace (5:50s) which felt much harder than it would have had I just run the whole thing on the flat at the same pace. I did find this run very tough and I think I found it tough not because I wasn't recovered or today was a 'bad day' but simply because I tend to avoid hills wherever possible! So in retrospect I absolutely loved it as it feels like hills could be a big chink in my armoury and if I can improve it (along with my ability over the Country) then this will surely make me a better runner so come London next year I will have that strength to get me home those last few miles when it's needed most.

So one more big week, before I start easing off significantly over the following 10 days to freshen up for Ribble Valley.

As a final point I saw the results come in from the Telford 10k and it is great to see hard working athletes such as Carl Hardman (clocked his first ever sub 30 10k!) and others working their socks off to break through new barriers. I am truly excited by what is happening in the sport at the moment and take such inspiration from all athletes working as hard as they can to reach their goals.

 

Ribble Valley 10k - Week 5 of 8

M 10.5 miles (6:34mm)
T 8 miles HA (6:51mm), 6.5 miles (7:19mm)
W 9.5 miles Fartlek (5:56mm)
T 6 miles (7:16mm)
F 5 miles (6:59mm)
S 3 miles (7:22mm)
S 10 mins early AM (8:34mm), 15 miles including Stockport 10

Total 65 miles (6:37mm)
Aerobic efficiency 971 beats per mile Vs 969 beats per mile


So a reduced week of miles this week as I wanted to be a bit fresher for the Stockport 10 on Sunday. That said I still did a decent amount of volume with a good session on Wednesday before cutting the mileage significantly. In hindsight I probably didn't cut the mileage as much as I should in order to be at my freshest but Ribble Valley is the main target at the moment, and I will take a proper taper for that.


The session on Wednesday was 2X1mile, 3X1/2mile and then 8X100m strides. I did it on the treadmill as it was still pretty icy outside when I came to do the session. I felt in control but it possibly was a little too much the week of a race.


We were lucky in that we had pretty much perfect weather for Sunday's race and I felt good and ready to go despite a busy day previously with my daughter Mia's 5th birthday party. I was confident of having a go at trying to break my PB despite it being known as a tough course. Off we went and The pace was quick from the outset but it felt OK so I went with it. As we went through the first mile with me sat in fourth at 5:01 I realised that it may be a tad quick so tried to ease back a little but the legs kept going! Mark Offord joined me and we ran together (through 3 flat miles in 15:21 - not far off my 5k pace!) until five miles when he started to pull away up a big hill. As we reached the top I was really starting to struggle and my legs didn't feel that happy at all! Luckily there was still a target to focus on in the shape of Jack Nixon of Stockport who I could see was slowing a bit. I carried on working but was suddenly overtaken by Chris Arthur of Blackburn. I kept my head down and focused on trying to reel Jack in. And on a downhill stretch I managed to catch him and move straight past. From here it was just about getting to the end. There's a really testing hill between 8.5-9.2 miles which is when you least need it and although I was working hard to try and bridge the gap to Mark Offord, he was too strong for me so I decided to rein it in a little for the last bit knowing that a PB was out of the question. I crossed the line in 5th place in a time of 53:41 which considering the course was not bad especially given I almost certainly went off too quick. Sometimes it's worth it though to find out what sort of shape you're in but I will certainly be a little more conservative at the Ribble Valley.

Last 1/2 mile at Stockport. Photo credit: Alan Williams

I decided not to track my weight this week as I didn't want too many OCD distractions!  I was pleased in that I managed to continue to eat healthily and certainly felt well fuelled for the run given I moved to proportionally more carbohydrates the two days before the race. I'm conscious that I probably do need to get a bit leaner (I really notice it on the hills - but then it does help with the downhills!), but also cognisant of the fact that I need to eat enough to fuel my training. Given London is the main target I think perhaps I will just try and be a little more relaxed about my weight at the moment. I cant be super skinny all year round but will make a big effort to get to around race weight for when the specific phase starts.

This week I'll be getting back to some decent miles and all being well should go past the 4,000miles for the year on Tuesday. I also plan to get my first XC session in on Thursday, providing the legs are back to normal.

 

Ribble Valley 10k - Week 4 of 8

M 9.5 miles HA (6:49mm)
T 13.5 miles including 6X1mile (5:46mm), 5.5 miles (7:25mm)
W 6 miles (7:48mm), 9 miles HA (6:40mm)
T 10.5 miles (6:51mm), 7miles HA (7:00mm), 5.5 miles (7:25mm)
F 8.5 miles (6:02mm)
S 8.5 miles HA (7:00mm)
S 17 miles including 45 minutes acceleration run (6:02mm)

Total 100 miles
Aerobic efficiency 969 beats per mile Vs 986 beats per mile
Weight 143.1lbs Vs 142.8lbs
Body Fat 10.53% (15.06lbs) Vs 10.6% (15.14lbs)
Lean Body Mass 84.97% (121.6lbs) Vs 84.45% (120.59lbs)
Water 64.78% (92.69lbs) Vs 63.8% (91.11lbs)

This was the third week of triple figures on the bounce and I was looking forward to getting to the end of it so I could have a cut back week as I freshen up for the Stockport 10 next week. All went to plan with  a very solid session on Tuesday. Tuesday's session was 6X1mile with a half mile float. Mike had wanted me to run the miles in around 5:10 pace but keep the pace quite high on the recoveries around 6:40 pace. It went very well with the miles averaging 5:05 pace and the recoveries just under 6:30 per mile. Although I did have to stop and use the facilities at a local day care centre just after the second effort! It wouldn't have been pretty had they not taken pity on me, it was a bit like the scene from American Pie where Paul Finch gets caught short!

So it was a really good session and shows I'm in good shape albeit it did leave me feeling a little sore and my calves were very tight so I had to ditch some planned hill sprints on the Thursday to make sure I was ready for the long run on Sunday which was to be a bit of a tester. I ran moderate to easy between Tuesday and Sunday as I knew it would be a tough one.

I decided that I would use this Long run to practice with a bit of fueling, so I ensured I had a decent breakfast a couple of hours before hand and had a sports drink in the half hour before I set off. I have always done my long runs and most sessions completely fasted so it was a strange feeling to be flying out of the blocks ready to push hard. I felt myself having to hold back and the moderate hour on the roads felt very easy at 6:34 pace. I then jumped on the Treadmill for an acceleration run. I was keen to do this on the treadmill as I could control the increase in pace and not have to worry about crossing roads at pace.  The plan was to gradually accelerate for 30 minutes to finish at c10k effort and then run 10 mins easy to cool down. It went really well and the last 5 minutes of effort average 4:42 pace so probably equivalent of just sub 5:00 pace on the road. I was certainly working as you can see in the video below but I was by no means about to drop off the back!

Weight has gone up a fraction this week but body composition has improved quite a bit and I feel much happier to have carbs back in my life. This has also been reflected in an improvement in Aerobic efficiency. I will go a little lower on the carbs with it being a down week this week before going back to a more normal diet on Friday and Saturday to ensure the glycogen stores are nice and full ready for a hard blast on Sunday. Mike asked me what I'm hoping for but it's been a long time since I raced well at anything shorter than a marathon so not sure what to expect. That said I am in good shape and if conditions are good, I will be prepared to put myself in the hurt box.

Ribble Valley 10k - Week 3 of 8

M Rest
T 9.5 miles HA (6:33mm), 5 miles (7:50mm)
W 11 miles including 30 minute Tempo (5:47mm), 9 miles (6:36mm), 4.5 miles (6:43mm)
T 8 miles HA (6:44mm), 5.5 miles (7:25mm)
F 12 miles Fartlek (5:46mm), 5 miles (7:15mm)
S 8 miles HA (6:46mm), 5.5 miles (7:24mm)
S 18 miles (5:50mm)

Total 103 miles (6:31mm)
Aerobic efficiency 986 beats per mile Vs 1024 beats per mile
Weight 142.8lbs Vs 143.9lbs
Body Fat 10.6% (15.14lbs) Vs 10.65% (15.32lbs)
Lean Body Mass 84.45% (120.59lbs) Vs 84.75% (121.96lbs)
Water 63.8% (91.11lbs) Vs 64.35%(92.60lbs)


I mentioned last week that I had been utilising a low carb (c10%) diet for the previous couple of weeks and it had resulted in my running feeling a lot harder than it should. The plan was therefore to switch to a higher proportion of calories from carbs (c50%) this week. The difference was almost instantenous not just in how much easier the running felt but it was also clear that my body was much happier utilising glycogen as part of the energy supply rather than just relying on fat, which is much harder for the body to convert into energy. I was lucky that Christof Schwiening (Physiologist, Neuroscientist and Marathoner) commented on facebook after I posted last week's blog. He said the following.


'You know when the carbs are really low because the heart beats per mile go through the roof. Also, the loss of muscle glycogen and water causes a weight drop of about 1.5kg. I tried about 8 weeks of ~30km per day fuelled off just one meal a day - I was definitely in a calorific deficit. The last run of the day, before I ate, was always a struggle - usually with a heart rate about 10 beats per minute higher for the identical pace (if I could even get to it). I think this is a fairly traditional approach for some runners, and my 'gut' feeling is that it does adapt something. Although, it could just be weight loss and psychology. I am not sure that the 'speed one can maintain' is necessarily a good indication of the value of a session. Carb-depleted training does limit speed (which might inhibit some leg muscle hypertrophy), but, it also pushes adaptations elsewhere. From an evolutionary perspective I suspect that the critical selection points that good endurance running could counter were probably at times of food shortage. One might therefore expect that optimal endurance training might also require recapitulations of such stresses. I am not suggesting we should all be running for our lives, short on water and food across hot deserts whilst being chased or hunting down our food....but, that is probably the type of stress our physiology responds best to.'


From what I can gather Christof suggests that training low will produce some very positive adaptations over time in terms of weight loss and the fact that when you do finally get carbs in your system there will be a big boost to how quickly one can run at a given intensity. All that being said, I really don't know if it's for me! Running was starting to not be fun and as it's only a serious hobby (and I enjoy my carbs too much) I think a more sensible approach for me is to try and just balance my diet over the week. If I was an elite athlete looking for additional marginal gains then sure, the periodisation of carb restriction might be a good idea but without a full time nutritionist and chef that might be a little ambitious.


This week saw three main sessions, the first of which was a 30 minute tempo run. I chose to do this on the treadmill given it was so windy outside which would have made keeping a constant pace virtually impossible not to mention how much it would play with my mental fragility if the pace was no where near where I wanted! That said the treadmill has the opposite effect of being highly flattering, in that you don't have any wind resistance to combat.  I set the Treadmill to 18kph which is c5:20mm but I have a footpod which I understand is  more accurate at reading pace than the speed displayed on the Treadmill. The pace for the 30 minute effort came out at 5:09mm (strangely however the footpod data implied I increased pace throughout despite keeping the TM speed constant) which as I say is likely to be highly flattering, but it was a good hard effort that I could have sustained somewhat longer had I needed to. The heart rate was getting up to decent levels by the end of it all though.


The second session was Friday's Fartlek of 3, 6, 9, 9, 6, 3 mins off 2:00 jog recovery. Having woken up to a very thin layer of snow/slush and temperatures very close to zero I again chose to do this session on the Treadmill. For the 3 minute efforts I averaged 4:42 pace allegedly, the 6 minute efforts, 4:48 pace and the 9 minute efforts 5:00 pace. This really did get me wondering how accurate my footpod is so decided to use the next run of the day to calibrate it on a known route's distance. It turns out that the footpod is remarkably accurate so I only had to adjust the calibration factor on the Garmin itself a tiny amount. We shall see what happens next time I run a session on the 'mill. I also decided to do a little bit of reading regarding the impact of wind resistance when running on the TM and it turns out that if running on a 0% incline, which I was then you can pretty much add 15 seconds per mile (at a fast pace) to the pace you recorded for the splits which would make the efforts for this session 4:57, 5:03 and 5:15 for the 3, 6, 9 minute efforts respectively. This is much more in line with what I would expect had I run this session outdoors in good conditions and fit and is pretty much exactly what Mike had wanted me to get close to for the session, so I suspect it was just about a perfect workout! The link above also has some very pretty looking HR graphs for those so inclined! I found a handy chart online which converts paces on the TM to equivalent paces outside based on speed and incline you have the machine set at. Whilst for sessions of this nature it probably makes sense to keep it at 0% incline as getting the legs turning over faster than they otherwise would is probably a good thing for me I do think there's an argument for me to start running my moderate and easy TM runs on a slight incline (perhaps 0.8-1%) to ensure that my aerobic efficiency number is not too positively influenced.


The next session was Sunday's long run which again had  a marathon slant to it. It was to be 18 miles at just under sub 6mm which I achieved quite nicely averaging 5:50s for the run. It did feel hard but then I suppose it would at this stage of the game in the context of quite a big week and only just getting back to proper training.


It was nice to see aerobic efficiency took a big leap forward, more than likely due to an uptick in fitness but also the return of more carbohydrate into my diet!

Ribble Valley 10k - Week 2 of 8

M 9 miles (7:22mm)
T 11 miles HA (6:33mm), 6.5 miles (7:52mm)
W 8 miles HA (6:45mm), 5 miles (7:31mm)
T 9 miles including 12X1min hills, 7 miles (7:58mm)
F 10.5 miles (6:48m), 6 miles (7:30mm)
S 8 miles HA (6:52mm), 5 miles (7:50mm)
S 15.5miles including 4X15mins (5:59mm)

Total 100 miles (6:59mm)
Aerobic efficiency 1024 beats per mile
Weight 143.9lbs Vs 142.8lbs
Body Fat 10.65% (15.32lbs) Vs 11.18% (15.96lbs)
Lean Body Mass 84.75% (121.96lbs) Vs 84.38% (120.5lbs)
Water 64.35%(92.60lbs) Vs 63.55% (90.75lbs)


A brief update for last week as I have been a little short on time!


On the whole, a pleasing week which has seen me get back into triple figures mileage wise and a couple of decent sessions. I did a hill session of 12X1mins on the treadmill on Thursday. Having not done a hill session on the treadmill before I thought a 6% incline would be good and started off at 16kph (c6:00mm) with 90s recovery at 10kph at 0% incline. It became clear that these perhaps weren't hard enough so for 7-9 I upped the pace to 17kph and for 10-12 I upped it again to 18kph. this left me nicely tired at the end. I think it may be a struggle to run a full 12 at the moment at 18kph at 6% incline but that is the plan over the coming weeks. Alternatively next time I do it I may try and go at 18kph but reduce the incline to say 4 or 5%.


The second session was a marathon type session on Sunday of 4X15mins. I find these types of sessions do bring me on quite quickly and I enjoy long sustained effort running, which probably has something to do with me being a marathoner! The paces of the 15 minute efforts came out around 5:30s but they did feel hard and somewhat above current Marathon Pace.


I have been experimenting the past couple of weeks with a relatively low carb diet in the hope of shedding a bit of fat to get down towards the body composition I was pre-Toronto. The result has been that although my overall weight has gone up a touch my body composition has improved with body fat reducing, lean body mass and water increasing. That said I have to admit training in a low carb way has proven to be difficult. Even though I upped the quantity of carbs on the days before this week's sessions, my easy and moderate running has felt noticeably harder and this is reflected in a low aerobic efficiency which has dropped off significantly since my race a few weeks ago. While this may be down to a slight drop in fitness my feeling is that the majority of it is likely to be down to 'training low'. So this coming week I will move to a more typical diet with c50% of calories coming from carbs and see what happens!

Ribble Valley 10k 2017 - Week 1 of 8

M 5 miles (7:02mm), 9 miles including 8 progressive (5:56mm)
T 7 miles HA (7:27mm)
W 9 miles (6:28mm), 3 miles (7:36mm)
T 8 miles HA (7:19mm)
F 10.5 miles (7:17mm), 5 miles (7:44mm)
S 6 miles HA (7:24mm)
S 16 miles including Guy Fawkes 10

Total 80 miles (6:52mm)
Aerobic efficiency 1066 beats per mile
Weight 142.8lbs Vs 138lbs pre Toronto
Body Fat 11.18% (15.96lbs) Vs 8.7% (12.06lbs) pre Toronto
Lean Body Mass 84.38% (120.5lbs) Vs 86.78% (119.75lbs) pre Toronto
Water 63.55% (90.75lbs) Vs 67.8% (93.56 lbs) pre Toronto


After Toronto I took a couple of easy weeks one of which was spent away in Poland for Half-Term. Although I took my kit and hoped to get in a few runs, I only managed two. Unfortunately I didn't manage just two cakes! It was lovely to relax and not do any serious training though by last Monday I was itching to get back into things. I had planned to do the Guy Fawkes 10 at the end of this first week, really as it would be a good way of getting a harder run in without beasting myself in training.


Although my bigger target is London in April, that is too far away to be a focus right now as I want to do a couple of other road races and a XC season before then. With that in mind I have decided that I will have an eight week focus on building to Ribble Valley 10k with a hope that I will finally get something more respectable over the distance!


As one can see from the stats above, it looks like my marathon fitness has deserted me. Aerobic efficiency down by just over 100 beats per mile, body fat up by just under 4lbs! This was to be expected given the post-marathon relaxation and although it can be a little frustrating knowing how fit I was just a few short weeks ago, I know that the fitness (and leanness) will come back quickly too given it is all so recent.


I pretty much took each day as it came with the hope that I would get in around 80 miles with a few bits of faster work. Monday I did a progression run and then on Thursday I did 10X1min with 5 mins tempo which were Ok but I certainly felt rusty!


The plan with Sunday's race really was to just run to feel and not worry about the time or pace.

Photo Credit: Steve Bateson. The Start.

Off we went and I quickly dropped into a group with Jack Wood, Andy Grant, and Ed Hyland. Tristan Learoyd of New Marske had made a very early break and pushed on. I didn't fancy going with that pace as I wanted as pleasant a race experience as I could! I knew from experience that Andy and Jack are very reliable runners when it comes to judging effort so decided to stick with them. By four miles Andy had dropped off a bit and so it was left to me and Jack to try and chase Tristan down. There are some mammoth hills in this race and it was remarkable to see the ease at which Jack would pull away from me on the ascents (he is an accomplished fell runner) but I would then catch him on the descents. Tristan still kept his lead of about 30 seconds until the end of the seventh mile when Jack started to open up an unassailable gap from me. I kept asking myself 'how much do I want it?' I couldn't help it but the answer was always 'not that much!' I also suspected had I tried to go with Jack he would have had something in reserve to continue to pull away so I moved my focus to try and reel Tristan in as he seemed to be tiring. And so he did, I could see that Jack had caught him as we approached the nine mile Mark. So I had one mile to try and close a ten second gap. I worked hard up a couple of undulations and let my legs really go on the downhills. As we approached the dip of a hill with no more than 150 metres to go, I drew alongside Tristan. Now I'm not used to being in a sprint finish, and I certainly wouldn't have confidence in beating anyone ordinarily but I just decided to go for it at that stage and put in a big effort up the final testing hill towards the finish at Ripley Castle and just about managed to snatch second place in 56:16 (not quick but trust me it's a very slow course!). I couldn't help but feel a bit for Tristan as he had run a brave race from the start and had it been a 9 mile race, he almost certainly would have won.

Photo Credit: Steve Bateson. Sprint finish, maybe I did want it after all!

So that's the first week back and the first week done as I build to Ribble Valley 10k on 27th December. Hopefully this week will see an increase in miles and a bit more timber shifting!

Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon Race Report

Toronto Waterfront Marathon - 11th place in 2:25:46

I said last week that one of the key elements of a good marathon was 'not running like an arse on the day'. Unfortunately I didn't quite take my own advice on board!

The build up as many readers will know went absolutely perfectly, I almost couldn't believe my luck. I arrived on the start line in the shape of my life ready to do some serious damage to the PB. My main concerns ahead of the race had been the forecast 15mph winds which would likely slow me down a touch. As it happened whilst it was a little breezy the wind wasn't really ever a problem. As we were ferried to the start along with the other elite athletes I was chatting to two-time Olympian Krista DuChene who informed me that the humidity would be the big worry and not the wind. It was already 19 degrees at 7:00am and 90% humidity. I wasn't too concerned given all the Heat Acclimation running I had done and didn't think it would effect the outcome time wise too much given the adaptation I had developed. How wrong was I?!?!?

As the hooter went, we were quickly into our stride and I was running in a group alongside England teammates Kevin Rojas, Steve Bayton and Kojo Kyereme. The pace felt quite quick from the start but I knew it was a slight rise for the first couple of kilometres so didn't think too much of it, but what I did notice was that my heart rate was getting to a high level already. The first 5k split my heart rate averaged what I would expect to see as an average for the whole race. I should have taken stock at this stage and realised that I needed to slow down quite a bit to ensure I had a comfortable race. As anyone that has run a marathon and blown up badly will know even if you are going fractionally too quick, the pace still feels OK and it's not like you're busting a lung. So I kept with it. I hoped that things would settle down and it would start to feel easier. It didn't, I felt sluggish, like there was no upper gear and it just gradually got harder until at 20k I started to slow substantially. As a result this meant my heart rate then dipped as I couldn't sustain the pace because of the fatigue in my legs. It was almost as if my Central Nervous System was shutting down and preventing me from running as hard as I wanted. I have subsequently read that humidity can induce fatigue as a defence mechanism to prevent the body from overheating. Goodness knows how slowly I'd have run if I hadn't done all the HA training! Despite all this I didn't feel particularly thirsty at all during the race so that was one element of the HA that definitely worked.


From here, it was just about getting my head down and working as hard as I could to get to the finish in a respectable effort as possible, focusing on trying to pick other runners off in the second half. I thought of all the hard training runs, the sacrifices my family have made to support me in my endeavours, the time Mike Baxter has spent coaching me and how much everyone back home would be cheering me on. This helped me all the way and curb the thoughts of throwing in the towel (I could have done with a towel given how much sweat was saturating my skin, unfortunately given the humidity there was nowhere for it to evaporate!) when it would have been so easy to do so.


At half way I was in 24th and by the finish I was 11th showing how badly the field was decimated by the conditions. Teammates Kevin and Kojo finished in 9th and 10th respectively with Steve Bayton and Carl Ryde valiantly completing the race despite serious issues along the way. To put this all into perspective, there were only two Canadians (one of which was Rio Olympics 10th placer Eric Gillis)ahead of the first England trio and given it was the Canadian National Champs means that we acquitted ourselves well in a high quality field.The strange thing was although I don't feel I could have gone any quicker given how I raced it, I still felt like I could have kept running for quite some distance. That said I was more than happy to stop running when crossing the line!

Photo Credit: Andrew Paterson - Head down with 5k to go.

 

One other aspect that could have affected the outcome was the impact of jetlag. I felt very lightheaded the day before the race and indeed never felt completely fresh in the days following our arrival as well as struggling to get any significant sleep. It is hard to quantify what kind of an impact this could have had on the performance but it is likely to have played a part, even if quite small.

Full stream of the race - I make an appearance when the ladies race winner overtakes me at 40k (around 3hours 3 mins into the video)

The Experience
It would be remiss of me to not discuss some of the other aspects of the experience of racing in Toronto. I was incredibly lucky to get the call up to run for England in this event and am incredibly grateful for the opportunity. The race was arranged as a development event with two main purposes. Firstly rewarding achievement (i.e. how folks had done at the EA marathon champs at London this year or other recent results) and secondly to give the athletes experience of a championship style race and all that goes with it with a view to them possibly going on to compete at major games in the future. Experiencing the travel, staying in the same hotel as all elites, eating together, press conferences, elite athlete briefings, etc.) was just brilliant and I take my hat off to the organisation of the race as well as England Athletics. All things considered it was a great success and I have come away from it with so much more knowledge than I had before. I somewhat naively thought I knew everything there is to know about marathon racing and prep but once more was humbled by the magnificence of the distance. Kevn, Kojo, Steven, Carl and I were joined on the trip by Charlotte Fisher (Team Manager) and RobMcKim (Team Coach) who provided valuable insight and guidance throughout as well as having an incredibly positive post-race debrief where we picked away at what went right and what went wrong. I had such an incredible time on the trip and am so happy I got to meet all involved. It was a sheer privilege. It is also clear that England Athletics are keen to really develop marathoning in the UK and with people like Charlotte and Rob involved I am very excited about mine and my fellow athletes prospects.


What was I worth on the day?
Having now had time to reflect on the race, I don't think I was ever worth quicker than a 2:23 on the day with more sensible pacing given the conditions and course (which I suspect is around 90s slower than Berlin). So to come in with a 2:25:46 is still OK and bearing in mind the humidity could have made 3-4 minutes difference, I was almost certainly in something around 2:18 shape! That may sound like wishful thinking but it seems to make sense to me given the quality of training I had done in the build up.

What will I do differently next time?
Not a lot to be honest, I am very happy with how my build up went and the blend of different types of training which got me to the start feeling primed and ready. I will almost certainly have a near identical build up next time. I do think however I will review my carb loading strategy. I will certainly deplete again but have a more moderate diet in the two-three days before the race with much less carbohydrate than I did prior to this race. I don't think I need as much as the recommended 10-12g per kg b/w per day during the load phase given I do the vast majority of my training fasted and so am quite well adapted to burning fat as fuel.

What next?
I am taking the next couple of weeks easy before getting back into proper training with a couple of 10 mile races planned, including the Northern Champs at Stockport in December. I'll then have a pop at a 10k PB at the Ribble Valley around Christmas before moving my focus to the Cross Country. Marathonwise for 2017 I am currently tossing up Manchester and London. I would quite like to do Manchester and treat it as a race rather than a PB attempt, but I am being drawn back to London given it is the EA champs and I am keen to support that. Hopefully in the not too distant future EA may consider moving the champs to another race, such as Manchester or Yorkshire - two quick and well organised races.

Overview of Build Up to Scotiabank Toronto Marathon 2016 and final target!

I thought I would put a blog together to surmise my training over this marathon build up. I find this is helpful as a bit of a personal pep-talk to give me confidence ahead of the race. I think it is important to reflect on what has gone well and what I have done differently which will help me secure an improvement in performance come race day.

There have been a few differences to my training this time around which I think have contributed to slightly different adaptations. These minor changes will hopefully pay dividends in Toronto tomorrow. Of course the race is still to be run and there is a lot that can happen before and indeed during the race but suffice to say I feel I have got here in the shape of my life. I feel a PB is on the cards and can go in with a huge amount of confidence that I have a good race to come.

Confidence is one part of the battle, getting to the start line unscathed is another and then not running like an arse on the day is probably the most important bit!

I started this specific block on the 1st August with the intention to run the Yorkshire Marathon on 9th October. This would give me eight weeks specific build up with two weeks taper. Naturally that changed to the Toronto Marathon on getting the England call up. It didn't really mean much had changed from my original plan other than an easier week easing back into my training post a half marathon PB in September.

Mike and I had put together a plan that would hopefully build upon recent successful marathon campaigns. Below I have gone into the elements of this specific phase that have been different to previous campaigns.

Heat Acclimation runs
I introduced these after reading some very interesting research on the topic on how the body adapts to heat stress. The research suggests that it can help increase blood plasma volume and VO2max as well as making you a more efficient sweater so your body retains more sodium. This has a beneficial impact, certainly where the marathon is concerned as it means you have less requirement for drinking during the race. I do plan to drink during the race but I will only do so to thirst and as it is unlikely to be roasting hot on the 16th October, I should be ok! I have done most of these on my recently acquired treadmill, just because it is a more controlled environment. I can keep the pace very exact so don't have to worry about hills or wind. It also has the benefit of not many folks seeing me dressed up like an arctic explorer going out for a run on a 20 degree day! I really do feel these have brought me on a lot. My heart rate is lower for similar paces so I am becoming more efficient and I do believe the HA runs have been a key aspect of this.

Increased modulation
This is key to Renato Canova's philosophy. His training is so focused on specificity (as all training should be but rarely is!). In a nutshell, given the rigours of the marathon that means that there a lot of big monster volume, high intensity sessions. Not long slow miles which is quite frequently the norm. He is a massive proponent of fast long runs, split progressives and sandwich sessions ala Steve Way. As a result Canova insists that all other running is done at a pace that truly allows the athlete to recover properly before the next big one. I have tried to ensure throughout this specific block that my moderate and easy runs are easier than previous campaigns. I think this has played a part in improvement as well as more enjoyment of nailing the big sessions.

Fartleks and more top end speedwork
Another important aspect of Canova's philosophy (and indeed Mike Baxter's) is that your top end speed should never be too far away. Not that I've ever really had any but it is something that we have consciously included more of in this phase. As a result, I actually feel that I could run PBs at all distances at the moment! I may well do a marathon build up for a 5k in the future!

Hill Sprints
I have tried to include these every other week or so. Hills are good for building strength and stimulating fast twitch muscle fibres in a relatively low stress way. I always find it interesting after doing a few hill sprints how much easier faster running feels in the days that follow. Hopefully there is some cumulative effect that has been built up over the phase.

Special Block
I was keen to include a so called special block this campaign (essentially two tough sessions in the same day). Firstly as Canova uses them and secondly I was confident that my body would cope with it given how well I was recovering form other hard workouts. It was definitely tough and the coupe of days afterwards I was basically a zombie but just a week on I felt a big boost to my fitness. That should hopefully stand me in good stead for the race.

Fitter at the start of the Specific Phase
It had been a goal of mine and Mike's to hit the specific phase fitter than I ever have before and in better 10k shape at the start of the campaign. In most previous build ups I have been chasing fitness gains in the early weeks when I could have been focused more on the specific elements of training. i.e. ensuring I was hitting the sessions as planned and feeling comfortable doing so. So previously while I have managed to hit a lot of the sessions I wanted, these have often been at the cost of being a little too stressful, meaning recovery from them has been harder and I had generally felt more tired. In hindsight I think we achieved that quite handsomely. I ran well at the Great Yorkshire 10k which although wasn't a PB I think was worth about 35 seconds quicker than my PB given the difficulty of the course.

Consistency
This is probably the trump card to be honest. I have been lucky in that I haven't been injured or suffered any significant colds or viruses throughout this campaign and as a result have managed to streak together 114 days worth of running (if I get to race day without a day off!) with some good weeks of building miles before one cut back week half way through the phase. August was my biggest mileage month ever at 518 miles and this was followed up with a 456 mile month in September, despite it including one week of 69 miles that had a mini-taper and half marathon race. For the 9 weeks before taper I averaged 112.8 miles per week, much more than I have achieved before (98.2mpw pre Berlin '15, 101.3mpw pre London '15 and 101.3mpw pre York '14).

Target for Race Day!I have tossed and turned with this in my mind over recent weeks. I know I am a lot fitter than pre-Berlin and I was convinced following that performance that I was in sub 2:20 shape had it not been for the stitch (I have mentioned the stitch before, right?!?!). The sessions I have been doing have implied a marathon pace of something around 5:15-5:16 per mile which would bring me in at something around 2:17:40. Interestingly this would also mean running two half marathon PBs back to back. Now that is a little bit of a daunting prospect but doesn't entirely scare me! Having said that I have to reflect on what I am likely to be served with conditions wise tomorrow morning. It does look like it is going to be a little windy and possibly quite warm (thank goodness for all that Heat Acclimation!) so it may not be as quick as I would wish for, in an ideal world. In a nutshell what this means is that I will just as ever run as well as I can on the day, and hope that the group that I am setting off with which plan to split in around 69:30 can keep it together for a long time. Hopefully I will be strong enough to pick up the pace a little in the second half to get towards low/sub 2:19 but if not I will be close enough to be able to hit my A-Target of 2:19:59.

Target split times for an even sub 2:19 are:
10km - 32:56
Half way - 69:30
30k - 1:38:50
35k - 1:55:18
40k - 2:11:46
Finish - 2:18:59.

Target split times for an even sub 2:20 are:
10km - 33:10
Half Way - 69:59
30k - 1:39:32
35k - 1:56:07
40k - 2:12:43
Finish - 2:19:59

See you on the other side.

Scotiabank Toronto Marathon - Race Week

M 7 miles HA (7:24mm)
T 6 miles HA (7:11mm)
W 6 miles inc. 2 miles at MP (5:53mm)
T 5 miles HA (7:26mm)
F 4 miles inc. 2X2mins at MP (7:17mm)
S 2 miles (8:09mmmm)

Total 31 miles (7:06mm)
Aerobic efficiency 953 beats per mile
Weight 138lbs Vs 138.8lbs last week
Body Fat 8.7% (12.06lbs) VS 9.3% (12.93lbs) last week
Lean Body Mass 86.78% (119.75lbs) Vs 86.1% (119.48lb)  last week
Water 67.8% (93.56 lbs) Vs 66.7% (93.11lbs) last week


As one can see this was a proper taper week with much reduced miles with only a couple of efforts throughout the week to remind the legs what was coming pace wise.


I mentioned last week that I would carb deplete (Sunday-Thursday AM) which I knew from experience that it would mean feeling pretty rank and my runs feeling extra tough in a glycogen depleted state. This is how runners of the 80's used to do it and it seemed to work quite well for them and as I've had some good race experiences off the back of it, I thought it was worth doing again. My food intake was largely made up of fat and protein which resulted in me losing a bit more weight (the weight recorded above is the average Monday -Thursday as I decided not to take my scales to Canada (maybe I'm not that obsessive after all?!?!) although I did take them down to Gatwick for one final carb depleted weigh in (so maybe I am?!?!). It's really interesting being on a carb restricted diet as you literally shed fat! Of course in a glycogen depleted state it means your body has to work harder at any given intensity to oxidise fat as fuel and as such my aerobic efficiency went down significantly Monday-Thursday but this was to be expected and while I would have let it bother me in the past (so much so that I have tended to bin the HR monitor in race week) I feel more confident these days that elevated HR is bound to happen in this state so wanted to continue to record it as my experiment of one continues.

I drove down to Gatwick on Wednesday with Steve Bayton and Carl Ryde ahead of our flight on Thursday  morning and it was good chewing the fat regarding all things running. :-)

Thursday morning, it was back onto carbs with the plan of 10-12 grams of carbohydrate per kg of body weight, so aiming for 620-750 grams of carbohydrate per day. I had sliced up my trusty banana soreen (and packed an extra couple of loaves) and packaged handy 80g bags of plain cornflakes to snack on during the flight. We landed Thursday afternoon and I didn't feel too jaded but did go to bed at 8pm local time, which was still equivalent of 1am back home!

I went out for a run early doors with Kojo Kyereme and Kevin Rojas on Friday morning and the difference with glycogen in my legs was incredible. My heart rate was trickling along as if I was asleep and even when I raised the effort to around marathon pace my heart rate was at very efficient levels.

Friday we went to the Expo and felt a little like celebrities as we mingled with the other Elite Athletes including 10th placer at the Rio Olympics, Eric Gillis at the official press conference. I also met Tim Hutchings who finished 4th at the Olympic 5000m final in 1984! To say I was excited is a little bit of an understatement, I was grinning like a Cheshire cat! Tim is commentating on the race which will be streamed live on the Canada Running Series Youtube Channel. Tim is a brilliant commentator and it would be nice to see him cover more events on the BBC as his knowledge and clear passion for the sport is absolutely first rate. Tim even sounds like he prepares for the events he's commenting on....


The forecast unfortunately wasn't looking too kind for Sunday (a stiff breeze as well as a bit of rain and being unseasonably hot!) which was a little frustrating as it was forecast for good conditions on every other day of our trip. Anyway of course we could only race in the conditions that we found ourselves with on the day but it did mean that the strategy would change a little. It would be important to get into a group that were hoping to go at the same sort of pace for as long as possible! From looking at the start list and chatting with various other runners it seemed that there should be a fair number going off at a similar pace so that would be helpful to share the workload if conditions did end up being crap!

The carb load has gone well and I'm going to start easing off now (c24hours to race!) as I do feel a little full and don't want to hit the start line too bloated. There is a danger with all the lovely free food to overdo it, and I was perhaps guilty of tucking away a bit too much yesterday so today will have to be a lot lighter. One more day of discipline and I can go a bit crazy for a couple of weeks. I may even have a pint!

Scotiabank Toronto Marathon 2016 - One week to go

M 9 miles HA (6:48mm), 5 miles (7:20mm)
T 9 miles HA (6:24mm), 5 miles inc. 4X2mins @103.2%MP (6:51mm)
W 7 miles HA (7:06mm)
T 14 miles with 16 KM's of alternating KMs (5:25mm)
F 7 miles HA (7:21mm), 5 miles (7:19mm)
S 7 miles HA (7:23mm)
S 11 miles including 15X1min(60s) (6:10mm)

Total 80 miles (6:41mm)
Aerobic efficiency 924 beats per mile
Weight 138.8lbs Vs 139.6lbs last week
Body Fat 9.3% (12.93lbs) Vs 9.3% (12.98lbs) last week
Lean Body Mass 86.1% (119.48lb) Vs 86.13% (120.23lbs) last week
Water 66.48% (92.25lbs) Vs 66.70% (93.11lbs) last week


So into this, the first week of taper and a big reduction in miles as I look to freshen up ahead of race day in a week's time. The hay is in the barn as they say after a decent build up so I was keen to ensure that I didn't do anything too stupid but it was also important to keep a bit of faster stuff in there to keep the legs ticking over.


I chucked in a few two minute efforts in an easy run on Tuesday and felt very strong, but the main sessions of the week were on Thursday and Sunday. The first of which was a session of 16 kilometres alternating pace each KM. Abel Kirui did this about 10 days out from the World Champs in 2011 (and no doubt 10 days before his victory in Chicago yesterday ;-) ). I decided to make a rare trip to the track for this one to make sure that there were no discrepancies with GPS and so I had a true understanding of the pace I was running at rather than think that my watch was just being incredibly flattering which I think it has a tendency to do some times! This is a big favourite of Canova as overall you end up running at a decent pace for a reasonable length of time, but experience pace much faster than you plan to run in the race. This should have the impact of making race day pace feel easy. The plan had been to hit each 'on' KM in about 104.5%MP (c5:10 pace or 3:12.6 per km) and each off KM in about 93% MP (c5:50 pace or 3:37.5 per KM). I managed to surprise myself averaging 3:06.4 per KM (5:02 pace which is 107% of PB Marathon Pace) for the 'on' efforts and 3:35 per KM (5:46 pace or 93.5% of PB Marathon Pace) for the 'off' recoveries. Looking back at the session I realised I had run each 'on' KM quicker than my 5k PB pace and I did eight of them with quite fast recoveries. This continues to confirm that I am in really really good shape so should help build my confidence.

Then to Sunday, which would have been race day at the Yorkshire Marathon had it not been for the Toronto call-up! Big shout out to Paul Martelletti, Scott Harrington, Jamil Parapia, James Watson, Charlie Wartnaby, Philip Eccleston, Franco Pardini, Darran Bilton, Simon Spears, Steve and Karen Head and long time chum Tom Watson on battling out his first marathon. I managed to go and watch a very small part of the race with my daughters which was great fun watching rather than running for a change. It certainly helped whet the appetite for next week.

 

Instead of the marathon, which would have been an ill-advised taper run(!) I ran a session of 15X1minute with 60 second jog recoveries. The plan was to try and keep them just under 5 minute miling. I did this quite nicely without straining and they averaged 114% (4:39mm) and I even had to ease up for the last 10 seconds on a few as I was running so strongly.

So I'm nearly there. The carb restricted diet started on Sunday and will continue until after my run on Thursday morning. No doubt I'll have some hairy low glycogen runs with elevated HR and generally feeling rubbish over the next few days where I start to question everything about my ability to deliver in the race. That and of course stressing about whether it'll be windy or not!

Aerobic efficiency went down a little bit, but I have seen that before as I get closer to race day. It is more often than not due to the reduced miles and feeling a little fresher rather than a sign of anything I should be concerned with. Weight has dropped a fraction.

I have started to put together an overview blog of my training block which I will put out later in the week, detailing some of the subtle differences I have made this campaign. I actually found it quite therapeutic putting it all down as there are actually quite a lot of differences which seem to have had a positive impact in my running. Of course it could all go horribly wrong between now and the race, but hopefully not! I'll also declare publically what my target is so anyone that wants to track on the day can see how I'm doing to target!

I would like to say a massive thanks to Russ Chew of Bang & Olufsen in Manchester for very generously sending me a pair of BeoPlay H3 earphones. Russ enjoys reading my blog and he kindly suggested that I may want some for my easy runs and warm ups. The earphones are absolutely brilliant with such clarity of sound and of course I feel a little cooler now I have a proper pair rather than those tinnie white things that I have had for a number of years! Handily these ones come with a number of different sized ear pieces meaning if like me you have asymmetric ears you can mix and match accordingly to make sure the damn things don't keep falling out! I will say I only ever started blogging as I found it a good mind dump to record what I was doing and how I felt my training was progressing week to week. It certainly wasn't planned to use it to try and get free stuff, so it was a lovely surprise when Russ messaged me. Thanks again.

 

Scotiabank Toronto Marathon 2016 - Two weeks to go

M 12 miles (6:44mm), 7 miles HA (7:08mm)
T 9.5 miles HA (6:24mm), 7 miles (7:28mm)
W 9 miles (6:46mm), 9 miles Progressive Tempo (5:45mm)
T 12 miles (7:06mm), 7 miles HA (7:25mm)
F 10 miles (6:33mm), 6.5 miles including 7X1min @103.5%MP (5:13mm) off 60s (7:03mm)
S 8.5 miles HA (7:09mm), 4 miles (7:07mm)
S 21 miles including 30 mins, 4X5mins, 30 mins (5:33mm), 7 miles (7:04mm)

Total 130 miles (6:39mm)
Aerobic efficiency 917 beats per mile
Weight 139.6 Vs 139.4lbs last week
Body Fat 9.3% (12.98lbs) Vs 9.39% (13.08lbs) last week
Lean Body Mass 86.13% (120.23lbs) Vs 86.06% (119.97lbs) last week
Water 66.70% (93.11lbs) Vs 66.43% (92.60lbs) last week


The last week of big miles this week with again two main session days. The first of which was Wednesday. Mike wanted me to do a moderate hour in the morning which I did but then follow up with  a progressive tempo run of 9 miles in the evening starting at 88%MP(6:03mm) and building the pace to finish at 106%MP (5:06mm). So it would be a decent chunk of miles in one day with some (for me) very fast running towards the end. I had spent six hours driving in the car and it was also very windy so I wasn't exactly looking forward to it. I nearly chickened out and did it on the treadmill, but I knew Mike wouldn't have been best chuffed with that! In the end, it went perfectly and I nicely progressed through the paces, only really feeling like I was going all out towards the last half mile. Mike reminded me that the last two miles (which came in at 5:06 pace) work out to be around 15:45 5k pace, a time which I only bettered twice in the summer and this right at the end of what could be considered a tough day's training! Happy days! This session did remind me why I don't like hard sessions in the evening though, as I struggled to stay asleep and woke at 2:30 wide awake. I did a bit of work then went for my morning run at 4:25 which is early, even for me!

Sunday's run was the final 'Steve Way' session of 30 mins, 4X5mins, 30 mins with the plan to be 100% MP for the 30 minute efforts and 106% of MP for the 5 minute efforts. Last year before Berlin I managed to hit 5:26 pace for the 30 minute efforts and 5:06 pace for the five minute efforts. As it happened 5:25 ended up being my marathon pace on race day so it was an excellent specific session. This time of course my aspirations time wise are similar but my PB hasn't moved on much so the plan was really to hit pretty much exactly the same paces as I did last time and hope that it felt a bit easier! The session really couldn't have gone any better, in fact I surprised myself. The first 30 mins came in at c100%MP (5:24mm) feeling very comfortable, then the 5 minute efforts came in at 106.8%MP - 109.2%MP (5:03-4:55mm) and then the final 30 minutes came in at 104%MP (5:12mm) although I suspect this last 30 mins was pretty optimistic as the GPS signal went a touch skewiff towards the end of the effort. That said it was probably still around 5:15s and HR only averaged my Marathon HR. I finished the session feeling good and when I have done this in the past I have felt a little brutalised by how tough it is. I didn't feel that this time, so I can be confident that I am in much better shape than last year. After Berlin I was convinced I was in sub 2:20 shape was it not for the stitch in the last 7k so this has got to give me extra confidence that I can go in there positive that I'm going to achieve my goal.

Weight hasn't changed (I guess this must be race weight!) but I have lost a touch more fat so that's nice. Aerobic efficiency has taken another big step forward at 917 beats per mile.

Sunday brought up my first ever 100 day streak and marked the end of the specific block (the 9 weeks mileage is below). Now it is just two weeks to race day so I will start with a reduced week of miles before tapering heavily the week of the race.

Scotiabank Toronto Marathon 2016 - Three weeks to go

M 12 miles (6:47mm), 6 miles HA (7:26mm)
T 6 miles HA (7:15mm)
W AM - Canova Special Block Session 1, PM - Canova Special Block Session 2
T 6.5 miles (7:36mm)
F 10.5 miles HA (7:17mm), 7 miles (6:45mm)
S 8.5 miles HA (7:09mm), 5 miles (7:05mm)
S 24.5 miles Split Progressive Long Run (5:58mm)

Total 113 miles (6:35mm)
Aerobic efficiency 943 beats per mile
Weight 139.4lbs Vs 140.9lbs last week
Body Fat 9.39% (13.08lbs) Vs 9.47% (13.34lbs) last week
Lean Body Mass 86.06% (119.97lbs) Vs 85.99% (121.16lbs) last week
Water 66.43% (92.60lbs) Vs 66.63% (93.89lbs) last week


Coming into this week I was on a bit of a high following a good return to training after the half marathon but I have to admit Monday and Tuesday were a bit of a slog. It was reflected in an unusually high heart rate on my runs and thus they weren't particularly efficient.  This was possibly due to the fact that I had a busy weekend but more likely because I knew I had the Canova special block coming up so was perhaps a little anxious about it, having not done it before. I decided to drop the second run on Tuesday so I would be as fresh as possible for Wednesday's exploits.


I have put together a video log of how the Special Block went detailing the sessions, how I was feeling, pre and post workout and also a thorough food diary to show what I ate to fuel and refuel post-workouts. You can see this below. If you don't fancy wasting your time then I have blogged a summation of how it went below the video.

I took this so called 'block session' from Abel Kirui's build up to his victory at the World Championship Marathon in 2011. There is a great blog by John Davis who has very kindly put together quite a thorough overview of Canova's approach and indeed he includes the training plans of Kirui's and Moses Mosop's build ups to successful marathon victories.


Kirui's first session was structured as follows; 6.2miles at 90% MP, 4 mins rest then 9.3 miles at 98.5% MP. I then made this session relevant to me to make sure the time that I was running for the efforts would be similar to what Kirui did in his session. I worked out that it would amount to 5.5 miles for the first effort followed by 8.25 miles for the second. The planned paces, based on current PB marathon pace were 6:00mm for the first effort and 5:30 for the second effort. The paces ended up at 90.2% MP (5:57mm) and 99.7% MP (5:26mm). I actually felt really good and like I was holding back a little but I wasn't being too big headed about it as I knew I had another hard session to follow later in the day!


Going out on the second session my legs felt tired and it certainly took a bit to get them going so did a bit of faster running in the warm up to ensure I could hit the paces I wanted to in the efforts which was supposed to be 6X4:30 (Kirui's session was actually 6X1600m but again I made the session relevant to me) at 105.5%MP with 2 minutes recovery which would mean a target pace for me of 5:07mm for the efforts. I fully expected them to feel hard all the way but I was surprised that I didn't feel I could go as slow as 5:07mm for the first. Still I wasn't getting ahead of myself. This session was all about trying to replicate the dead legs towards the end of the marathon. The first two came in at 5:02mm, then a 5:01 and a 4:59. I knew then that I would get the session done and would survive! The last two were very hard on the legs but I felt really strong aerobically. Not like I was about to blow. The last two came in at 4:58 and 4:56 pace for an average of 107.7%MP (5:00mm) for the efforts across the session. It was such a relief to get it done as it's the first time I have tried this type of thing. The next few days would be just about taking it easy and trying to make sure my body absorbed the stresses I had put it under.

For anyone that has sat through the video will know that the next couple of days were a bit of  struggle to say the least. Not so much in terms of soreness, albeit the legs were certainly dull and not up for running quickly, I was absolutely shattered. I felt like I'd been on my stag do all over again! I did however perk up on Friday afternoon and it was pleasing to be running easily again on Friday evening with a moderate run on the treadmill feeling very comfortable and with HR back to where it should be.


And so to the second hard run of the week on Sunday which was another of Canova's staples, a split progressive run of 24 miles with 12 miles at 90%MP(c6:00mm), followed immediately with 8 miles at 98.5%MP (5:30mm). Given that I may not be fully recovered I decided before the run that I would knock it on the head if it felt too hard and just run some more easy miles. When I put this run in my plan and in the lead up I was perhaps underestimating it and thought it would be relatively easy. On Saturday night though I did start to realise that it would be quite a hard effort, especially picking up the pace after 15 miles of running to not far off marathon pace and in the context of a decent volume week of miles with the Canova session just a few days before. As a result I don't think I was as focused on the run as I otherwise would have been. That said I hit the paces pretty much bang on (5:58mm for the 12 mile section and 5:29mm for the 8 mile section) with the 8 mile section feeling 'hard but fine' and HR for that section coming in at 169 beats per minute versus a marathon HR of c175-177. I didn't feel like I was overreaching on the run so I stayed true to my word and it was pleasing to get it in the bag.


Weight wise, I have dropped a bit of weight this week and my body composition seems to be improving slightly. Something worth pointing out as it may not be correct is that although my scales are good for tracking progress I suspect they are not wholly accurate and my body fat percentage may well be a bit lower than it says. I am starting to look 'pre-York' lean and I was incredibly skinny for that race, I almost look like an athlete which makes it hard to think that I am carrying a full 13lbs of fat.


Aerobic efficiency is still in a good place but not quite as good as last week due to the lower aerobic efficiency of the runs either side of the Canova block.


One more chunky week to go!

Scotiabank Toronto Marathon 2016 - Four weeks to go

M 10 miles (7:03mm), 6 miles HA (6:50mm)
T 12 miles (6:45mm), 6 miles (7:28mm)
W 9.5 miles HA (6:45mm), 6 miles including 6X15s hills (7:32mm)
T 12 mile with 15X2mins (60s) (6:07mm)
F 11 miles (6:21mm), 6 miles HA (7:14mm)
S 8 miles HA (7:10mm), 5 miles (7:30mm)
S 20.5 miles including 16 at 94.2%MP (5:44mm), 6 miles (7:29mm)

Total 119 miles (6:44mm)
Aerobic efficiency 927 beats per mile
Weight 140.9lbs Vs 139.2lbs last week
Body Fat 9.47% (13.34lbs) Vs (9.43% (13.13lbs) last week
Lean Body Mass 85.99% (121.16lbs) Vs 86.03% (119.76lbs)  last week
Water 66.63% (93.89lbs) Vs 66.4% (92.43lbs) last week


Mike & I were keen to ensure that I had recovered from the exploits of last week's half marathon before motoring on with any sessions. It was pleasing that recovery seemed to go better than expected. I did feel quite tired on Monday but the legs were fine and to be honest I didn't really notice any significant fatigue. It was almost as if it had just been a hard session. I guess the big miles of recent weeks has really toughened the legs up somewhat.


On Tuesday I took delivery of something quite exciting! See below. If you're really bored you may also want to watch the video, complete with David Brent style dancing, of me unwrapping the goodies!

And so to Thursday which was I guess a bit of a test of the legs and to get them turning over again with a lighter session of 15X2mins with 60 seconds recovery. Mike had instructed that I should do these a touch faster than Marathon Pace. They ended up a bit quicker than that(!) at 104% MP (5:12mm) but they felt comfortable and I ensured I wasn't straining at all through the workout. This was a good boost as it really confirmed that I had recovered well from the half. It did make me ponder whether I actually had been recovering from a low lying bug last week, leading into the race as this pace really did feel very comfortable and my heart rate didn't even reach marathon heart rate.


Following that it was a couple of easy days running before a consolidatory long run of 20 miles with 16 miles at 94%MP (c5:44mm). I didn't want to go too far this week and it was important that it wasn't too taxing as I know I'm in good shape and I have a very hard week planned coming. I did a similar run at the beginning of the specific phase and I think I noted at the time that it felt much closer to 100% of MP. Today it was very relaxed, in fact I would go to the extent that it almost felt easy! Last time my HR averaged 173 beats per minute for the 16 mile effort and today it was 155 beats per minute which is a hopping improvement in aerobic efficiency of 109 beats per mile!


Weight wise, I have put weight on despite being much more sensible with my food (I even made some ugali earlier in the week!). Thankfully the additional weight seems to be made up of in the main lean body mass and water rather than fat (which increased by only 3 oz!)!


Aerobic efficiency has actually been my best week ever at 927 beats per mile average, with Sunday's long run the most efficient of the week at a lowly 894 beats per mile. This further implies to me although doesn't confirm that I had something, albeit nothing too major, in the system last week.


I am looking to do what Renato Canova terms a 'special block' on Wednesday which is somewhat daunting. It's essentially two pretty tough sessions in one day! I haven't done this before but feel as I'm fit and recovering well I may as well give it a go to see what sort of effect it has on me. Hopefully it will be a positive one! Overall then, really chuffed to have got a big week of miles in with two solid but not massive sessions. This should help consolidate the fitness before the last two weeks of big effort coming up.

Scotiabank Toronto Marathon 2016 - Five weeks to go

M 7.5 miles HA (7:20mm), 5 miles (7:44mm)
T 9 miles HA (7:03mm)
W 10.5 miles including 10X1min(60s) + 10 min Tempo (6:12mm)
T 9 miles HA (7:07mm)
F 5 miles HA (7:27mm))
S 3.5 miles (7:14mm)
S 19 miles including Vale of York Half Marathon

Total 69 miles (6:42mm)
Aerobic efficiency 972 beats per mile
Weight 139.2lbs Vs 139.9lbs last week
Body Fat 9.43% (13.13lbs) Vs 9.7% (13.57lbs) last week
Lean Body Mass 86.03% (119.76lbs) Vs 85.7% (119.88lbs) last week
Water 66.4% (92.43lbs) Vs 65.86% (92.12lbs) last week


The main focus this week was Sunday's race at the Vale of York half Marathon where I have been confident of a PB given recent training. So with that in mind it was important to scale the training right back and I only ran singles from Tuesday onwards. Wednesday I did a bit of a sharpening session which was 10X1min hard with 60 seconds jog recovery followed by 10 minutes at around half marathon effort. I did the session first thing in the morning but it was already 20 degrees and over 90% humidity so very sticky indeed and I certainly felt it during the session. Because of this it was interesting to see that the heart rate was higher than it has been of late, probably partly due to the humidity but also as I was starting to freshen up ahead of the weekend so there was probably a bit more adrenaline freely flowing! The minute efforts came in at 4:41mm average and the 10 minute effort came in at 5:12mm. If I could run the half at 5:12 per mile pace then it would mean a big PB and mean that my training was all on track. That said the tempo still felt quite hard, but then half marathon pace always does for me in training. I was also hoping it would be slightly less humid by the weekend, which could have another positive.

I didn't weigh myself from Thursday as I didn't want the scales to scare my incredibly fragile mind! Given the reduction in mileage one always tends to feel a little lardier. I actually felt really tired Thursday evening, Friday and all day Saturday. I convinced myself that it was because my body was preparing for what was coming. But it was quite unusual because I normally go the other way, I cant sleep and I'm hyper. All I wanted to do was sleep. It did make me consider whether I may be coming down with something but I felt OK, just a bit wiped out. The 'aerobic efficiency' had been a bit down too so again it was slightly concerning but I tried not to let it bother me too much as I was till very much looking forward to racing.

I had had a bit of banter with Dave Archer before the race as he was using it as a final tempo session before Berlin and I kept trying to tempt him into racing otherwise there was a risk it would be a lonely race for me. My plan was pretty simple. Go out hard and try and hold on! With a count down from five we were expecting a nice big hooter to send us on our way. Unfortunately we were greeted with what can only be classed as a great let down as the foghorn failed to work. As we all set off, the starter retrospectively shouted 'go' much to the humour of everyone.

 

Chuckling at the start. Photo credit: @alcphotosleeds

 

Dave Archer finding it amusing at the suicidal pace I was setting. Photo credit: @alcphotosleeds

In hindsight I went out a little too quick covering the first two miles in about 10:12. A pace not dissimilar to what I was racing 5ks at earlier in the summer! That said it felt fine at the time but quickly I was starting to realise that the pace was too quick and so tried to get back into a more sensible rhythm. To an extent I had already done a bit of damage to my race but I knew I was still strong enough to run well for a PB as long as I kept my head.

About four miles in. Photo credit @alsphotosleeds

Cooling me sen darn :-)

I decided that I would use this race to test a gel again and make sure I could tolerate it without getting a stitch, like had happened at Berlin. I had a Science in Sport one which I know I have coped with well in the past and I was pleased to say that I didn't experience any gut discomfort so will ensure I use these in the race in Toronto.

As the race progressed I knew that I was well on target for a PB but to be honest my legs were starting to tire and with no-one to race with I have to say I was probably a bit soft and didn't quite give it everything. The picture below would perhaps suggest otherwise, but I am quite good at gurning towards the end of races!

I ended up finishing in 68:55, so a PB by 10 seconds which I am delighted with, especially as I feel there was almost certainly more to give. Although it was a bit slower than I wanted, coming out with a PB in what was essentially a time trial without 'going to the well' with five weeks to go should give me great confidence. Given my conversion, it may actually end up not being too far away form eventual marathon pace so all looking good for a sub 2:20 attempt.


It was nice to see Dave come over the finish line in second place a couple of minutes later looking fresh as a daisy following his tempo run.

Proud Yorkshiremen

For anyone that reads my blog that is looking for a quick half marathon in September, I urge you to enter this one. It is hard to think that there can be any quicker course in the UK. It would be great to see a real top quality field assembled in the years to come as it is a dead cert PB course.

Following the race, my legs feel ok and to be honest don't really feel like they've raced particularly hard. This again is a very positive sign as the last two PBs I have done at the half (Wilmslow in 2015 and this race two years ago) my legs were in complete bits. I took the opportunity to have my last 'cheat day' before Toronto and ate quite a bit of unhealthy stuff and treated myself to a few ales. I shall now be eating as healthily as can be and avoiding booze to ensure I am in the best possible shape. I only have five weeks to go now and it's time for the final push.