Yorkshire Marathon 2016 - a change of plan!

The focus as regular readers will know has been to put in a massive block of training for the Yorkshire Marathon on October 9th 2016 in the hope of getting into the shape of my life for an attempt at a PB. Training has been going very well and I feel I am 'getting there' in terms of fitness and in terms my overall condition. There is a slight change of plan however and it's quite an exciting one! I have taken the decision to withdraw from this year's Yorkshire marathon and whilst I will miss the opportunity to race in the 'Yorkshire Championships' I have had an offer I simply cannot refuse. Due to the unfortunate situation of a couple of runners having to withdraw I have been called up to represent England at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon on 16th October!

I am so excited it is difficult to put into words. When I started running as an unhealthy, overweight mess after such a long hiatus on March 5th 2008 with a goal of trying to shed some of the weight I had inexplicably put on during my 20s never did I imagine I would get the opportunity to run for my country. Nevermind in the event that had always inspired me so much, the marathon! I simply wanted to look in the mirror and not be ashamed of how I had let myself go. I didn't foresee how much I would fall in love with running and how much I simply cant live without it now. Yes I'm obsessive, and have a severe running problem. It pretty much takes up most of my 'free' thinking space much to my darling wife Hania's annoyance.

 
Over the years that followed I gradually got quicker and set myself incremental target by incremental target until a couple of years ago when I thought that a 'vest' might just be possible. And so it turned out. I will feel so honoured to travel with my England teammates to Canada and try to do the vest justice. I know I will never be a World or Olympic Champion, but I know I can continue to get better and faster. Thank you Running for what you have given me, the friends I have met along the way and experiences I have had so far. Where I end up I don't know but I can't wait to find out what's in store.

Yorkshire Marathon 2016 - W/E 28th August - Six weeks to go

M 12 miles (6:33mm), 6 miles HA (7:10mm)
T 9.5 miles HA (6:54mm), 5 miles (7:17mm)
W 18 miles including 4X18 mins (3:00) (5:49mm), 6 miles (7:23mm)
T 11 miles (6:41mm), 6 miles (7:29mm)
F 9 miles HA (6:59mm), 5 miles (7:37mm)
S 16.5 miles including 8X1Mile(1/2M float) (5:52mm), 8 miles (7:22mm)
S 11 miles HA (7:02mm), 6 miles (7:29mm)

Total 130 miles (6:45mm)
Aerobic efficiency 945 beats per mile
Weight 141.6lbs
Body Fat 9.8% (13.9lbs) vs 10.3% (14.6lbs) last week
Lean Body Mass 85.75% (121.31lbs) vs 85.2% (120.47lbs) last week
Water 66.15% (93.67lbs) vs 64.92% (91.8lbs) last week


The last few weeks training has been going well as I entered the specific phase fitter and quicker than I have in previous campaigns. This was all part of the plan that Mike Baxter and I had been working on. Although it didn't seem to translate too well into PBs at shorter distances I knew I was hitting the eight week specific phase in much better condition than I have done before. I had a decent performance at the Great Yorkshire run which while outside my PB was I think worth a PB given the difficulty of the course. This set me up to really go into this part of my training with renewed vigour and excitement of what might come out the other end. It goes without saying that one must be cautious not to burnout when building for a marathon, that is why Mike and I believe in a short build up. I have seen too many runners nail the mileage and sessions for months on end only to end up running a lacklustre marathon. I am trying to ensure that my easy runs are very easy and my moderate runs aren't too stressful either so I can hit the sessions fresh and hopefully avoid that too commonly seen Marathon Burnout Syndrome. I have been guilty in previous build ups for pushing the easy/moderate days a little too much which has resulted in a sub-par performances in sessions. Whilst I have been lucky to have avoided massive burnout in recent build ups I know if I'm honest I have verged on overreaching. Canova is a massive advocate of quality recovery and gets his athletes to do this by what he refers to as 'increasing modulation', i.e. making the slower runs slower to ensure full recovery. It's not rocket science after all!


Sessions wise this week was all about changing focus to more of a speed endurance slant given that the endurance is largely there. Endurance should continue to build with consistent high mileage weeks (in fact this turned out to be my highest mileage week ever) but I don't think I'll be running as far as the 26.5 miles I did in last week's fast long run. So with that in mind there was no 'long run' this week. Albeit both sessions ended up being quite lengthy in their own right at 18.5 and 16.5 miles respectively. Wednesday's session went well with 4X18 mins at 100.5% of PB marathon pace. These came out at 5:23mm average having started the first at 5:25mm and speeding up a little throughout the following efforts. A very satisfactory session and while 5:23 pace would not give me a sub 2:20 in the context of a big week's training the effort is the most important part. It was good to see my HR was in the right zone for marathon effort too. I have also bombed in this session in past build-ups probably due to some of the points I mentioned above. So to nail it gave me a bit of a smile.


The second session on Saturday was scheduled to be 8X1mile at 105%MP (5:10mm) with half a mile float at 77%MP (6:40mm) so with a plan of covering 12 miles in 68 minutes (5:40 pace average). I did this same session at a similar time pre-Berlin last year and it was incredibly tough. This time it was somewhat easier. Although the paces were pretty much identical the effort was much less this time with my heat rate not getting anywhere near as high as last time. The pace for efforts and recovery came in at 106%MP (5:07mm) and 78%MP (6:37mm) respectively.


I have had a few people ask me via FB about the aerobic efficiency number that I quote above. This is something that I feel gives me a really good indication of how aerobically fit I am at any point in time. In a nutshell it is the average number of beats my heart takes per mile of running across the week. It fluctuates from run to run of course depending on fatigue levels, weather, etc. but the lower this number is, generally indicates the stronger I am from an aerobic perspective. As marathon running is in the main about the size of the aerobic engine it is crucial that this number gives me confidence. I have found that when I get below 1,000 beats per mile I am in pretty decent shape and below 950 I am basically as fit as I have ever been. This number is only relevant to me and will obviously vary from person to person. One thing that I am doing differently this time are the Heat Acclimatisation runs which has the effect of 'lowering' the aerobic efficiency on that specific run. I.e. the heart has to work 'harder' at a specific pace. By inference this should therefore mean a slight rise in the number for aerobic efficiency(thus less efficient) across a typical week that has a few HA runs in. It therefore follows that if I can get this number lower whilst including HA training then I can deduce that I am aerobically fitter than before! There is an interesting blog by Christof Schwiening here that talks about this whole concept in more detail. I found this retrospectively but enjoy his blog as it gives some really interesting insights into marathon training. I log my training on Fetcheveryone.com amongst other places like Strava and Garmin Connect and they have a useful analysis tool that lets me keep track of how ones beats per mile is evolving over passing weeks. As you can see below it is gradually trending downwards (i.e. efficiency is increasing) with this week at 945 beats per mile. The most efficient week I have ever had was 938 beats per mile which was before London in 2015. It is nice to be approaching that sort of territory again.

Chart displaying beats per mile over the past six months courtesy of fetcheveryone.com

Weight has been an interesting one to see this week as it hasn't particularly changed. That said according to my fancy scales my body composition has changed quite a bit with me having a lower percentage body fat but higher lean body mass and more water making up my overall mass. That means in addition to shedding a bit of flubber (apparently c0.7lbs of fat) I am both building a bit more lean body mass (0.8lbs) and my body is retaining more water (1.9lbs) perhaps as an adaptation to the heat acclimatisation running I have been doing.This is what I would class as 'helpful' weight. Hopefully the fat value will continue to go down in the coming weeks.

As some readers will know last year I was targeting sub 2:20 at Berlin and all was going to plan until I got a stitch with 7k to go. This lasted the remainder of the race but I held on for a PB of 2:21:51. Whilst a little disappointed with the outcome on that occasion, in a strange way it actually proved to me that I can run under 2:20 on the right day. Of course one mustn't ever take anything for granted and there are no guarantees, certainly not where marathon training and racing is concerned but I feel I am making good progress towards my goal at the moment.

This coming week should see high miles again with a Steve Way session, a Canova style fast long run at the South Cheshire 20 next week and I also plan to include some hill sprints in one of my easy runs.

Yorkshire Marathon 2016 - W/E 21st August - Seven weeks to go

M 10 miles (6:42mm), 7 miles HA (7:30mm)
T 7 miles HA(7:13mm), 6 miles (7:28mm)
W 18.5 miles including 8 miles at 88.5%MP, 6.6 miles at 98.5%MP
T 11 miles (6:25mm), 6 miles with 6X15s hill sprints (7:14mm)
F 8 miles HA (7:02mm), 6.5 miles (7:27mm)
S 26.5 miles at 92.3%MP (5:49mm)
S 10.5 miles (6:55mm)

Total 117 miles (6:35mm)
Aerobic efficiency 952 beats per mile
Weight 141.4 lbs
Body Fat 10.4%

Given last Sunday's hard long run (24 miles with 22 at 5:52mm) Monday and Tuesday were very much about recovering as best I could for a hard progressive run on Wednesday morning. The legs felt pretty strong if a little fatigued on Monday but most fatigue was felt on Tuesday which is quite typical for me to feel most tired after a hard run or race on a Sunday.

The first session of the week I wanted to do another of Canova's staples which is a decent length run at a solid pace with a block at very close to marathon pace. I am pleased to say the outcome was very boring and largely uneventful in that it was exactly what I had hoped for. After a couple of miles warm up, I proceeded to run 8 miles at 88.5%MP which was 5:59 per mile and then picked up the pace to a fraction slower than marathon pace. I had planned to do 6 miles at 98.5% MP (5:30mm) but due to me having to dash into the bushes around 2.6 miles into the six mile effort and accidentally pressing save on the Garmin I had to start the watch again. As it counted as a little sit-down(!) I decided to just do another 4 miles at that same effort (hence why I have linked to two separate activities above) so it came in at 6.6 miles at 5:29mm within an 18.5 mile run including warm up and warm down. Whilst it wasn't easy, especially towards the end it was probably quite representative of marathon effort which in the context of a heavy week's mileage is quite promising and I'm bound to have got a good training effect from it. Frustratingly though, I forgot to take my Heart Rate Monitor to London with me so didn't have much geeky data to look at post-run. I then proceeded to make very good use of the all-you-can eat breakfast at my hotel. Of course I logged it on myfitnesspal and although I managed to consume 1,200 kCals I started the day off with a slight calorie deficit which is good as I still look to shed a bit of timber.

It was a pleasant surprise that my legs felt little fatigue on Thursday morning and I was running very smoothly on a moderate hilly 11 miler. I included some hill sprints in my second run of the day and reverted to a bit of sweaty treadmill Heat Acclimatisation running on Friday.

Saturday was all about getting in a full distance run with 24 miles at a decent clip (c5:55mm had been the plan). This is I suppose a progression on the last few weeks fast long runs. I don’t plan on going as far as this again in this build up so I was keen for it to be a success. Given just two weeks ago 16 miles at 5:46 pace had felt so hard I was really happy that the early miles felt really comfortable and in fact felt like I had to keep slowing down to keep myself on pace. After a few miles I realised that my legs just had other ideas so went with it. The run was a great success and felt comfortable pretty much throughout. It was also the furthest I have ever run without a drink and it was nice that I didn't feel thirsty on the run either, perhaps due to the Heat Acclimatisation I have been doing and more effective sweating. Despite the lack of thirst, I was certainly feeling a touch peckish towards the end given it was another fasted effort. It is important to point out that I ran this on my tempo loop so the Garmin pace may not be entirely accurate, in fact it may be incredibly flattering but hopefully won’t be too far away from what I had planned any way with the run coming in at 5:49mm. To put this into further perspective it is quicker than I have done this run in previous build ups and it felt easier so all in all a very good sign.

Sunday saw me trot out a 10 mile run a little bleary eyed having set my alarm to watch the last night of the Olympic athletics. Whilst I sprang out of bed buoyed by Mo's epic victory and the legs felt fine, they were certainly tired once I started running and I felt a little like a baby elephant taking his first steps!

Overall then a very good week with two satisfying and successful sessions. I'm not used to hitting what I want in every session so it does mean I have to be a little careful that I don't push too hard just now as there is still a long way to go and I know the endurance is there. The focus now moves a bit more to building my speed endurance overt the coming weeks. The plan is to have two more big weeks before tapering down for an attempt at a half marathon PB. That should hopefully give me a bit of a boost and a hint at what I might be capable of come the 9th October. Hopefully it will indicate that a sub 2:20 could be on the cards!



Yorkshire Marathon 2016 - W/E 14th August - Eight weeks to go

M 13 miles (6:13mm), 5.5 miles (7:08mm)
T 11 miles (6:32mm), 6 miles with some hill sprints and strides (7:13mm)
W 9 miles (7:13mm), 4.5 miles (7:34mm)
T 17 miles with 3, 6, 9, 12, 12, 9, 6, 3 minute efforts (6:00mm)
F 10.5 miles (6:35mm), 7 miles HA (7:28mm)
S 9 miles HA (7:15mm)
S 24 miles, including 22 miles @ 91.7% MP (5:52mm)

Total 117 miles (6:35mm)
Aerobic efficiency 981 beats per mile
Weight 141.7 lbs
Body Fat 10.7%

For the first half of this week I was still on holiday in Poland and so would see how the legs were before attempting another Marathon Specific session. Optimistically I thought it would be Wednesday but I let let my head rule my heart and pushed it back to Thursday to give an extra days easy running after last week's long tempo. That said I didn't feel to bad on Monday (a decent progressive run in the morning!) or Tuesday other than a bit of expected tiredness in the legs. I did however make sure I took the Wednesday incredibly easy with a sight seeing run at a very leisurely pace.

 Looking back towards Westerplatte, where the first shots were fired to start the Second World War

'Molo Brzezno' - Pier at Gdansk Brzezno

Grand Hotel Sopot - a venue we considered for our wedding reception, but my Yorkshireness got the better of me.

And so onto Wednesday which would be the first of two main marathon specific sessions of this week. It was to be a medium length run with decent efforts at and above MP. The session was 3 mins, 6 mins, 9 mins, 12 mins, 12 mins, 9 mins, 6 mins, 3 mins with recoveries of 2 minute jogs except after the 12 minutes where I took an extra minute. Now its been a few weeks since any fast running and within the first three minute effort I was writing my letter of resignation to the marathon Gods questioning whether I could put myself through another campaign. I quickly grew a pair of balls though and decided to just work into the session and hope for the best! In my previous blog I mentioned I was taking a more Canova style approach with this build up where some of the faster running needs to be at somewhat quicker than PB marathon pace. The six minute effort was very hard but by the nine minute effort I was starting to feel a little more comfortable and by the 12 I was very focused on a successful session. And so it turned out thankfully. I was working incredibly hard in the last couple of efforts and the legs were filling with fatigue but it was job done with the 3, 6, 9, 12 minute efforts coming in at 107% MP - 5:03mm, 103%MP - 5:16mm, 102%MP - 5:19mm, 100.4%MP - 5:23mm respectively. The paces weren't quite what I had hoped for but on reflection a very decent start to the specific phase and very satisfying to have the first sandwich session banked. It gave me a total of 60 minutes at an average of 7 seconds per mile quicker than marathon PB pace.

I flew back to Blighty on Thursday afternoon so there was no second run that day and Friday's run saw fatigued legs in the morning run but the pace was still pretty pleasing. I followed this up with a 'by-not-so-popular-demand' treadmill Heat Acclimatisation run of 7 miles. I had only planned 6 miles but Andy Murray was on the box in a griping final set so kept going a bit further to see the conclusion of the match.

Hope you like the cheesy music. :-)

The second hard run of the week was Sunday's long fast run. This was done fasted and without fuel/water on the run. The aim had been to run at about 6:00mm pace but I felt very comfortable from the off and the run average 5:52 which is 91.7% of current marathon PB pace (Canova recommends a number of long fast runs at 88-95% of MP for a really specific session). Even taking into consideration a bit of Garmin optimism, I suspect it was more accurately 5:55-5:57 pace. There were lots more miles that could have been covered at that pace too so it was a nice confidence booster, especially after how difficult last week's 16 mile Tempo felt!

I also built up the confidence to step on the scales after Saturday's run and was pleased to see that I seem to have maintained my weight pretty much. I'm not sure anyone has every managed to lose weight while on holiday in Poland for two weeks, certainly not me so to come back the same weight is a bit of a relief.

This was a really good week overall with a build in mileage and two hard sessions.

Yorshire Marathon 2016 - W/E 7th August - Nine weeks to go.

M 11.5 miles (6:23mm), 6 miles (7:05mm)
T 10 miles (6:38mm), 6.5miles with some hill sprints(7:13mm)
W 15 miles (6:30mm)
T 10.5 miles (6:44mm), 5 miles (7:21mm)
F 8 miles (7:12mm)
S 9 miles (6:43mm)
S 20 miles including 16 miles at 94% MP

Total 102 miles (6:38mm)
Aerobic efficiency 957 beats per mile


After a down week (78 miles in singles, 6:27mm avge) following the Great Yorkshire Run this was the first week of the marathon specific phase. Nothing hugely interesting to report other than I was keen to get the miles back to a decent level with more doubles as well as including a decent length tempo run. As I have mentioned before I'm taking a very slightly different approach this time, using a bit more of Renato Canova's terminology and approach. So most runs were 'moderate' (6:55mm-6:20mm) or 'easy' (8:00mm-6:55mm) and then the session this week was 20 miles including 16 miles at 94% of current Marathon PB pace, so 16 miles at 5:46pace. This was a good first real hard run in the specific phase, but to be honest it felt a lot closer to 100% of MP! I will blog shortly how I recovered from that but during the run it was tough. Keeping a sustained effort for so long was something I haven't done for what seems like ages and I certainly had to concentrate a bit in the second half of the run!



Canova seems to recommend quite a few fast long runs (88-95% of current marathon PB pace) as well as sessions including running faster than MP. Much like the Steve Way style sandwich sessions that I have done in the past. So I shall continue to do these but rather than do slower over distance as I have done in the past, I will probably top out at 24 miles as a long run in training. I'll also include occasional hill sprints and strides to keep the legs turning over.

We have been on holiday for a couple of weeks in Poland so there's pros and cons to that from a training perspective; I got to explore lots of beautiful places, I also managed to get lost a couple of times but also it's a little tricky to be fully focused on the training when I'm relaxing with my family and doing holiday stuff!

Selfie central :-)

There's also the added difficulty of Polish cuisine, which quite frankly is amazing and very hard to say no to! I don't think I did too badly on that front though but have yet to weigh myself since returning - I'll save that for a few days. Now I am back though it should be slightly easier to monitor my diet a bit more closely and make sure I make the sensible choices as I look to get down to race weight. Of course I didn't take my scales on holiday with me either which might have been helpful in maintaining a bit of discipline as well as ensuring we hadn't over-packed our hold baggage for the return flight :-) With being on holiday I haven't done any heat acclimatisation runs so will be keen to get back to that once in my routine. To be honest I just felt like enjoying my running while I was on my break rather than getting in such a regular sweatfest!

All in all then a pleasing first week of the specific phase; I was keen to be back over 100 miles even if to just satisfy my OCD tendencies. Next week will include a build in the mileage and a sandwich session.