Chasing Dreams, Project 2:20 - Week 3 of 12

M Easy 105 mins (7:41mm), Recovery 30 mins (8:35mm)
T Easy 90 mins (7:41mm)
W 100 mins including 4X15mins (3:00) (6:12mm), Recovery 30 mins (8:15mm)
T Easy 90 mins (7:39mm), Recovery 30 mins (8:19mm)
F Easy 100mins (7:33mm), Recovery 30 mins inc. 6X20s strides (8:06mm)
S 155 mins including Progressive 22 (6:31mm)
S Easy 100 mins (7:41mm)

Total 120 miles (7:20mm)
Aerobic efficiency 1021 beats per mile
Weight 143.63lbs Vs 144.63 lbs last week
Body Fat 11.66% ( 16.74lbs) Vs 12.3% (17.8lbs) 
Lean Body Mass 83.89% (120.49lbs) Vs 83.31% (120.49lbs)
Water 62.93% (90.39lbs) Vs 62.03% (89.71lbs)

Fitness - 73.8 Vs 68.9
Fatigue - 96.1 Vs 86.4
Form - -25.8(Optimal) Vs -7(Neutral)


In 63 days this little chapter will have concluded. 63 days! Shit! 63 DAYS. Nine weeks sounds loads but 63 days sounds like nothing! Will I do it, wont I? Do I have enough time? Do I have too much? Life would be so simple if we could just rock up on the start line and know we were in the shape of our lives on that one day. It's never so simple. Not only is the marathon itself a curious beast but judging the build up and taper is enough to give anyone a headache.

I have tried to embrace my 'inner-Kipchoge' this week and trust the process. Kipchoge didn't wake up one morning as the Greatest distance runner of all time. He worked for it. Every day. If he had 63 days to his race, he wouldn't be panicking. Kipchoge believed in the process. He believed that it was the daily practice of repeating the monotonous things time after time that would get him there. Yes, he has an inner belief in himself. I do too. I am sure however that he has moments of doubt. Moments where he thinks he's bitten off more than he can chew. Whilst I am no Kipchoge and never will be, we can all learn from the greats. Everyone has set backs along the way, there are bumps in the road and no one thing will make any slightest difference to the outcome. Over time, consistency and progress will conquer all. I need to believe that no one session will make this campaign. I remember back to London 2015 and I struggled to hit just about every single session the way I wanted, but I still managed to get a PB.

Photo: Gettty Images

The two key sessions this week were 4X15 mins and my long run consisting of two laps of my 11 mile Lydiard loop. The 15 minute efforts went well averaging 5:36.5 per mile feeling not too uncomfortable. A useful reminder to keep the glycogen stores topped up the day before a session as I accomplished this session well compared to last week's effort where 5:43 pace felt almost impossible! The long run was done at an easy/moderate pace progressing to moderate/easy tempo for the last few miles. Putting in a strong aerobic effort. It felt really good to be running strongly on the bumps of south Leeds. I then spent the afternoon watching the enthralling National XC Championships at Harewood House and Leeds City's Men and Women winning on home turf! I was a little gutted not to be running but I would also have hated to have missed watching it! My voice is a little hoarse today after shouting on my team mates and many running friends from around the country. 

Weight has dropped by exactly one pound which I think is healthy weight loss. Extrapolating to the marathon I could get down to something around 135lbs which would hopefully be around 8% body fat. This would also represent my ideal racing weight.

It was pleasing to build the mileage to the sort of level that I want to maintain for much of this build up feeling strong. I am ensuring I am keeping the easy days very easy to give myself the best chance of hitting my planned sessions. I have linked a graph to my body composition metrics here or you can click on the tab at the top of the blog. 

Training stress balance is now in a perfect place to continue to get fitter judging by the elevate app and whilst aerobic efficiency didn't improve versus last week, I suspect there will be a few breakthroughs over the next three-four weeks. 

Chasing Dreams, Project 2:20 - Week 2 of 12

M 95 mins including 7X1mile (1/2 mile) (6:22mm)
T Easy 100 mins (7:41mm), 30 mins Recovery (8:47mm)
W Easy 40 mins, 2miles moderate (6:57mm)
T Recovery 30 mins (7:59mm), 75 mins including aborted session (6:43mm)
F Easy 60 mins (7:14mm), 30 mins Recovery (8:06mm)
S Easy 105 mins (7:41mm)
S 135 mins including Liversedge Half

Total 103 miles (7:06mm)
Aerobic efficiency 1020 beats per mile
Weight 144.63 lbs Vs 145.5lbs last week
Body Fat 12.3% (17.8lbs) Vs 12.43% (18.1lbs)
Lean Body Mass 83.31% (120.49lbs) Vs 83.2% (121.1lbs)
Water 62.03% (89.71lbs) Vs 61.93% (90.14lbs)

Fitness - 68.9 Vs 64.4
Fatigue - 86.4 Vs 66.4
Form - -7(Neutral) Vs 0.9(Neutral)

Fitness trending up and fatigue starting to as well.

A busy week this week with work, travelling twice to London and once over the Penines to Manchester so I was worried about how the training might go. After last week's 71 miles I thought I'd be in a position to ramp up in terms of miles and if structured correctly could squeeze in three hard runs.

I did a big session of 7X1mile on Monday. I had been hoping to do 8 but I ruined the session if I'm honest and ran the middle few a bit too quick meaning an 8th would have been futile. I averaged 5:16 for the efforts which is decent but I would have rather eight  8 at 5:20s as more time spent around my current Lactate Threshold will help build the fitness quickly. That said I was very chuffed to be running so quickly as it's been a long time since I have done a session as quick as that!

I then moved onto Thursday with easy running in between and had hoped to run a repeat of last week's 20 mins, 4X3mins, 20 misn session but a bit quicker. Even before I started the efforts it all felt just a bit too hard. My breathing was elevated and I was probably carrying too much fatigue from travelling to London the day previously. I started the first 20 minute effort and it averaged 5:43 but felt way harder than that. I had been hoping it would be 5:40-5:35 feeling quite comfortable. I was worried about what the 3 minute efforts would transpire as. As expected they were tough too and I only decided to do two of them and then just run the rest at an easy pace. Even the easy felt hard though and I felt very low on glycogen. This was confirmed when I got home and weighed myself. I weighed in at 142.6lbs which was around 2 lbs less than my average weight for the week. When one is glycogen replete they will naturally be a bit heavier due to the additional water that is paired with each molecule of glycogen. I ensured that the mission for the next couple of days was to get enough carbohydrate in my system for the Liversedge half on Sunday as well as get some very easy miles in.

I won this race unexpectedly in 2017 and it remains my one last performance that I'm actually proud of! It is a really hilly (c1000ft of elevation) course and the weather on the day was horrific, snowing, gales. It was a base layer, gloves, mittens and woolly hat job! Even so I loved it, and I loved it today also. I went with my neighbour and close friend Chris who was a little anxious about the race as it was to be the furthest he'd run since Yorkshire Marathon last year. Needless to say there was no need to panic and he too really enjoyed the challenge of the course. I had no expectations of winning as I know I'm not in the form I was in 2017 and also Joe Sagar of Spenborough and Gareth Cooke of Penistone were both running. I knew they were in better shape than I am given recent race results. The first mile is rapidly downhill and even in my state of fitness I managed a sub five! I was only in about 5th position at this point with Joe and Gareth already way into the distance. I ran to feel, being careful never to go over my LT, until right towards the end. Around the 6th mile I caught up with Gareth Cooke who was sitting in second place. this was at the bottom of the second huge descent. Gareth had clearly been jogging it though whereas I had imagined I had a pair of heelies on and whizzed down the mountain. I still felt good however, but Gareth was obviously being very reserved. He quickly upped his pace and moved away. It was then a fairly lonely run to the end, but I enjoyed the challenge of the hills and the sights are magnificent at certain points. As I reached the 11 mile marker I decided that I would really try and empty the tank a bit so pushed on. the pace didnt get any quicker but I'd certainly moved up the scale in terms of effort. As I rounded the final corner, I was so chuffed to have put in a decent performance. I finished in something not too far over 75 minutes and in third place. The beauty of doing a half like Liversedge is that it cant leave you feeling mentally wobbly about what sort of shape you're in. Mile splits vary so much that your strava feed reads more like an interval session than a steady race effort! Big kudos goes to Joe for running 70:44 for the win. An excellent time on that course. I have no doubt he could run under 68 minutes on a flat course with company. It'd also help if he actually did some miles in training! ;-) 

Photos courtesy of Dave Woodhead

Weight has dropped a little over the week which is pleasing but also pleased to say I'm not doing anything too drastic. 

I feel in a really good place right now, with a 100 mile week under my belt and 10 weeks to go. With a bit of luck I could time this peak to perfection. I've just got to keep focused and not do anything stupid.

Why Blog?

I’ve pondered for some time why it is that I blog. I haven’t done it forever and anyone that reads will know my posts have been far more sporadic than they used to be. This is not because I don’t have anything to say. I do. But there just hasn’t been any purpose to my running. Mainly because of injury. And without running what good is a running blog? 

I originally started my blog after following Steve Way’s and decided to largely plagiarise his format. It worked to give an overview of the week’s training and a place to put my introspective thoughts down in written form. I wrote it to support my own mental fragility that I wasn’t good enough or didn’t have the training banked to get the results in races I craved. I loved to see my own progress from week to week as I followed a clear plan.

Am I a narcissist? Maybe a bit. Depending on how a millennial is defined, I can just about claim to be one and as anyone knows that reads the popular press my generation are all about ‘me, me, me.’

Do I care about what people think of me? My training? Do people think I’m an idiot for my approach to training? Do folks think my anal scrutinisation of every aspect of my training to be dull, interesting, worthless? Do people think I’m a dreamer? Unrealistic? Talented? Lucky? Hard working? Inspiring? Do they ask: how can someone running 33:43 for 10k possibly have a chance, or even dare to believe he is capable of breaking 2:20 for the marathon in a matter of weeks?

Does any of this matter?

No.

I’ve always run for me. I’ve always blogged for me. I’ve made great life-long friends because of both these aspects of my life. It has helped mould me into the person I am today. For better or worse.

I am a runner. I am a blogger. I am a husband, a father and yes I am also a dreamer. I will chase my dreams, no matter how arbitrary they are. 

For without dreams we may as well be dead. 

Chasing Dreams, Project 2:20 - Week 1 of 12.

M Easy 105 mins (7:21mm)
T 30 mins Recovery (8:19mm), Easy 90 mins (7:12mm)
W 20 mins (3:00), 4X3mins (2:00), 20 mins (6:23mm)
T Easy 75 mins (7:30mm)
F Rest
S Rest
S Easy 70 mins, Moderate 20mins, Easy 10 mins (6:59mm)

Total 71 miles (7:07mm)
Aerobic efficiency 1039 beats per mile
Weight 145.5lbs
Body Fat 12.43% (18.1lbs)
Lean Body Mass 83.2% (121.1lbs)
Water 61.93% (90.14lbs)

Fitness - 64.4
Fatigue - 66.4
Form - 0.9(Neutral)

I've been away. Why? Cause I have. Mentally I wanted to get into my own running before I got back to writing about it. I managed to run 378 miles through January building fitness gradually and being sensible with my diet. I had hoped to do the Yorkshire XC Championships at the beginning of January but having suffered a couple of viruses in December so I was nowhere near ready. I wasn't ready for the Northerns either but that didn't stop me having a little trot round. I kept it pretty comfortable for most and then pushed the last mile, finishing 157th. I really enjoyed it. It was a thrill to be back in the mix with some top runners. That said, I managed to tweak something in my quad/adductor though which meant last week's running was pretty minimal but made up for with some bike sessions. As I was fresh and my niggle had dissipated I decided to really give Dewsbury 10k a good go to see where I'm at.

157th at Northern XC Champs

Feeling strong at Dewsbury 10k. 25th 33:41 chip time.

I remembered running Dewsbury three years ago hoping to break 31! I struggled coming with 32:47 that day despite being fit! Thankfully that recce was quite useful as I knew that the course was gradually uphill for the first half, followed by the same gentle slope back down to the finish. This made the race prime for a negative split. I set off comfortably with the plan to get close to emptying the tank but not quite! I reach the turnaround in 17:04 and gradually picked it up towards the end with a 16:37 second half finishing in 33:41. The effort was hard and it has certainly given me confidence that I can definitely get into sub 2:20 shape for 28th April. I just have to turn that pace into something that is a bit slower than Marathon Pace over the next twelve weeks. As I've never been a 10k runner I am sure this is achievable. 

My weight is going down slowly and at a healthy rate. I also seem to be retaining quite a consistent level of lean body mass which implies that I am getting enough protein. It's so much easier when you're no longer vegan!

I did a marathon session of 20 mins, 4X3mins, 20 mins on the Wednesday and while it's clear I'm still a long way from my best, each week I seem to be improving; my aerobic efficiency is improving all the time. The 20 minute efforts averaged 5:45 pace and the three minute efforts 5:13 pace. Base don that session, I'm in around 2:31 marathon shape so all going in the right direction.

I wouldn't be me without picking up a lurgy though and Thursday's run told me I was coming down with something. Thankfully it wasn't too sinister, although Hania has been very ill with whatever is going around so I am grateful to have avoided it (touch wood). I finished the week off with a 100 minute run, some of which was at a good moderate pace.

So with 11 weeks to go, I feel like I am ready to start proper training. Mileage will be increasing and the sessions becoming more focused to the marathon. I just have to remember that my biggest friend will be consistency if I am going to chase down my dream; the daily practice of repeating the monotonous things over time will bring results on the 28th April. I hope you will enjoy the journey as I look to get this 2:20 monkey off my back.