London Marathon 2013 Build Up

Last year I gave a week by week account of my build up to the London marathon. This year rather than boring any readers (or indeed myself) week to week I decided to do a wrap up towards the end of my training giving an overview of how it has all gone. That's the purpose of this blog and hopefully it will serve as a reminder for me in the future as to what has (so far) gone right and what could be worked on a bit more.

As a brief reminder I ended up DNFing London last year due to illness but that didn't mean all the training had gone to waste. I had a back up plan of Edinburgh at the end of May which went to plan and I hit my sub 2:30 target. That was done on a pretty warm day and it was also a solo run for the most part but a race I feel I executed very well indeed.

Then in Autumn I had decided that I would focus on the half and try and get a sub 70 time. This was achieved with a 69:46 at Peterborough. I was incredibly pleased with this one as my training had been a bit inconsistent over the summer as I struggled with the occasional niggle. Luckily we had perfect weather conditions and a good group of guys to race against on the day.

My focus was then to take some down time and just run when I felt like it with no pressure on racing or training hard, so I did a bit of easy running through November (159 miles) before picking up the marathon training towards the back end of December (183 miles). At the start of this cycle despite the fact that I had kept the running ticking over, I felt really quite unfit so I knew that it was going to be a long old haul.

Last year I followed the Pfitzinger & Douglas Advanced Marathoning up to 85miles per week schedule virtually to the letter but had decided this year I would follow the up to 105 miles per week in the hope it could eek out a little more improvement! I had always planned to play this by ear though and be less rigid with it depending on how I was coping and the fact that life/work are a priority over my running.

January

January started off with the Kent Cross Country Champs and whilst I wasn't expecting much it just went to prove how unfit I was. The higher mileage in the legs may have had a bit of an impact on my performance too but I finished way back in 27th, four places worse than last year! Quite frankly it wasn't good enough and I was beaten by a long way by folks who I would ordinarily beat on the roads with ease. I have decided that next year I am going to really focus on a solid XC season as I feel it is a real weakness. If I can improve at this I will be a much better road runner because of the increase in strength I will get from it and also the toughness it gives you in terms of pure racing.

January continued quite nicely and managed to get some decent sessions in including a couple of 5 mile tempo runs at about 5:30 per mile and the mileage continued to increase which would all help come April.

Total Miles 381
Avge Pace 6:53 per mile
Avge HR 151
Long Runs 18.5, 20, 20

February

As I moved into February I was starting to feel fit and pleasingly I was also starting to feel pretty fatigued which meant that the marathon training was kicking in nicely. I did a 5 mile tempo @ 5:20 per mile on a very cold and icy Tuesday morning in the middle of a 102.5 mile week that also saw a 13.1 miler, 15 miler and my long run up to 22 miles. Unfortunately this is where my body started to ease off as I came down with a sickness bug the following week that meant four missed running days. It cleared pretty sharpish though and I was back 'on it' the third week of February which tied in with Bradford City's League Cup Final Appearance at Wembley. Naturally I had to get in a big session the morning of the final so did a 22 miler with 12 miles at Marathon Pace. This also saw a 105 mile week which was my biggest ever at the time. Despite Bradford being thrashed in the final it was a day I shall never forget and I ensured I had fully rehydrated with quite a few beers whilst catching up with friends that I used to go to watch the Mighty Bantams with week in week out.

Total Miles 317 (a lot less than planned but understandable due to 6 rest days)
Avge Pace 6:44
Avge HR 149
Long Runs 19, 22, 22

March

The first weekend of March was to be my first tune up race ahead of London and I felt in OK form but still somewhat behind where I was at the same time last year. I actually did the same corresponding race, an early Saturday morning 10 miler in Battersea Park. They run a series of races which are fantastically run all on certified courses and nice and flat so can be good for quick times. On this day Chris Greenwood of Kent AC, a guy that beat me at Peterborough turned up and I thought I would try to hold on to him. Chris had had a really good XC season and was now turning his attention to his first marathon at London. There were also a couple of other very strong runners that I knew I would not be able to keep up with if they were in any sort of decent shape. This turned out to be the case and they ran into the distance within the first mile and a half. I kept Chris in my sights and although I pulled level with him around five miles and feeling strong the recent high mileage started to take its toll and I struggled to maintain pace and gradually Chris pulled away finishing nearly 30 seconds in front. I still finished the day in 4th place with 53:15. Last year I did 52:58 in what was in effect a solo time trial. I feel, having reflected on both performances that perhaps my heart wasn't quite in it this year's race as last and I also hit the race last year fresher and actually fitter so all things considered that actually made this year's a better performance. At least that's what I'm telling myself!

I then continued to build the miles throughout the month and had a great tempo run of 7 miles@5:15 per mile. I also slowly started to introduce some interval training on top of the standard diet of two medium long runs per week and a long run! March also saw my beats per mile heart rate steadily improving meaning I was getting fitter.

Then came my second tune-up race which was a 10k again at Battersea Park. Now, as any reader in the UK will know the weather this year has been absolutely atrocious and although we were now officially in Spring we were greeted with freezing cold temperatures and blizzard conditions. This race was the day before the scheduled Southern 12 stage road relays so it was unlikely that many really top quality runners would show up as they would be racing the next day. As it happened the 12 stage was cancelled due to the weather. Anyway, I lead the race from the front and whilst having an ideal target of sub 32 this proved a little too much for me (finished in 32:05, a PB by 36 seconds) with the weather as it was and the fact that I didn't quite get stuck in as much as I could. Some folk would call this soft others would say I was being sensible as it was not the A-Race. I agree with the latter; there will be plenty of time to do some damage to that PB and I think if I can get in the right race on the right day I can go under 31:30 later this year.

Finally for March would be my last massive session before the big day; a big 22 miler with 14 miles at Marathon Pace (details of this segment below). The plan was to see what came out and use it as a guide for what pace I should run at on 21st April. Quite frankly I had expected the pace to be c5:35 per mile but as it happened it ended up being 5:26 per mile! I went through the half marathon point in 71:12 (my second quickest half marathon ever. In training. On my own!). I don't for a second expect this to be my marathon pace as the effort did feel higher than I would want but it should not be too far away. This has given me confidence that providing the weather sorts itself out and we have a nice cool calm day then I will be brave enough to give sub 2:25 a go (5:32 per mile pace).

Total Miles 433
Avge Pace 6:35 per mile
Avge HR 151
Long Runs 20, 24, 22, 20, 22

April

As we are only a few days into April there is not much to report but I am now officially in taper mode and will gradually be reducing my training with only a few hard runs to come over the next two and a half weeks. One of which will be the Gdansk parkrun this coming Saturday where I will be attempting to break the course record and also go for a PB. I feel in shape for it. 5ks hurt like hell but the pain doesn't last for long so I'm looking forward to giving it a good blast!

All in all, this training cycle started off slowly and I was relatively unfit but I really feel like I am coming to a nice peak and think (touch wood) that I may have timed it absolutely perfectly this time. Last year I felt I may have peaked in early/mid march and although there wasn't a massive drop off in my form before Edinburgh I felt perhaps I was getting into overreaching territory so could have raced better if my race had come earlier!

I am very excited about the marathon and can't wait for what is simply a brilliant day. Sure, it hurts and it's emotional but whatever the result the feeling of toeing the line with those international athletes and pushing myself to the limit in trying to be the best I can be on the day is one of the greatest feelings I could possibly imagine....