Project 2:20 - Berlin or Bust

M 8 miles (7:00mm)
T 10 miles (6:42mm), 5 miles (8:16mm)
W 10 miles inc. 3X15mins (6:19mm)
T 11 miles (7:03mm), 5 miles (8:27mm)
F 8 miles (7:10mm)
S 17.5 miles (7:14mm)
S 10.5 miles (7:07mm)

Total 85 miles (7:08mm)
Aerobic efficiency 1160 beats per mile
Weight 148.9lbs
Body Fat 13.42% (19.98lbs)
Lean Body Mass 82.23% (122.43lbs)
Water 60.7% (90.38lbs)


Last week I blogged about my plans and dilemmas for this Autumn and having had some great feedback I came up with a plan. The advice generally pointed towards me giving Berlin a fair crack of the whip but I couldn't get Winschoten out of my mind and trying to achieve the standard for the World Championships next year. Mike & I discussed briefly and I felt that I really wanted to give myself the best opportunity to qualify for the World 100k championships.  I decided that I would rather try to get the standard now if I can as there aren't too many opportunities to run a fast 100k and Winschoten is definitely the place to try. That said, having had a further week to mull things over I have now changed my mind! So flaky I know! Instead, I will be focusing all my attention on one last big effort to break the 2:20 barrier for the marathon before moving on to longer distances. Berlin is the place to do it. I should still have a couple of opportunities in the Spring to run a fast 100k.


The training that I do over the next few weeks will therefore be building back the miles, and trying to regain some of that marathon fitness I have had in the not too distant past. Hopefully the stars will align this time to allow my dreams to come true. I feel I could have gone under 2:20 at Berlin in 2015 had it not been for getting a stitch and last year at Toronto, I was definitely in shape to run 2:20 had it not been for the conditions on the day and possibly being slightly affected by jetlag.


So my first week back and on the whole it went pretty well. I managed 85 miles and one session of 3X15minutes on Wednesday. In a weird way I like feeling unfit as you get to see improvements with virtually every run. Aerobically I feel in a poor state of fitness and this is displayed by high heart rates in all of my runs and the resulting poor 'aerobic efficiency' This week it averaged 1160 beats per mile and if I am fit it will typically be in the range of 930-950 beats per mile! I haven't been paying too much attention to my heart rate on my runs and in fact rarely do as I rather run to feel so for my main runs I have been running at a 'moderate' intensity and for my second run have been running really easy/recovery type effort.


The first week of my plant-based diet has gone well too. I have set up a separate blog for this too if anyone is interested in reading. www.plant-basedobsessive.com Unfortunately I haven't been 100% plant-based but more through bad luck than 'failing'. I noticed that the muesli that I regularly eat has 'skimmed milk powder' in it so will finish the box and then move on to a type that definitely has none in! I also had a couple of bottles of Theakston's Old Peculiar which I learned is also not Vegan as they use Isinglass (part of a fish's bladder!) as part of their process. I was relieved to learn that all bottled beers produced by Black Sheep do not use isinglass in their process so that will be my go to tipple form now on! Another vegan friendly brewer is Brewdog and I am a big fan of their craft beers. Although as I get closer to the race I will certainly not be drinking!


So there we have it, I have settled on a plan and I am somewhat relieved as I can now start the prep fully focused on what lies ahead. I will likely follow a very similar plan to Berlin '15 & Toronto '16 but I will probably avoid the Special Block this time around as I don't believe it is entirely necessary, certainly not for an amateur like me and it could well have been my undoing at London this year, pushing me over the edge which resulted in me getting ill.