Project 2:20 - Berlin or Bust: Week 2 of 10

M 9 miles HA (6:51mm), 6.5 miles (7:33mm)
T 14 miles including 20 mins, 4X3mins, 15 mins (6:18mm)
W 6 miles (7:30mm), 10 miles (6:35mm)
T 9 miles HA (6:50mm), 5 miles (7:48mm)
F  11 miles (6:39mm), 4 miles (7:15mm)
S 6 miles (7:47mm)
S 20 miles including 17 Progressive (5:50mm)

Total 101 miles (6:46mm)
Aerobic efficiency 1009 Vs 1090 beats per mile
Weight 146.5lbs Vs 147.6lbs
Body Fat 12.18% (17.85lbs) Vs 12.92% (19.06lbs)
Lean Body Mass 83.37% (122.43lbs) Vs 82.72% (122.07lbs)
Water 62.42% (91.44lbs) Vs 61.5% (90.7%)


I had been hoping to build on the mileage a bit this week but as it turned out I did exactly the same as last week. I felt pretty smoked on Saturday so just did an easy 6 to make sure I could give my Sunday run a decent effort. Mike kindly reminded me that last week I was a bit of an idiot trying to do two hard days with only one easy day between. It could well have been that that was finally catching up with me!

A shorter Vlog this week

As I mentioned on last weeks Vlog I wanted to do the same Marathon Session as I had done on the Treadmill last week, but this time on the road to get a gauge of where my fitness is. I did this on Tuesday so three days after my long run. It went OK with the first 20 minutes coming in at 5:38 per mile. I then probably did the efforts a touch too hard averaging around 5:10 per mile. It was then on to the final 20 minutes at marathon effort but I quickly realised that I could bitten off more than I could chew and I started to slow so cut that short at 15 minutes. Mike often reminds me how important it is to not dig yourself a hole so on reflection I'm actually quite proud of myself for being sensible on (at least) two occasions this week when it may have been easier to take heed of my obsessiveness and grind the sessions out!


This week also saw the re-introduction of some Heat Acclimation runs and I will continue to do a couple of these a week. I was a proper sweaty mess after the first attempt!

Aerobic efficiency has taken a big leap forward to 1009 beats per mile with a few runs coming in at sub 1000 beats per mile. This is a good indicator for me that I am starting to show some signs of fitness. It's all down to consistency and the past few weeks of just getting out there and getting it done goes a long way to bringing this number down.


I have also dropped a bit of weight and over a pound in body fat so need to keep up with that as I am still rather lardy. If I can run well when lardy, I should fly when I'm actually at race weight so maybe there is a benefit to training quite chunky in the short term?!?!

Project 2:20 - Berlin or Bust: Week 1 of 10

M 14 miles Fartlek (6:00mm)), 5 miles (6:57mm)
T 10.5 miles (6:40mm), 5 miles (7:39mm)
W 9 miles Fartlek (6:37mm) 5 miles (7:29mm)
T 10.5 miles (6:42mm), 5 miles (7:40mm)
F 6 miles (6:27mm)
S 20 miles Split Progressive (6:15mm)
S 11 miles (6:32mm)

Total 101 miles (6:37mm)
Aerobic efficiency 1090 beats per mile
Weight 147.6lbs
Body Fat 12.92% (19.06lbs)
Lean Body Mass 82.72% (122.07lbs)
Water 61.5% (90.7lbs)


As some will know, I have set up a YouTube Channel and Facebook Page to ease my narcissistic tendencies. If you would rather watch me chat through this week's diary then please feel free to watch the link below, subscribe, like, comment and all that palaver. For those that rather read what I've been up to then please just go to below the video.

My first week of 10 in the build-up to Berlin went pretty well on the whole. I had a couple of sessions and a split progressive long run. It was also nice to be back into three figures, mileage wise.


Monday, I jumped on the treadmill and did 20 minutes, 4X3minuts, 20 minutes and set the 20 minute efforts at 17.3kph and the 3 minute efforts at 18.3kph. It was a tough workout but a classic introducer session to the harder ones to come. I then did a fartlek on Wednesday and was intending to do 15X1minute hard (20kph) on the treadmill but it quickly became clear that my legs had not recovered sufficiently from Monday and Tuesday's mils so instead cut it to eight efforts. This was a sensible thing to do and on reflection I probably should have done this session on the Thursday.


It was then all about the weekend and as the pre-long run/session anxiety set in I realised it was going to be a proper slog! Especially when I woke up to Biblical rain. This one I had told myself I should od on the road though as the treadmill really cant replicate what you get from the road in terms of impact. I decided that I would do it as a split progressive long run on a my flat tempo loop. Having toyed with the idea of doing a hilly 22 miles at a steady rate I figured it would make more sense to do something a bit more specific to the marathon and get some decent chunks in at high aerobic paces. So I did a 10 mile chunk at 6:07mm, three minutes jog and then 5 miles at 5:47mm. The 5:47s felt tough, about marathon effort so I certainly have some work to do over the coming weeks! This sort of session should bring my aerobic fitness on a chunk though so I hope to see some quick returns over the coming days.

My body composition has improved slightly which is good but I do have a long way to go to get into racing shape. The picture on the left shows me at the start of the week and the picture on the right shows me early April when I was in great shape before London. Of course I got ill and then had to reassess my Spring targets. Dave Archer, a chum of mine kindly commented 'so what you're saying is, you've never been thin?' :-) I do believe that I could get a bit leaner than the second photo but want to ensure I don't do it at the expense of getting ill (again) or injured.

Week 5: 16th - 22nd January

M  AM 6.03 miles recovery (7:21mm avge), PM 4.1 miles recovery (7:08mm avge)
T  10.06 miles including 4 miles @ 5:23mm (6:11mm avge)
W  15.16 miles progressive (6:33mm avge)
T  6.09 miles recovery (7:17mm avge)
F  13.20 miles progressive (6:28mm avge)
S  6.19 miles recovery (7:10mm avge)
S  18.05 miles, including 10 miles @5:41mm (6:11mm avge)

Total 78.88 miles (6:36mm avge)

This week has been the first week that I looked at the schedule and thought WOW that looks like it's going to be a bit of a stretch. Not only did it have a 4 miles at lactate threshold within a 10, but it also had the standard midweek 15 miler, a half marathon and then to round the week off the schedule asked for a long run of 18 miles which in itself is not too hard, but when you are supposed to run 10 of those miles at marathon pace/effort it does seem like a big week indeed. Luckily next week is a cut back and I will end up doing a touch under 70 miles. Most of which will be at a very easy pace.


Tuesday was a Lactate Threshold session. Lactate threshold is supposed to be the pace/effort at which you can race for one hour - it's great for building speed endurance which is very very important during the marathon, in fact it's nearly as important as the endurance you get from the long, easy miles. For me at this stage of fitness, on a good day is I think just over 11 miles per hour or lets say 5:25 per mile. It was an early start for this session and I was pleased to hit some decent mile splits (averaged 5:23mm) for a constant effort level. My Heart Rate gradually rose to 90% of max throughout the workout without increasing off the scale which shows that the effort was correct and my body was effectively getting rid of the lactic acid being generated in the muscles. It was nice to see that from an aerobic efficiency perspective this was my best run so far with my heart beating on average 966 beats per mile. I know if I start to see my heart rate going below 1000 beats per mile then I am running very efficiently and in good shape. So hopefully I'll see this a lot more over the coming weeks. I was lucky though that it was great conditions for the session, just above 0 degrees with no breeze to speak of.

The 15 miler the day after didn't feel fantastic but the pace and heart rate was where it should be so it didn't bother me too much but it just goes to show that you will always have a day when you just don't feel like you're having a good run. The trick here is to just get the run done, and move on. I may have still had some tiredness in the system from the previous days tempo run which may explain feeling a little lacklustre.

Friday by contrast was excellent, everything just clicked into place and I felt like I was running strongly, moving through the gears and despite it being a challenging route and it being really rather windy, the pace was very pleasing for the effort and heart rate level.

And so to Sunday, I set off to do 7 miles before I got to the 10 miles @ marathon pace/effort section. These runs are always funny because you know how tough it's going to be at the end of the effort section. So your early miles tend to be a bit slower than normal. Perhaps it's psychological but the body does seem to have a way of holding back when it knows what's coming. Anyway, I didn't feel too great in those early miles and I felt like I was working a little harder than the pace suggested I should be. It was a very windy day with 35mph gusts and it was again blowing in the 'wrong' direction from the south west like the the time I did 8 miles at MP at the end of a long run on New Year's Day.

The embedded link below shows that it was a strong run though and I was only really hitting true marathon effort levels for the last four miles or so. This resulted in an average pace of 5:41 per mile (56:52 for the 10 miles) which is very very encouraging given the weather conditions, where I am in the schedule, and that I also didn't feel like I was 'on fire' today. I would take that as an average pace on the 22nd April as it'll get me home in around 2:29. All going well.

I have again continued with the flexibility and core sessions - which I feel are really starting to play dividends in feeling fresher day after day. I've also bought some dumbbells so am now going to start doing a couple of strength sessions per week if time permits.

Week 4: 9th -15th January

M  6.19 miles recovery (7:21mm avge)
T  10.11 miles general aerobic, with 10 X 100m strides (6:42mm avge)
W  15.22 miles progressive (6:28mm avge)
T  6.03 miles recovery (7:22mm avge)
F  12.26 miles progressive (6:33mm avge)
S  6.18 miles recovery (7:16mm avge)
S  20.09 miles progressive (6:32mm avge)

Total  76.15 miles (6:44mm avge)

This week seems to have been a bit of a consolidation week if I'm honest, whilst marginally increasing the miles of previous weeks there hasn't been any particularly tough sessions. This week did include the first 20 mile run which I was most concerned about given the progressive nature of how they are supposed to be done.

So it's a little difficult to talk about the three key runs this week when they've all been much of a muchness but even so I'll do my best. Tuesday's run with the strides was a good indicator that I can run quickly! The strides were all around 15/16 seconds which means they were roughly 4:20mm on average which is pretty nippy. They also felt much better and in control than last time. Felt really good to be striding out and holding good form.

Wednesday's progressive run to work was really enjoyable and another indicator that the previous two weeks training was starting to bed in. I gradually moved through the gears, ending with around 4 miles at 6:05mm for a 6:28mm avge across the whole of the run. Very pleasing. It's also quite nice to arrive at work feeling rather smug that you've already achieved something for the day. The looks on colleague's faces when I tell them that I've just run from home is a pleasant indication that they have a silent respect for my running (or is it disbelief and they're actually concerned for my mental state!?!?).

And so to today's run which was the first 20. I wasn't too worried about it, I've lost count of the amount of 20's I've done in the past it's just that it was to be at a pace that was quicker than I normally do them. I am usually one for sitting in my armchair while I plod out 7:30mms feeling very comfortable and just getting the miles in the legs. Following the P&D schedule essentially calls for you to run them progressively, starting slowly and then moving through the gears to finish with the last few miles at c10% below marathon pace/effort. So off I went and did my favourite road 20 mile route which is not without it's bumps. You can see more detail on the embedded link below but in a nutshell the first 5 miles averaged 7:02mm (73%HRMax), second five miles averaged 6:38mm (77%HRMax), third five miles averaged 6:22mm (79%HRMax), final five miles averaged 6:07mm (83.4%HRMax). So judging by the last split it's currently indicating a marathon pace of roughly 5:34mm as I typically race a marathon at an average of 87.3%HRMax. Marathon racing is never that simple though and conditions were perfect for running this morning (very cold, dry and still)but I can be very positive that it was a strong training run and I finished feeling there was a lot more in the tank, which is great. I'll also get to test what current marathon pace is in next Sunday's long run as the schedule calls for 18 miles with 10 miles at Marathon Pace

I'm also pleased to report I did three decent stretching and flexibility sessions this week as well as a couple of core strength workouts and plan to do another this afternoon. 

Week 1: 19th - 25th December

My week went like this:

Mon 5 miles recovery (7:57mm avge)
Tue 9 miles including 4M @ 5:27mm (6:24 avge)
Wed 12.3 miles progressive (7:04mm avge)
Thu 5.9 miles recovery (7:24mm avge)
Fri 10 miles general aerobic (6:53mm avge)
Sat 17.1 miles progressive (7:01mm avge)
Sun 6 miles recovery (7:31mm avge)

Total 65.6 miles (7:04mm avge)

The first week of P&D and all went well - I hit every prescirbed run. I was particularly pleased with the Tempo run I did at 5:30am on the Tuesday. I was very pleased to be hitting that pace in the first week of the schedule. The heart rate was getting on the high side towards the end of the workout so perhaps it was a bit above Half Marathon effort but it probably did some good anyway! I decided to get out for my Long run on Christmas Eve so I wasn't getting the way of quality family time on Christmas day where I just plodded out a little 6 mile recovery run. The long run went ok and it didnt feel too long if that makes sense, just right for this stage of the game.

The beauty of P&D is that it has quite a bit of faster stuff in, especially the long runs where there are big chunks at marathon pace in some of them. The main way is to do them progressive though and start out c20% below MP then increase the pace until the last few miles are at 10% below MP. I have decided to do all my progressive runs to HR, rather than pace, gradually letting it rise throughout the run while the pace hopefully quickens. The routes I run are simply too undulating to get the 20-10% pace effective so it will have to be to HR effort.

For marathon paced and lactate threshold running I will do on the flattest part of Orpington,at least then I can try and get some consistency with pace.

All in all a good first week! :-)

Plans for 2012

I was going to write this blog a couple of weeks ago before starting my training for London but we've been busy getting ready for Christmas and we've had all sorts of visitors to see our baby daughter Mia (the little cutey on the left) who was born on 2nd December. Now Christmas is out of the way and we're just about getting the little one into a routine I finally have time to write down some thoughts and hopes for what 2012 will bring from a training and racing perspective.

I shall do a seperate review of what went well in 2011 but this one is about 2012.

My plans first off are to attempt a PB at London Marathon in April, hopefully getting under 2:30. I have aspirations of getting a top 50 place but that will probably need a time around 2:27 which may be out of my grasp for now. It wont stop me trying though! I will for a change be following a published schedule to see if it works for me. I will be following the Pfitzinger & Douglas 70-85 miles per week schedule and hope to see some good positive results. It also helps, having the thinking taken away from me and jsut do whats on the plan.

After that I am doing the Edninburgh marathon five weeks after London. This is a bit of an experiment really to see if I can hit both pretty hard. I also thought it might be a good opportunity for a weekend away in a beautiful City. Not only this but I may be having a Autumn break next year from marathons just so I can focus on the shorter stuff. I really do feel my short distance speed is relatively poor and will be looking to recitfy this in to the summer and autumn. Perhaps with a period of focusing exclusively on middle distance.

So races booked in:

Kent County Cross Country Championships - 7th January
Kent XC League - 11th February
Battersea Park 10M - 3rd March
Battersea Park 10k - 24th March
London Marathon - 22nd April
Edinburgh Marathon - 26th May