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.