London marathon training log/blog

TheRoadRunner

Recovery run of 6.7 miles today @ 7.12 pace. Wind was behind me all the way which was nice. A little sore from yesterday but nothing too serious. Had hoped to get an extra couple of miles in but time constraints didn't help.

Yesterday I decided to wear my training runners instead of racing flats. I'm glad I did as my legs haven't taken the hammering they normally do in the flats. I run marathons in training shoes so was a good idea all round. I'll have to take a look at the shorts I wore yesterday. I had planned on wearing them on marathon day but the inside of my legs chaffed badly yesterday, not so sore today as lubed them up with vaseline last night !

Weekly mileage total for last week was close to 60 miles. A little less than planned but from the outset of this training program I was determined not to get caught up with quantity but concentrate on quality instead and I think last week was a decent enough week quality wise.

Next week is a little up in the air. I'm racing a 5k on Sunday. My club organise the race and I'm needed for the team. I hope to get close to 16 minutes for this. This means I need to get my long run in during the week. I'm thinking 18-20 miles on Thursday and on Tuesday doing a session of 400s on grass. I'll have to be fluid with this and see how work pans out. Rest of my runs will be easy 10 mile runs on grass (or close to).

Racing Flat

TheRoadRunner wrote: »

How did you get on with your race today ? Did you hit your planned finish time ?

Yes, thanks, great run for me, reinforced how important correct pacing at the start is. Very comfortable for most of the race, felt easier than a tempo run for about 5 miles, felt close to stitch territory then so just tried to hold steady for a few miles, last mile 5.27 so delighted, fairly comfortably within my target, thanks again.

Racing Flat

TheRoadRunner wrote: »

I'm racing a 5k on Sunday. My club organise the race and I'm needed for the team. I hope to get close to 16 minutes for this. This means I need to get my long run in during the week. I'm thinking 18-20 miles on Thursday and on Tuesday doing a session of 400s on grass.

How about knocking the 400s on the head and then you can do the long run on Wednesday or maybe even Tuesday? The 5k should suffice for your speedwork this week I'd say.

Abhainn

Well done yesterday RR. Great win.
Id knock the 400's on the head this week also. Important to get that long run in.

stmochtas

Congrats on Carlingford, you are flying at the moment.

TheRoadRunner

Have decided to scale log back for a while, will update weekly for the month of March

TheRoadRunner

Decided to scale back my log for a little while. I'm in the middle of a racing block and my training is a little different from previous weeks. It might look a bit weird to some and confidence is not very high at the moment so want to keep things to myself.

Taking into account the fact that last weeks half marathon was slightly long (13.3 miles) I have realised I was actually on course for a half marathon pb of around 75.10. It doesn't really bother me that the course was long but it's a bit of a confidence booster as technically I am running as fast or slightly faster than what I was last Summer (where based on VO2 max tests I was the fittest I have ever been).

Two key sessions for last week were long run of 18-20 miles and 5k race on Sunday. As with last week the plan was not to ease off to much before the race and race through it with slightly tired legs. This is something I picked up from a coach in our club who reckons this simulated the last few miles of the marathon.

Monday 10 miles @7.12 pace
Tuesday Unplanned rest day due to work commitments
Wednesday 10 miles @7.21 pace
Thursday 19 miles @ 7.19 pace (on grass)
Friday 10 miles @7.12 pace
Saturday 5 miles easy
Sunday 4 mile warm up. 5km in ~16.20. 3 mile cool down

Total miles for week 64 approx.

Was rightly pissed off after 5km race. Had hoped to run close to 16 minutes. On reflection it was actually a decent run. My splits were even enough. I was sluggish from the 1st kilometer onwards and had I have rested up a couple of days in advance I know I would have gone quicker. I hate to hear people say they use races as sessions, I think it is a kop out, but yesterday was a training session for me (although I was going as hard as I could).

Woddle

Must say, really love your attitude and focus. Have you any other races lined up before London. Also I saw SP caught you in a few pics (just if you didn't notice)

TheRoadRunner

Cheers. Yeah I've 2 more races planned. 4 miler in Maynooth this weekend. As with the last two weekends I won't be easing back too much for this and along with a long run will be a key session. Race after that is the BHAA 4 miler in Raheny. I will give that one a good blast and try run a PB.

I'll have to check those photos.

shels4ever

TheRoadRunner wrote: »

Cheers. Yeah I've 2 more races planned. 4 miler in Maynooth this weekend. As with the last two weekends I won't be easing back too much for this and along with a long run will be a key session. Race after that is the BHAA 4 miler in Raheny. I will give that one a good blast and try run a PB.

I'll have to check those photos.

Totally forgot about this 4 miler this weekend, do you know what the course is like?

TheRoadRunner

Yep. Train on it most days. It is as flat as a pancake and pretty fast. Will be out on it later in the week so I can check out if the going is good

shels4ever

TheRoadRunner wrote: »

Yep. Train on it most days. It is as flat as a pancake and pretty fast. Will be out on it later in the week so I can check out if the going is good

Great, Think i might give this one a go, Had a 3/4 mile tempo planned for the weekend anyway.

TheRoadRunner

shels4ever wrote: »

Great, Think i might give this one a go, Had a 3/4 mile tempo planned for the weekend anyway.

fits in perfectly then. I'm subbing this for my Friday tempo

TheRoadRunner

36 Days to go. Training has been going well. The last 3 weeks included a race each weekend. I didn't really ease back significantly or taper for these and ran them on tired legs. This is something I have done in the past, may seem counterproductive to others but I feel I gain a huge amount of confidence from them. It is analogous to running the last 6 miles of the marathon, the legs are screaming but you just keep ploughing away. This little racing block was a success in my opinion, I ran a good half marathon, a reasonable 5k and a good run today. I now have 3 weeks to really put the finishing touches on my training. Training this week to date was as follows.

Monday 10 miles on grass @7.02 min pace
Tuesday 10 miles on grass @7.20 min pace
Wednesday 18 miles on grass @6.31 min pace
Thursday 7.5 miles easy @8 min pace
Saturday 4 mile X-county race (22 minutes approx), 11 miles total including warm up and cool down.

The two key sessions were a mid week long run and today's race.
Wednesdays long run run was supposed to 10 miles @7 minute pace followed by 8 miles @6.05 pace but I was quite tired so split the difference and ran 6.30s evenly, I will move the originally planned run to next weekend. Long run was a great run as it was quite warm and I had to work to maintain the pace the last few miles. It was also all on grass which saved my creaking limbs from some hard pounding. The temperature was only around 16 degrees but it really took a couple of extra percent out of me. This is interesting as I generally like to run in the heat but maybe I need to acclimatise so hopefully the 26th of April in London won't be too warm. On the plus side I do have 4 days warm weather training planned in Spain The OH is heading on a shopping trip to the states so I used this chance to get away myself. I'll be living like a pro for half a week

Today's race was perfect. I was running on my training route so was looking forward to it. I took yesterday off and was relatively fresh, after a couple of miles though I really had to work to maintain my pace. By the end I found my mile splits were all very even so I was happy with this.

The next 2 weeks are a combined training block in my schedule. Next week is going to be tough with 2 sessions and a hard long run. The first half of the second week will have 1 session and a longish run before I rest up and take it easy before my last race (4 mile BHAA in Raheny) before the marathon.

2.39.59 is my goal and I think I will be close.

OBWON

TheRoadRunner wrote: »

Wednesday 18 miles on grass @6.31 min pace

That is some pace for a long run on grass.:eek: I try to do must of my runs on grass also. How much slower do you reckon you are on grass compared to road?

TheRoadRunner

OBWON wrote: »

That is some pace for a long run on grass.:eek: I try to do must of my runs on grass also. How much slower do you reckon you are on grass compared to road?

Thanks. I reckon 10-15 seconds slower on grass. If you can run on grass do it. Running on the road is important if you are running marathons etc, but to stay injury free I try and do a good proportion on grass.

I really don't care about pace, I was all about effort the last 3 weeks. Pace will have a greater importance over the next 3 weeks.

TheRoadRunner

Did a nice 10 mile recovery run on grass today @7.50 pace. Legs felt fine after yesterdays race.

Had a few pints last night to celebrate the rugby and cheer on Bernard Dunne, may have had one to many as my stomach was a little upset during this mornings run.

Total miles this week 66

TheRoadRunner

9 miles on grass trail @ 7.30 pace. Stomach is still a little upset today so last few miles were not pretty

Have a pyramid session planned for tomorrow but may have to alter this if tummy is still upset

TheRoadRunner

Today called for the pyramid of pain. I rejigged the session from the normal one and did 1-2-3-4-3-2-1-2-3-4 with 1 minute jog recovery. My tummy is still a little upset and I didn't want to push it too hard with the longer reps. I still had to make a dash for the bushes though

Running is a little uncomfortable at the moment as I have what can only be described as nappy rash :eek:

I have been reading over my training diary to date and have decided I will most probably skip the 4 mile road race I had planned in 2 weeks time.

Total including warm up cool down 8 miles

Peckham

As the maestro of all things pyramid session related, what kind of pace are you doing these sessions at? Is it 5k pace, or is it hell for leather?

Also, do you change around the recovery time, or is 1 minute your standard recover?

Did one of these sessions at the weekend (1-2-3-2-1) with 30 secs recovery. First rep was at about my equivalent pace for a 1 mile race, but pace kept drifting towards my 5k pace which was about where it finished up on the last rep. What's my problem - too fast for the initial reps, not enough recovery, or both?

Stupid_Private

TheRoadRunner wrote: »

I have been reading over my training diary to date and have decided I will most probably skip the 4 mile road race I had planned in 2 weeks time.

Is there another one in its place or will the road relays be the last tune up?

TheRoadRunner

Peckham wrote: »

what kind of pace are you doing these sessions at? Is it 5k pace, or is it hell for leather?

I suppose around 10 k pace or slightly quicker for the longer reps. Shorter reps a little quicker but not as fast as 5k. If I'm honest I'm not very scientific with these and run them how I feel.

Peckham wrote: »

Also, do you change around the recovery time, or is 1 minute your standard recover?

I keep the 1 minute recovery time, if I'm feeling good the recovery jog is quicker than when I'm not feeling good.

Peckham wrote: »

Did one of these sessions at the weekend (1-2-3-2-1) with 30 secs recovery. First rep was at about my equivalent pace for a 1 mile race, but pace kept drifting towards my 5k pace which was about where it finished up on the last rep. What's my problem - too fast for the initial reps, not enough recovery, or both?

Yeah I think probably too quick for first rep, 30 seconds recovery may be too short also. I like to feel tired by the end of this session but not so tired that I couldn't do a decent run the following day. Nothing definitive in my approach but it breaks up the week nicely.

TheRoadRunner

Stupid_Private wrote: »

Is there another one in its place or will the road relays be the last tune up?

No nothing (race wise) in it's place. I have a couple of time trials I want to do and feel I will gain more from these. Road relays will be last tune up.

TheRoadRunner

Mid week long run, felt great up until 10 miles and then got a little tired. I think it was a combination of running into a tasty headwind and also a little weakness from my stomach problems over the last few days.

Thankfully my tummy has sorted itself out and more importantly I'm not walking like John Wayne at the moment

Have a session of 400s planned for tomorrow nothing too hectic, will be around 5k pace with 1 minute recovery. Plan on doing at least 10 and anything up to 16 depending on how I feel.

Long run this weekend is an important one. I planed on doing 10 handy enough followed by 8 at PMP so may take Friday off completely.

ike

So far so good Roadrunner - keep checking out your log and pick up some nice training tips - although I do tend to scale it back a bit!. Glad you got over the stomach bug bit of a nasty one doing the rounds at the moment

TheRoadRunner

Today's session consisted of 400s. Anywhere between 10-16 depending on how the body felt. Got a nice warm up run in first and felt ready for 16 reps so decided on that before I started the session. Rest between 400s was set at one minute

The track I was running on is all grass. It starts at the bottom of one field and ends at the start of another. It's not a complete loop more of a point to point trail so after running 400 metres, I stop, take a minute break and run back the way I came. This means one has to deal with a slight incline and wind in the face every second interval, the flip side is the other one is slightly downhill with a wind behind you. The incline is negligible, adds maybe a second per lap and the wind poses similar problems.

Times were as follows
1) 77
2)74
3)77
4)73
5)76
6)74
7)76
8)73
9)74
10)74
11)76
12)74
13)75
14)75
15)77
16)77

This equates to around 75 seconds which is exactly the effort I wanted to run at. Session felt very easy. Could easily have gone onto 20 but managed to put the breaks on before I got carried away. I love these shorter type sessions. They just seem to suit me better and probably reflect the fact I was a better track runner than I will ever be as marathon runner.

One of my training partners can't understand why I would do this session for marathon training. It's quite funny actually. There are 3 guys who I take training advice from. I wouldn't call them my coachesas I am probably uncoachable due to my own stubborness but each of them has a different angle and the arguments between them are legendary.

Guy A thinks 400s is a perfect session for marathon running and is exactly what he did, in fact he did no tempo runs etc, 20 * 400, fartlek and long runs where his staple.
Guy B thinks 400s are a waste of time, he use to do longer intervals of miles, he also did fartlek and long runs.
Guy C thinks interval training is a waste of time full stop and just ran miles.

What I'm trying to get at here is that it is different strokes for different folks. I hate the longer reps and doing pure miles, so shorter reps like this and the pyramid keep me motivated to train. Oh yeah Guys A, B & C all have marathon PBs between 2.25-2.28. Different training regimes similar outcomes. I'm still learning what's right for me but I really enjoyed today.

Total including warm up and cool down 10 miles

shels4ever

TheRoadRunner wrote: »

Today's session consisted of 400s. Anywhere between 10-16 depending on how the body felt. Got a nice warm up run in first and felt ready for 16 reps so decided on that before I started the session. Rest between 400s was set at one minute

The track I was running on is all grass. It starts at the bottom of one field and ends at the start of another. It's not a complete loop more of a point to point trail so after running 400 metres, I stop, take a minute break and run back the way I came. This means one has to deal with a slight incline and wind in the face every second interval, the flip side is the other one is slightly downhill with a wind behind you. The incline is negligible, adds maybe a second per lap and the wind poses similar problems.

Times were as follows
1) 77
2)74
3)77
4)73
5)76
6)74
7)76
8)73
9)74
10)74
11)76
12)74
13)75
14)75
15)77
16)77

This equates to around 75 seconds which is exactly the effort I wanted to run at. Session felt very easy. Could easily have gone onto 20 but managed to put the breaks on before I got carried away. I love these shorter type sessions. They just seem to suit me better and probably reflect the fact I was a better track runner than I will ever be as marathon runner.

One of my training partners can't understand why I would do this session for marathon training. It's quite funny actually. There are 3 guys who I take training advice from. I wouldn't call them my coachesas I am probably uncoachable due to my own stubborness but each of them has a different angle and the arguments between them are legendary.

Guy A thinks 400s is a perfect session for marathon running and is exactly what he did, in fact he did no tempo runs etc, 20 * 400, fartlek and long runs where his staple.
Guy B thinks 400s are a waste of time, he use to do longer intervals of miles, he also did fartlek and long runs.
Guy C thinks interval training is a waste of time full stop and just ran miles.

What I'm trying to get at here is that it is different strokes for different folks. I hate the longer reps and doing pure miles, so shorter reps like this and the pyramid keep me motivated to train. Oh yeah Guys A, B & C all have marathon PBs between 2.25-2.28. Different training regimes similar outcomes. I'm still learning what's right for me but I really enjoyed today.

Total including warm up and cool down 10 miles

Nice session there,

TheRoadRunner

Ended up missing my run yesterday. I had decided to do a very easy 6 miles but got caught in work so pushed my normal lunch time slot to early evening but got caught in more meetings so just shelved the run. At that stage it was more hassle than is it was worth.

Woke this morning nice and fresh after a good sleep but really wasn't in the mood for the planned session. I think the cold weather and wind were putting me off but I just wasn't in the form. Today's run was to consist of 10 miles at just under 7 minute pace followed by 8 at 6.06 pace (PMP). I managed to get out the door eventually and had the good sense to drop some water off earlier in the morning.

Legs felt great and ran first 11 miles on grass @ an average of 6.48 per mile. I ran 11 rather than 10 as I wanted to pick up some water before lashing into the second half of the session.

I then hit the road but a combination of the poxy wind, hills, sore legs and laziness meant I only did 7 miles at PMP instead of 8. Mile 7 finished just outside my house and I had no idea what speed I was clocking per mile as the wind was very blustery. The 7 miles were actually done @ 6.02 average so I was kind of pissed off I didn't soldier on for another mile. It the grand scheme of things it's nothing but will bug the **** out of me for the rest of the day :rolleyes:

Anyway, all in all, a decent enough session all told. Next weeks long run will include the BEAST hill run and I'll add an extra couple of miles to bring it up to the 20 mile mark. I plan on running a couple of runs in the next 2 weeks at PMP (nothing over 10 miles). I need to start calibrating the body.

TheRoadRunner

Just finished 6 miles on grass @7.30 pace. Legs aren't too bad today but have a slight pain in my shin that some neurofen shoud sort out.

I'm feeling really good the last couple of weeks. I had been carrying some soreness in my back and hip for the last 3-4 months but they seem to have sorted themselves out (with stretching and physio obviousy). I haven't been groaning in my sleep when I turn (the mrs is fit to kill me as I was waking her up constantly) and I haven't been walking with a limp for the 2 hours following getting out of bed so it's all good.

I hope I'm not jinxing myself saying I feel good but seen as I moan a lot when there is something wrong with me I thought I should be positive when I'm feeling good. Hopefully this feeling of well being will continue for the next 4 weeks. 28 days to from today. Can't wait.

Weekly mileage for this week was approximately 64 miles.

Some good runs including yesterdays and Wednesdays 13 miles. Two sessions (pyramid and 400s) were enjoyable. Next week will be similar in that I will be doing 2 sessions one being a pyramid and the other either a 10 at marathon pace or a 6 mile tempo. I will also do a mid week long run (hopefully in the Phoenix park) and a long slow hill run next weekend. I'm definitely not doing the BHAA 4 mile race next weekend. It's a great race but I think I'll benefit more from my proposed schedule.

TheRoadRunner

Handy enough run today. Legs feel fine. Shin is still a little tender but should be ok as I'm staying on grass tomorrow and Wednesday. Todays run was half on trail half on road. Average pace was 7.12.

Decided to change my training shoes for a new pair. The older ones look perfect but I've logged about 600-700 miles in them, so am changing in case they had contributed to shin pain.