London marathon training log/blog

christeb

TheRoadRunner wrote: »

I was dying today after Christmas party last night. I didn't go over the top drink wise and made sure to take some water on board through the night. Didn't make a blind bit of difference felt $hite this morning.

Ended up running this evening. Started off at a nice pace but ended up pushing the last 3.5 miles. Dropped down close to 6 minute miles which was stupid really but once I got going I felt great. Today was supposed to be an easy six so maybe I'll pay for my folly tomorrow. I plan on doing my long run tomorrow. I'm away for the weekend and I think I'll leave the runners at home. Probably won't gt out until Tuesday.

6 min mile(s) the day AFTER your Christmas party???? Whoa, that is commitment / crazy!

TheRoadRunner

christeb wrote: »

6 min mile(s) the day AFTER your Christmas party???? Whoa, that is commitment / crazy!

I think it was crazy banjaxed today

TheRoadRunner

Got out at lunch time today. I found it really hard to motivate myself again. I really hate this time of year, can't wait until the new year and this poxy Christmas season is over.

Managed to get my 90 minutes done in the end. I was quite tired but looking back on it I was moving nicely all things considered. No running until Tuesday now I might bring my runners away with me but I'm stuck in the middle of a city for the weekend and don't fancy running around streets I don't know as I have the worst sense of direction in Europe !

TheRoadRunner

Was at the euro cross country the weekend. Absolutely no running done.

Got 6 miles in today. Took it very very handy. I was eating and drinking for Ireland in Belgium so I feel like a beached whale. No smoking ban in Brussels pubs either so I reckon I smoked a minimum of 20 cigarettes through second hand smoke. I'm very chesty today !

TheRoadRunner

Felt like $hite today. Have a head cold and still suffering from my excessed at the weekend. Was just happy to get around. Will hopefully get an easy 8 miles in tomorrow

TheRoadRunner

Handy run on grass today. Felt very tired . I think I may be coming down with something. I'm also like the antichrist so probably just need more rest and relaxation

shels4ever

at least you got out ... look on the bright side.. maybe take a tonic or something did wonders for me when i was a bit run down.

TheRoadRunner

In better form today. Last day in my current job, moving after Christmas. I'm having my testimonial run with fellow work colleagues at lunch time. We have a course we run hard on Friday it's around 2.7km (after a suitable warm up followed by a cool down obviously). I'm the current record holder. An attempt on the record is planned today !

TheRoadRunner

Well I went for the "course record today". It was very very windy and a bit dodgy underfoot. I warmed up with a 40 minute run and hammered around the circuit. Still managed to shave 20 seconds off the old "record". Was in a jock at the end but feeling great now. Enjoyable run

MCOS

TheRoadRunner wrote: »

Well I went for the "course record today". It was very very windy and a bit dodgy underfoot. I warmed up with a 40 minute run and hammered around the circuit. Still managed to shave 20 seconds off the old "record". Was in a jock at the end but feeling great now. Enjoyable run

Thats one way to leave your mark at an old workplace!

donothoponpop

TheRoadRunner wrote: »

Well I went for the "course record today". It was very very windy and a bit dodgy underfoot. I warmed up with a 40 minute run and hammered around the circuit. Still managed to shave 20 seconds off the old "record". Was in a jock at the end but feeling great now. Enjoyable run

Wanted: Employee. Must be team player, proactive, ability to think outside box, etc. Only those capable of 2.7k in under 8 minutes should apply.

TheRoadRunner

I don't think Friday's "record run" did me any favors.

I hadn't been feeling great all week and I now have a pretty nasty sinus infection. I had this a month or so back and don't think I fully got rid of it. I didn't run the weekend and I'm going to skip today as well.

I have a doctors appointment for later this evening so hopefully they will prescribe me an antibiotic.

I'm being very cautious about this infection. I don't want it to spread to my chest and I have a feeling it might. I have had pneumonia twice in the last 5 years so I'm extra vigilant these days. Previously I would train through infections but not any more. It's frightening when you see an x-ray of your lungs and can see scar tissue from previous infections !

Anyway hopefully I'll be back in a day or two

TheRoadRunner

Didn't go my GP in the end yesterday. I felt a good improvement and on reflection I doubted he would give me an antibiotic as it is probably not needed thankfully. I feeling a bit better again today but not back to 100%. I will see how I am tomorrow and hopefully can head out for an easy jog. I'm dying to run as I'm off work and haven't too many things to do at the moment.

I've been continuing to alter my training plan for my April marathon attempt. I will definitely post it today or tomorrow. I'd be interested to hear what people have to say about it and will welcome any suggestions.

On a good note my brand new Garmin Forerunner 405 is currently "in transit". There was a delay in ordering as the site I bought from ran out of stock ! I'm hoping I receive it before Chritmas day but I doubt if this will happen.

Right I'm off to take some more Sinutab, vitamin C and my special hot honey and lemon concoction.

TheRoadRunner

Went out this afternoon and got 6 very handy miles in. I was delighted to get out. My sinus infection has cleared up nicely. I still have a little congestion on my chest but hopefully that will clear over the next few days. Hopefully I'll do something similar tomorrow morning.

While I was out running Santa a.k.a Mr UPS delivered my forerunner 405. I am now in the process of setting it up. I'm like a little kid on Christmas morning except it's Christmas eve

TheRoadRunner

I have attached my proposed marathon training plan. I am determined to be flexible though and will probably chop and change some of the days to suit work etc. Overall I plan on getting all sessions in however. There is a good chance I may take an extra rest day here or there and in the same vein I may not take every Friday off as planned. I'll see how I fair. The key sessions in my opinion are the weekend long run, the mid week longish slow run and the session planned for Tuesday. If I can run these 3 sessions sensibly the rest will look after itself. Overall the weekly mileage is lower than what I would have planned on but I think sometimes quality is better than quantity

I'm going to race a good bit especially in Jan and Feb. There are a few cross country races on and these will help me keep my focus while toughening me up a bit. I have listed a load of races in March and April but I may skip 1 or 2 of these. I've decided not to do a half marathon. I have found in the past that it takes me a couple of weeks to fully recover from one of these and the last 2 I've done I ended up injured also.

I have week 1 starting in January but in reality I will not be statring from scratch. I have a few 10-14 mile runs done over the last 6 weeks and will get another 1/2 long ones in before the official start date .

TheRoadRunner

same as yesterday. 6 miles. Had the Garmin on today and it was interesting looking at the mile splits. I reckon I may have been running quicker the last few weeks than I had thought. Hope to get a minimum of 8 in tomorrow

TheRoadRunner

Just back from 8 glorious miles in my local park. It really was nice down there this afternoon. I wasn't in the form for a run this morning. I felt like somebody had pumped concrete into my body yesterday. Felt very sluggish and bloated from all the lovely food yesterday. I actually didn't think I went overboard but I must have !

Anyway got 8 miles in today. I decided not to look at my new GPS watch (:D) until near the end of my usual 8 mile loop just to determine how long the loop I normally run actually is, and also to see if I have been running at a reasonable pace for the last few weeks. I wanted to run 7 minute mile and I ended up averaging 6.55 per mile which I was happy with as it felt nice and easy the loop was nearly bang on 8 miles also so I haven't been fooling myself in training the last few weeks thankfully.

TheRoadRunner

Was out last night. I left my car outside the pub as I knew this would force me out for a run today if I wasn't in the mood. I needn't have worried though. It was such a nice day I couldn't wait to go out. In fact it's a pity I left the car where I did as the route I took to get there is all on concrete and not very enjoyable. I Would have rathered a run in the park instead. I'm going to hit the phoenix park tomorrow morning for a longish run hopefully.

Back to today. It was very cold when I headed out and after a nice warm up mile I found it easier to run at a higher tempo than my planned 7.20 mile pace. Ended up covering 8 miles in 53.03. A bit faster than planned but I don't think it has taken anything out of me so happy days.

shels4ever

Nice run, might actually be running there myself tomorrow , Was a great day today for a run...

TheRoadRunner

Got out today did 11.41 mile in just over 90 minutes. Was just what I needed. I hit 8 mins per mile for just about every mile. This is a little slower than I usually run but it felt great and my legs feel better now than when I went out, so result.

Would have liked to go a little further but decided to call it a day as it would have meant me having to add an extra loop on the road and I wanted to save the limbs from the pounding.

Its a beautiful day for running.

shels4ever

Did you run in Pheonix park? what loop do you use on the grass

TheRoadRunner

Didn't get into the park today but will do so in the next week hopefully. I'll plot the route on my my run or something similar and send you the link the next time I run it. I have a basic 8 mile loop that I normally run. There are additional loops etc for increased distance runs.

Racing Flat

TheRoadRunner wrote: »

I have attached my proposed marathon training plan. I am determined to be flexible though and will probably chop and change some of the days to suit work etc. Overall I plan on getting all sessions in however. There is a good chance I may take an extra rest day here or there and in the same vein I may not take every Friday off as planned. I'll see how I fair. The key sessions in my opinion are the weekend long run, the mid week longish slow run and the session planned for Tuesday. If I can run these 3 sessions sensibly the rest will look after itself. Overall the weekly mileage is lower than what I would have planned on but I think sometimes quality is better than quantity

I'm going to race a good bit especially in Jan and Feb. There are a few cross country races on and these will help me keep my focus while toughening me up a bit. I have listed a load of races in March and April but I may skip 1 or 2 of these. I've decided not to do a half marathon. I have found in the past that it takes me a couple of weeks to fully recover from one of these and the last 2 I've done I ended up injured also.

I have week 1 starting in January but in reality I will not be statring from scratch. I have a few 10-14 mile runs done over the last 6 weeks and will get another 1/2 long ones in before the official start date .

Best of luck with the plan. 3 things jump out at me.

1) I personally find it hard to do a longish run the day after a Tuesday session, so I'd push this to Thursday....but maybe your body can take it, I tend to be very tired and sluggish, so find it hard to stay out for any more than 70mins.

2) The races, although you've said you will not do all. I think the long run needs to be taken as a key session, again this might be a personal thing as endurance is probably my relative weakness. Therefore I like to so this after a rest day or an easy day, so that I feel good on the long run. So doing all the races wouldn't work for me.

3) When you don't race you sometimes have a second 'interval' session in. I'd think one interval session is enough and I'd have a tempo session instead of a second interval.

Maybe just my personal preferences, but enjoy the training anyhow!

TheRoadRunner

Thanks for the input. I agree with some of your points. I have also had a couple of experienced marathon runners to have a look at the plan and they had some issues similar to you also.

Racing Flat wrote: »

1) I personally find it hard to do a longish run the day after a Tuesday session, so I'd push this to Thursday....but maybe your body can take it, I tend to be very tired and sluggish, so find it hard to stay out for any more than 70mins.

I'm going to stick with this. The idea behind it is that I will be tired but will still get 90 slow minutes in on my feet. This is more of a recovery run than a session to be honest.

Racing Flat wrote: »

2) The races, although you've said you will not do all. I think the long run needs to be taken as a key session, again this might be a personal thing as endurance is probably my relative weakness. Therefore I like to so this after a rest day or an easy day, so that I feel good on the long run. So doing all the races wouldn't work for me.

You are right about this. I will definitely do the races in January as the Sunday long runs aren't too severe. However as the long runs increase a race the previous day will not be beneficial. I'm going to have to be careful not to over race and jeopardise the quality of my 18+ miles

Racing Flat wrote: »

3) When you don't race you sometimes have a second 'interval' session in. I'd think one interval session is enough and I'd have a tempo session instead of a second interval.

Yes this is also something I kopped myself after posting the training plan. And while I plan to run some tempo runs I didn't really set out times etc. I will have to look at this carefully.

Thanks again. I need to rejig the plan a bit over the coming days.

TheRoadRunner

Have a long drive ahead of me tomorrow so it is either a rest day or a gentle run for tomorrow. Because of this I decided to run a bit harder than normal today. Did 9 mile in 57.05. It was very comfortable and I had plenty in the tank which was a nice bonus.

Abhainn

TheRoadRunner wrote: »

Have a long drive ahead of me tomorrow so it is either a rest day or a gentle run for tomorrow. Because of this I decided to run a bit harder than normal today. Did 9 mile in 57.05. It was very comfortable and I had plenty in the tank which was a nice bonus.

Nice running RoadRunner. Travelling at 6:20 miles and loads left - fair play at this stage

Just two points on your plan
1. Your longest runs are a couple of 20 milers. Any reason why you don't plan to go further?
2. None of your runs are at MP (or maybe that is the WED session plan). Would you not think this is important?

Keep her going

TheRoadRunner

Thanks for your comments.

Yeah I may go a little longer than 20 but I usually have biomechanical problems so I try to minimise the long runs so I don't pick up an injury. But I'll see how I get on. Actually on reflection I will probably lengthen some of my early long runs. Also I have a couple of hilly long runs in there also, I think this run is about 19 miles but in my book it is worth 22. The loop itself is savage and you really have to work hard to get around.

You are right about the marathon pace runs also. I will be factoring some of these in. I haven't been specific about these yet. During the summer I pushed these too hard and this was another factor in me getting injured.

In fact, with my 20 mile runs I sometimes run the first 10 easy and the second 10 at marathon pace etc. Thursday is the day I normally do my pace runs so I'll have a look at this again.

Cheers

TheRoadRunner

Missed the last two days through no fault of my own. Ended up having a good few pints over the new year so took it handy enough tonight. Managed 6.25 miles in 43.29.

Hope to get an easy 8 in tomorrow

TheRoadRunner

Got 10 miles on grass in today. It was quite cold but I felt great and ended up just over 72 minutes. I have had a bit of a head cold for the last 6 weeks that I just can't shift. Every now and again I alsoget a bit of a sinus infection. I have a feeling another infection is coming along. Hopefully it won't though.

Hope to get 8 miles in tomorrow and a long run Sunday

TheRoadRunner

Was feeling ok today so decided to try and do my first tempo run of the year. It was quite cold so I started off with a 2 mile warm up and finished with a 1 mile cool down.
I was quite surprised with how well the session went. I managed to run all 5 miles of the session sub 6 minutes which was what I had hoped to run.
Mile 1) 5.53
Mile 2) 5.45
Mile 3) 5.49
Mile 4) 5.42
Mile 5) 5.55
I could have gone harder if needed which is always a good sign. I don't know how much faster I could have gone without seriously getting into oxygen debt though.

A little worry is that my back and hip had a fair bit of stiffness during the workout. I'll keep a close eye on this over the coming days

I'm hoping to run well in the Raheny 5 so over the next 3 weeks hopefully I can work on my anaerobic threshold. I have a decent aerobic base and with a little tweaking hopefully I can get down close to 27 minutes.

I am also carrying way too much weight at the moment. I'm hoping the daily routine of work will help me shed at least 3-4 pounds by race day