London marathon training log/blog

TheRoadRunner

TheRoadRunner wrote: »

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.

Well thank God I didn't push it any harder yesterday !!!

Just finished 11.3 miles in 85 minutes. My quads were very tired for some reason and I probably should have had something more substantial to eat this morning. I was zonked after a mile !

Anyway the run was all on grass so hopefully I'll feel a little better tomorrow !

Slogger Jogger

some good work there RoadRunner.

TheRoadRunner

Day 1 of my program proper. Got a nice 10 miles in on grass in 78 minutes.

The course I ran today is very strange it is constant up and down so it feels like you are running/putting a lot extra effort in for the times you run. I suppose I should start to wear the heart rate monitor to check this out as it felt like 7 minute pace easily.

Anyway no big deal nice way to kick off the program proper. I have amended my program. It still needs tweaking but I will stick to it for the first couple of weeks and then reassess my fitness.

Stupid_Private

Had a look at your plan there - works out fairly well. That last 4 mile race is timed ideal for you. Two things I noticed - if I do end up racing in Belfast I only have 17 weeks from now... sh1t! The other thing is the lack of any longer races... ten miles or half. Is that just down to there being none around or a decision against them?

Racing Flat

Looks like a nice plan, good balance to the sessions. You'll be strong as a horse. Personally I'd be more inclined to do less but longer reps for the intervals, ie 6-8 x 1k; 3-6 x 1mile/2k rather than the 400s. Also, I'd like to get one or two longer runs at marathon pace - ie 13-15 miles at marathon pace. Hope it goes well.

TheRoadRunner

Stupid_Private wrote: »

Two things I noticed - if I do end up racing in Belfast I only have 17 weeks from now... sh1t! The other thing is the lack of any longer races... ten miles or half. Is that just down to there being none around or a decision against them?

I know time flies when you are planning your marathon training.

Yeah the lack of longer races is a combination of avoidance and lack of suitable races. There are plenty of 10 mile/half marathon races around the country especially up the North but I have decided not to travel to these. I followed a similar plan 2 years ago and it worked out OK. I have also noticed that I need a fair number of recovery days after longer races and because of time limitations I don't want to have too much down time. That's my rationale at the moment but this will probably change in a week :rolleyes:

TheRoadRunner

Racing Flat wrote: »

Looks like a nice plan, good balance to the sessions. You'll be strong as a horse. Personally I'd be more inclined to do less but longer reps for the intervals, ie 6-8 x 1k; 3-6 x 1mile/2k rather than the 400s. Also, I'd like to get one or two longer runs at marathon pace - ie 13-15 miles at marathon pace. Hope it goes well.

Yeah if I manage to do all the sessions I'll be flying. Hopefully I will do at least 80% of them.

Good point regarding the intervals. But to be honest I absolutely hate long reps. I know this sounds ridiculous but I know I won't be able to motivate myself to do a long interval session every week. I use to run a lot of track races and love the /400/800 sessions so these are included to help break the monotony. Also last summer while training for Dublin my interval sessions were 400s only and I seen measurable improvements, so I'm going to try and combine short and long reps this time. I'm going to be flexible with the sessions as I progress so we'll see how it goes

TheRoadRunner

Well I decided to do my first interval session of the year. It didn't go very well if I'm completely honest. The session was about 6 miles in total including warm-up and cool-down.

My times were just below 3.30 per km which is about 10-15 seconds slower than I would have expected.

I had some mitigating problems in my defence. Firstly I was actually knackered and had to cut the session from 5 to 4 reps. Secondly it was freezing and was very hard to get going. I have also started a new job so my routine is all over the place. To top things off, I picked up a vomiting bug and spent last night hurling my guts up !

Because of this I have decided to take today as my rest day. I'll hopefully get out for 10 miles tomorrow and an easy run Friday. I still plan to race Saturday but will back out if I'm not feeling 100%

Racing Flat

For me, longer interval sessions have to be done in a group. If the 400s suit you stick with them. I did one session of 400s in my marathon training - I was scheduled to do 4 x 1mile but I couldn't face it, so I decided to do 25 x 400 at 10k pace with 200 jog recovery in between. It was kind of made up as we went along, started off at 85s, kept the 200jog recovery at about 8min pace, but when we got to 15 we gradually picked it up, ending at 80secs a lap, but with the recovery dropping to 9min pace. Turned out very enjoybale and with warm up warm down was about a 14 mile session!

TheRoadRunner

Racing Flat wrote: »

For me, longer interval sessions have to be done in a group.

Yeah totally agree. In the past I use to mile rep sessions with club mates every Thursday and even though I hated the reps most weeks the group gets you through. I love the feeling of running quick (as does everybody I'm sure) so the 400s are right up my street

TheRoadRunner

Got out at lunch time today. Ran just over 10 miles in 69 minutes. First few miles were a little slower than the last few.

Was probably a little quicker than I should have went but I wanted to see if I had shifted my stomach bug. It's just as well I had as 10 fastish miles would have done me no favors if I hadn't :rolleyes:

Anyway I felt good. Will probably do some stretching this evening and a gentle run tomorrow of at least 6 miles. Hopefully the legs will feel refreshed for Saturdays cross country race. First race in over 4 months and a half months :eek: and I'm $hitting it.

Peckham

TheRoadRunner wrote: »

Was probably a little quicker than I should have went but I wanted to see if I had shifted my stomach bug.

I love reading sentences like that - as they are precisely what differ dedicated runners from non-runners.


Non-runner: "Getting over a stomach bug, so decided it would be better to hold off on the running for a few days"

Runner: "Getting over a stomach bug, so went for a run to test whether I feel better. I didn't throw up, so all must be okay. If I had thrown up, I would have relaxed the pace back a little to ensure I finish the session"

TheRoadRunner

Yeah I'm convinced you have to be a little nuts to be a runner

TheRoadRunner

just over 5 miles in just over 40 minutes. Glad I took it handy enough today. The Garmin is definitely helping me keep a lid on my rest days. Surprisingly enough I'm looking forward to the cross-country slog tomorrow. This time tomorrow I'm sure I'll be reiterating my hatred of cross country !

shels4ever

TheRoadRunner wrote: »

just over 5 miles in just over 40 minutes. Glad I took it handy enough today. The Garmin is definitely helping me keep a lid on my rest days. Surprisingly enough I'm looking forward to the cross-country slog tomorrow. This time tomorrow I'm sure I'll be reiterating my hatred of cross country !

Might give you a shout in a few week when I want to do a quick 5.. Your easy 5 would give me something to ty and hang in at..

TheRoadRunner

Sound. Would enjoy the company

shels4ever

TheRoadRunner wrote: »

Sound. Would enjoy the company

Great in a week or 2 I should be ok for that. You can always drop me if i'm too slow.. Will be nice to be pushed a bit harder .

TheRoadRunner

shels4ever wrote: »

Great in a week or 2 I should be ok for that. You can always drop me if i'm too slow.. Will be nice to be pushed a bit harder .

Good just give me a couple of days notice and we can arrange it

TheRoadRunner

Well I ran my first race of the year and the first in over 4 months and overall it went really well. I wasn't really in the form of racing and was looking for excuses to back out. I'm always like this when I haven't raced in a while !

Anyway got up nice and early. Had my breakfast. Did some stretching and relaxed a bit.

Did a decent 2 mile warm up and strides before the start. The plan was to take of easy enough and work through the field. Last year I went off with one of the lead groups and died. I was 30th after the first lap, 22nd after the 2nd and managed to get up to about 17/18th place. I don't know my exact finishing position yet. I was just over 24 minutes.

I'm really happy with my pace judgment and finishing time. It is about 75 seconds quicker than last years and I felt very strong. I got quite close to a couple of my friends who I haven't beaten in a while so hopefully with some more training I can take a couple of scalps. The only downside of the race was the fact I was beaten by a women :eek: I don't care if she is 15.05 5km runner and Olympian

I met up with Shels, Woddle and Gerrad65 after the race. With a bit of luck I'll be on the BHAA Boards team in a coupe, of weeks. Woddle is on the case

SUNGOD

good stuff RR keep it up

Abhainn

Fair play RR. Glad you are satisfied with the race.
XC doesn't appeal to me - far tougher than road running. My last one was 21years ago. Never back since (well too many brutal GAA sessions has me hating grass now)
If I look at grass I'd pick up a niggle

Racing Flat

TheRoadRunner wrote: »

The only downside of the race was the fact I was beaten by a women :eek: I don't care if she is 15.05 5km runner and Olympian

You know the way women can run in the mens' race - can men run in the womens' race????:P

Peckham

Great result on your racing comeback. Hopefully I'll be back soon and racing BHAA alongside you (although more likely, racing behind you!).

TheRoadRunner

Racing Flat wrote: »

You know the way women can run in the mens' race - can men run in the womens' race????:P

That's an excellent point. Equality and all that. I wonder if the lady in question would have been eligible for prizes if she had made the top 3 ? I'm guessing not seen as it is a "mens" race.

Maybe i should enter a ladies race just for the glory of finishing first ! Knowing my luck a couple of top ladies would turn up on the day and hand me my ass on a plate though :rolleyes:

TheRoadRunner

Had planned on running 13 miles today but the route I took was slightly longer than I calculated so ended up with 14.88 miles in 1.52 minutes.

I was very tired the last 3 miles. The wind was a real killer. Having said that I just checked my splits and my last 4 miles were the quickest and these were head on into the wind and slightly uphill. No wonder I fell in the door when I'd finished.

Had planned on 8 miles minimum tomorrow but depending on the state of my legs I may shorten this to 6. I'll see how I feel. I'm still delighted about yesterdays race. Hopefully this is a good sign for the Raheny 5 and beyond

Stupid_Private

TheRoadRunner wrote: »

I was beaten by a women :eek: I don't care if she is 15.05 5km runner and Olympian

I was beaten by her recently as well. While she's aiming for a sub 2:35 marathon in Rotterdam, which is faster than I'm going for this year and probably yourself as well, I think we'll have to accept (begrudgingly) that she'll beat us in the coming months - and if we do beat her we're clearly on form!!

TheRoadRunner

Stupid_Private wrote: »

I was beaten by her recently as well. While she's aiming for a sub 2:35 marathon in Rotterdam, which is faster than I'm going for this year and probably yourself as well, I think we'll have to accept (begrudgingly) that she'll beat us in the coming months - and if we do beat her we're clearly on form!!

No, no way am I accepting that lying down. I have made huge sprint finishes in the past to beat some of Ireland's top ladies and I will continue to do so :P

Having said that, she will still probably continue to kick my ass

Stupid_Private

That's the spirit! A marker has been laid down for the Raheny 5 now...

TheRoadRunner

I got 54 miles in last week which was good going. I hope to get another similar week this week.

Got 8 nice miles in 59 minutes. Half on grass, half on road. Feeling good now and yesterday didn't take too much out of me thankfully.

Tomorrows planned speed session will most probably be altered. I am jumping in with a group who are doing pyramids 1,2,3,4,3,2,1 minutes with 1 min jog recovery. I think I will jump into this and see how it goes. I would rather the company than flogging myself on my own.

cfitz

TheRoadRunner wrote: »

No, no way am I accepting that lying down. I have made huge sprint finishes in the past to beat some of Ireland's top ladies and I will continue to do so :P

Having said that, she will still probably continue to kick my ass

Ha, she beat me in a race years ago as well! She guested in a Grade B Mens 3000m in Santry. I remember they asked before the race if it was ok with the other competitors if she ran - you wouldn't look like much of a man if you complained would you?!!