London marathon training log/blog

TheRoadRunner

Ran with Shels4ever today around our local park. Wasn't too bad underfoot. I was expecting it to be a bit of a mudbath. Legs feel a little tired today but not too bad overall

TheRoadRunner

Well I'm back from what in my opinion is my first real long run of this training plan and I am absolutely buzzing.

First a few negatives, I was out last night swilling a few too many pints of Heino. I need to start looking after myself a little better, I was out Friday too. I need to get more rest and cut back on my alcohol intake.

Back to the run. I was quite tired heading out the door and needed a couple cups of coffee to kick start the system. After a mile or two I felt grand and coasted to 10 miles in about 69 minutes. I decided to pick the pace up a little as I was feeling good and reeled off the next 4 miles at 6.30 pace. I picked up the last 4 again and they averaged around 6.15. I was just under the 2hrs for the 18 miles. I could have easily done another couple of miles and I actually feel great (when the adrenalin wears off I'll probably be hobbling like an auld fella).

I think this was my best run of the year so far and gives me a lot of confidence for some of the goals I've set myself.

Total mileage for this week was 67-68 miles. This is a little higher than planned as I didn't take a day off on Saturday. I will take next Saturday off. I'm also happy with this weeks training. At the start of the week I was afraid I was going to miss a couple of runs but it all worked out thankfully. For the next few weeks I need to increase some of my 8 mile runs up to 10 miles if possible. By the start of March I'll hopefully be getting close to 70 miles per week but we'll see how things progress.

2 months 10 days 16hrs 48 minutes and 43 seconds to London and I cannot wait. Touch wood training will continue to go well.

Woddle

Fantastic running and its great to see so many peoples training going well

TheRoadRunner

8 miles at 6.52 pace today. Effort was actually greater than splits would suggest. Run was on grass trail and golf course. Was probably too fast after yesterdays run. I'll find out tomorrow when I do my pyramid session.

I'm thinking of running the BHAA race on Saturday. I will definitely do it if we have a team. If so I think I'll move my long run to Wednesday. Will have to see how the body is at the week goes on.

Peckham

Great running, and it's hardly surprising the 6:52 pace felt like hard work given the effort on Sunday. Would be very happy with those two days running!

...and definitely come out to BHAA on Saturday. Would be great to put a face to the name (so I can recognise you on BBC on April 26th as you give Martin Lel a run for his money!).

TheRoadRunner

Peckham wrote: »

...and definitely come out to BHAA on Saturday. Would be great to put a face to the name (so I can recognise you on BBC on April 26th as you give Martin Lel a run for his money!).

I think I'm actually in with the celebrities (good for age and celebs start together) so you are more likely to see me hanging out of Jordan or Nell McAndrew

Peckham

TheRoadRunner wrote: »

I think I'm actually in with the celebrities (good for age and celebs start together) so you are more likely to see me hanging out of Jordan or Nell McAndrew

Nell McAndrew is a very good runner - she finished just ahead of me in my first ever race (Reading Half Marathon 2005), and I think it was chasing her that kept me going those last few miles! Didn't get a finish-line kiss or hug from her though.

TheRoadRunner

Didn't sleep well at all last night. Had a lot on my mind and was up very early also. Was thinking of skipping the session but it was such a nice day I told myself to kop on.

Session was the 1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-1 minute pyramid with 1 minute jog recovery. Even though I was mentally tired I felt great. Had a couple of lads running with me and I had to hold myself back in places. Overall this was the best pyramid session to date in terms of quality.

I have decided to race Saturday. I was a bit reluctant to at first as I had a stinker in this race last year and I'm not mad on the course. Reminds me too much of when I was a kid and brought to the phoenix park in the horrible weather for a race. However the Boards colleges team will be turning out so I'm taking one for the team, with a bit of luck we can improve on our 5th place finish in our last outing.

Tomorrow calls for a longish run (13-14 miles). May try and push it out to 18 so I don't have to do a long run the weekend but I'll see how I'm feeling tomorrow.

Stupid_Private

Good call on the race. It's been a few weeks since you've had one. You know yourself, training gets fierce boring when there's no races. As it's pretty much in my back garden I'll head out to have a look and a cheer. You'll spot me with a big smile on my face, safe in the knowledge that my cross country days are over until sometime in October.

TheRoadRunner

Ha Ha. I reckon you need to run the interclubs cross country, make a man of ya:D

TheRoadRunner

Freed up my afternoon so could get a long run in at lunch time. Covered 16 mile in 1hr 49mins 33 secs. Felt great today. Legs were brilliant and was coasting along.

Got a really bad pain in my ankle at 14 miles and it was really sore. I think I either bruised my ankle bone or strained ligaments last week as it has been a little swollen all week. I was going for 18 today but I cut the run short just to be safe. Something similar happened last week on my Wednesday run also. I'll ice it down this evening and pop some ibuprofen, doesn't feel so bad now so should be ok.

donothoponpop

Great pace for 16, you're going through a real purple patch at the moment, keep it up RoadRunner.

TheRoadRunner

donothoponpop wrote: »

Great pace for 16, you're going through a real purple patch at the moment, keep it up RoadRunner.

Cheers, long may it continue.

pgibbo

TheRoadRunner wrote: »

Session was the 1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-1 minute pyramid with 1 minute jog recovery. Even though I was mentally tired I felt great. Had a couple of lads running with me and I had to hold myself back in places. Overall this was the best pyramid session to date in terms of quality.

Hi TheRoadRunner. Is the pyramid run at a flat out pace with 1min recovery between each interval? Or is it based on a 5k split or the likes? Cheers. Great times you're clocking.

TheRoadRunner

pgibbo wrote: »

Hi TheRoadRunner. Is the pyramid run at a flat out pace with 1min recovery between each interval? Or is it based on a 5k split or the likes? Cheers. Great times you're clocking.

Hi pgibbo

Thanks for the comment. It wouldn't be as fast as a 5k split but a little quicker then 10k split (say 20-30 seconds per mile).

If you haven't done it before build it up slowly. Start with 1-2-3-2-1, and take it from there. Once you get to 5 minutes the lactic starts to burn ! Its a great session and doesn't leave you tired the following day. I jog the recovery but have been known to walk sections also.

TheRoadRunner

Did 8 miles today nice and easy. Don't know pace as battery in watch died. Forgot to charge it !

Going to take tomorrow off then race Saturday. I ran this race last year and had a stinker. It's not my favourite course :rolleyes: In fact I really don't like it. I'll give it a good blast will ease into it after the first mile and will hopefully go better than last year. We have a team so this is 80% of the reason I'm running, looking forward to trying to break into the top 3.

shels4ever

TheRoadRunner wrote: »

Did 8 miles today nice and easy. Don't know pace as battery in watch died. Forgot to charge it !

Going to take tomorrow off then race Saturday. I ran this race last year and had a stinker. It's not my favourite course :rolleyes: In fact I really don't like it. I'll give it a good blast will ease into it after the first mile and will hopefully go better than last year. We have a team so this is 80% of the reason I'm running, looking forward to trying to break into the top 3.

Tell me about this course I had a DNF here last year was so un fit. races here a lot in schools so will be nice to get around it .

TheRoadRunner

Had another good race today. Really happy with my performance. Picked out two target men who I wanted to finish ahead of today. They had finished 20-30 seconds ahead of me in the last 2 races. I knew the training was going well and I should be able to have a good crack at them.

Started off conservatively and was probably 20th after the first lap. Slowly increased the effort and managed to finish just inside the top ten. I ran 21.40 something which was a nice surprise. Over two minutes faster than last year on the same course

Also beat the two target men. That's the great thing about BHAA races. Week to week you can monitor your progress based on other consistent performers.

10 miles total including warm up/cool down and race. A good day

Krusty_Clown

Great performance! Congrats! How big was the field?

TheRoadRunner

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Great performance! Congrats! How big was the field?

Thanks Krusty. Just under 200.

TheRoadRunner

Headed out late this afternoon. Had a few things I needed to do around the house :rolleyes: It was a really nice day for a run. Decided to take it handy after yesterdays race and would have been content with 10 miles. Legs felt great though so did an extra little loop and finished 13.2 miles in 1.34.15. Felt like I could have ran all day. I feel like I'm in a good run of form at the moment so hopefully it will continue.

Total miles for this week was around the 63 mile mark. It was a perfect weeks training really. I was a little annoyed that I had to cut Wednesdays long run short from 18 to 16 but I've had a reality check and realised I could have caused an injury if I had continued running on the sore foot. Next weeks training should hit the 70 mile mark.

I've also had a look at the race calendar. In March there are 3 races in the first 3 weeks I would like to do. I have decided I will only run these if I can fit my long run in during the week on a Wednesday. My ultimate goal is obviously London but I haven't had a chance to run these races in recent years, due to lack of fitness and injury. If I can run them without effecting my marathon training then I'll do them. I'll see how this pans out.

Peckham

Great running, and good to put a face (and real name) to a username yesterday.

TheRoadRunner

Peckham wrote: »

Great running, and good to put a face (and real name) to a username yesterday.

Cheers. Likewise, how are the legs after yesterday ? You must be over the moon with your run. You should get back to full fitness for all the upcoming Spring and Summer road races and then another crack at the marathon.

Peckham

Legs were a bit tired today, but hadn't planned on running so it was a planned rest. Went to the gym for core work and weights.

Must start planning some key target races over the summer.

TheRoadRunner

Nice run today. Most of it on grass. Spring is definitely in the air thankfully. Running in a bit of sunshine helps make up for the horrible wet days/nights in November and December.

10 miles in 72.35

Captain-America

Man you have some fantastic times. I'd love to have the motivation to get up and do what you're doing. Must go find it again. Looking forward to hearing how London goes for you.

TheRoadRunner

Today called for the pyramid of pain. 1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-1 minutes with 1 minute recovery in between.

We decided to hit a grass trail instead of our usual road route. I'm getting a little concerned I'm doing more than 50% of my runs on the road. This session pounds the legs so the more cushioning the better !

An old training partner joined us today and his presence really cranked up the quality of the session. I felt great and felt stronger as the session went on. I reckon the quality of todays session is an improvement of roughly 10% compared to January's so again its a good sign things are moving in the right direction.

Longish run tomorrow although may decide to go for long run of week if legs allow/time permits. Also have arranged a physio appointment for tomorrow evening. My hip is slightly misaligned and it is pulling on a few muscles, nothing too serious yet but it will only get worse if left alone. This is the injury I had during the summer so I need to be proactive about these types of things.

Peckham

Like lots of others I'm fascinated by your pyramid runs!

What sort of pace are you doing in these? What sort of pace do you do the 1 min recovery at, or do you just recover until breathing is back to normal?

How are you quantifying the improvement that you're seeing / how do you quantify the quality of the session?

TheRoadRunner

Peckham wrote: »

Like lots of others I'm fascinated by your pyramid runs!

What sort of pace are you doing in these? What sort of pace do you do the 1 min recovery at, or do you just recover until breathing is back to normal?

How are you quantifying the improvement that you're seeing / how do you quantify the quality of the session?

Hey Peckham.

Pace is around 5.30 per mile (for the longer intervals) so around 10k pace for me I guess. The shorter intervals are generally quicker, around 5.10-20 pace. The recovery is as slow or as fast as you like. I just do a gentle jog in between to fully recover but some of my training partners go a little quicker while others walk and have a heart attack

I can relate the quality of the session to the total distance we are covering over the entire 33 minute session. Initially we were below 5 miles but now we are creeping towards 5.5 miles. Obviously the speed of the recovery run will effect this but it is a decent yardstick to use without getting too bogged down with pace per interval etc.

I use to do a fartlek session once a week and I think the pyramid is a similar session.

TheRoadRunner

Mid week longish run. 13 miles 5/6 on grass remainder on road. Averaged 6.40 per mile. Felt a bit quicker, maybe the first 5 miles on grass were a little slower than the remaining road miles. Happy enough with the effort. Have a physio appointment this evening so hopefully that will help relieve some of the little niggles I've been experiencing lately.