25 April 2010

Peckham

The vision
Coming down past St James Park in the London Marathon, there is a banner at the 26 mile point that says "Only 385 yards to go". I have a strong mental picture of me passing under this banner in 18 weeks time (to the hour as I type this), and I can see what it says on my watch, allowing me to enjoy those final 400 or so metres. Now I need to get there.

The background
Three Dublin marathons in the bag (2006, 2007 & 2008), improving from 3:26 first time out, then 3:06, then an agonising 3:00:00. Plans for Berlin this year were abandoned when I was forced to take a week or so off training following a non-running related injury.

The training
Training for the past two months or so has been pretty steady. November went very well, and I ran 26 of the 30 days that month with a few 15 mile long runs, and speedwork every week (alternate weeks of 4 mile tempo run, or interval sessions (8x600 or 6x800). A good few weeks of 40mpw, although was sick and missed the week before last.

Last two marathons were done using P&D 55mpw. I have used the structure of that plan to formulate my own plan, pushing weekly mileage up by around 10 miles per week, as well as doing longer slow runs and incorporating more pace work in some long runs. Plan from now until end-February is attached here. I don't necessarily see the plan as set in stone and will adjust where required (and will gratefully take any feedback).

Have a few races planned - Raheny 5, Larne half (end-March) and a 10k at some point in Feb. Am also doing a 5k on Stephen's Day, but that's more a cobweb blower than anything else.


So, the 18 weeks of work start tomorrow and a strong Christmas period will get me off to a good start. Haven't been on this site much in recent times, but look forward to reading everyone else's training, especially those also aiming for Spring marathons.

Abhainn

Welcome back Peckham, you certainly mean business this time.
Christmas break hell no, you'll be troting around on a cool 5 miler.
Its a well detailed plan, if you stick to that your sub 3 will be assured.
Best of luck.

village runner

Best of luck with the new log.
Should be intersting to compare times in training.

donothoponpop

Look forward to following your progress, whenever I read calculus I always think of your particular infinitesimal. Best of luck going well under this time.

heffsarmy

Good luck with the new log, another log that I will be keeping a keen eye on!

misty floyd

Nice one Peckham. Best of luck with training, I'll be following this. I like your excel layout...yoink! (thanks).

Krusty_Clown

Best of luck Peckham. Will hopefully be a doddle for you. I'm planning something similar (P&D 55mpw with added mileage) however, I'm following the 12 week plan, and am already starting into week 3. Hope the injuries stay at bay.

--amadeus--

Best of luck with it, looking forward to trying to keep up with your training times & miles

Slogger Jogger

Best wishes Peckham. You are heading in the right direction. You've all the building blocks in place to do well.

TheRoadRunner

good luck. Just noted the countdown of weeks on your program. I'm hoping to do a marathon the say day as you run London. I can't believe it's only 17 weeks to go:eek:

Peckham

TheRoadRunner wrote: »

I can't believe it's only 17 weeks to go:eek:

Don't worry, it's 18 weeks to go. Race week is week zero!

asimonov

Good luck, nice race to go sub 3 in. You've loads of karma on your side from the Peckham pacers mentoring as well!

TheRoadRunner

phew. another drink please garcon

shels4ever

best of luck

kennyb3

best of luck peckham. there is a 10k in enniscourthy on 14th Feb.

Sosa

Best of luck in the training,Peckham.
I will be following your log

aero2k

Hi Peckam,

I'll be looking forward to reading your log and a report of a great performance in London. Best of luck.

christeb

Good man Peckham, will be following with interest as usual.

Peckham

Wow, am amazed by the good wishes over the past 24 hours. Thanks all.

A rather unspectacular start to the training log, with 4 miles at recovery pace this morning. The extensive frost and resulting fear of training ending with one nasty slip on the first session, slowed the pace a little - which is no bad thing I guess.

Was out running before 6am (5.58 to be exact), which is a first for me (normal pre-work sessions start just after 6am), as I woke up at 5.30 and couldn't get back to sleep.

4 miles down, approx 896 to go!

dermCu

Best of luck Peckham. It’s great to see someone else in for London. It’s a smashing race. I have no memory of seeing that banner at mile 26. Then again I don’t remember much about the final mile from most marathons. Will keep an eye out for how you are getting along.

Peckham

dermCu wrote: »

I have no memory of seeing that banner at mile 26.

I saw it on that documentary on Channel 4 last week about the 16 stone bloke trying to qualify for the Olympics. It will really mess up my visualisation techniques if it doesn't exist! :rolleyes:

Peckham

Tuesday
Second day of training schedule, and first skipped session
Unavoidable due to other commitments, still disappointing though. Will make up the missed mileage (7 miles) over next few days (and do a light session on Sunday, which was planned as a rest day).

Wednesday
16 miles @ 7:23 pace
Had planned to run home from work, but unplanned early finish meant the logistics didn't work. Instead went out from home a bit later. As it was 4pm when I was going out, I didn't want to hit the back roads and risk ice in the dark so instead picked a safe 3 mile circuit and did this five and a bit times. No chance of getting out for a long run in next few days (plus have 5k race on Saturday), so good to get this out of the way. Had only planned on 15 miles, so have gained back 1 of those 7 missed miles!

Peckham

Thursday 24th
5 miles @ 7:52 pace
Early-ish jog whilst dodging icy patches before hitting the road for Christmas in Donegal.

Friday 25th
6 miles @ 7:38 pace
What a way to start Christmas Day! A very enjoyable 45mins crunching through snow covered trails and surrounded by amazing scenery. One of my top five runs of all time....if only all my training was on these trails.

Peckham

Saturday 26th
Finn Valley AC 5k
Either I completed the race of my life amongst highly competitive Donegal runners and my Garmin measurement was way out, or my 14:45 finish was the result of a short course. I'm thinking the latter, and it was actually a 2.5 mile race rather than the advertised 5k.

Ran a very good race, and kept the pace pretty consistent at a tad under 6 min miles. Was disappointed when the finish came, as I was on for a good time by my standards and was feeling strong. Would probably have PB'd by a few seconds, but still is a good tempo session.

Nothing exciting to report about this race. Decent turnout (maybe 300) which is good considering most of the county is covered in snow. Martin Fagan was due to be running, but no sign of him at the start.

Peckham

Sunday 27th
It is said that there's no such thing as bad running weather, just unsuitable running apparel. Well today was an exception to that, and the nice snow covered trails around Donegal have turned into mini ice rinks. Getting out the driveway at 1pm was challenge enough, but bigger challenges awaited when I hit the trails. Most of the run was spent hopping from one side of the trail to the other in order to avoid icy patches. Coming downhill was a lot of fun at times when I was totally out of control of my footing and I'd be hurtling across ice towards a non-icy patch hoping to still be on my feet by the time I reached that patch. In hindsight I should have listened to my father-in-law when he returned from mass and said there'd be no running for me today. Only one fall, but a lot of close calls, and could have resulted in injury.

End result is 5 miles at about 7:40 pace (but that was a mixture of 2 miles on clear road at about 7:10 pace, and icy trails at anything up to 9:30 pace with walking breaks).

Despite the missed session on Tuesday, running on today's planned rest day (a rest I didn't really need), means I hit this week's target of 40 miles.

Peckham

Monday 28th
4 miles @7:32 pace
Early 4 miles before hitting the road for a 6 hour car journey from Donegal to Wicklow (was so cold that the windscreen wash didn't defrost until over 4 hours into the journey!). Decided to avoid the the trails given yesterday's slip-sliding episode, so was an uneventful 2 mile out and back on the road.

Poor road conditions mean I'm going to skip the 8 mile hill run planned for tomorrow by fellow boardsies. Shame, instead it'll be another road run for me.

Peckham

Tuesday 29th
10 miles @ 7:17 pace
Wet but enjoyable run this morning. Set off from Greystones South Beach taking in Charlesland, Delgany, up by Kendlestown Woods and back town to Windgates, doing a loop back through Killincarrig and down to South Beach.

Hilly enough, so happy with the pace and felt pretty comfortable throughout (avg heart rate of 82% I think).

4 miles recovery tomorrow, and then 16 or 17 on Thursday.

Peckham

Wednesday 30th
4 miles recovery
Finished up running along the coast in Greystones with the waves crashing over the wall. Enjoyable for a few minutes, but was glad to get back inside!

Peckham

Thursday 31st
17.5 miles @ 7:21 pace
Was worried last night that the wind wasn't going to subside for today and would make a long run very difficult, however as the morning went on today the wind dropped quite a lot. Started in tough conditions with a massive hail shower over the first 5 minutes of the run, however apart from some gusts along the coast, it was fine. Took in quite a hilly route through Rush, Skerries and out towards Balbriggan.

Schedule called for 16 miles, but decided before going out that I was going to go for 17 instead. When I reached 17 I did a lap of a pitch near the house to add an extra 0.5. Not sure why.

That's 9 days successive running now. Exactly what I wanted over the Christmas break, and very pleasing considering the poor weather conditions.

village runner

Peckham wrote: »

Thursday 31st


Schedule called for 16 miles, but decided before going out that I was going to go for 17 instead. When I reached 17 I did a lap of a pitch near the house to add an extra 0.5. Not sure why.

MAYBE its because Dermcu has run alot of long run and you wanted a run of over 17 miles,

Slogger Jogger

Peckham wrote: »

Wednesday 30th
4 miles recovery
Finished up running along the coast in Greystones with the waves crashing over the wall. Enjoyable for a few minutes, but was glad to get back inside!

Quits on you! Ran along Greystones sea wall from Kilcoole. The waves were fairly monstrous. A great run though. Good luck with your goals for 2010.