PROJEKT LONDON & STOCKHOLM

MARATHON TRAINING - WEEK 1

It is finally here! The start of my 16 week marathon program for The London & Stockholm Marathons. The next 11 weeks will based around producing my best possible time for London. With the following 5 weeks spent recovering and getting ready to race again in Stockholm.

Since my last blog post I managed to produce a new 10k PB at the Dewsbury 10k, with a time of 33:52. Something I haven't been able to achieve since November 2017. This was the day before my marathon block started and it was safe to say it put me into an even greater spirit ready for week one!

The first weeks overview:

Monday

The first session was a simple 8k recovery run. I even took one of my dogs, Charlie, for the first 2k to see how he got on. Thinking canicross one day...

The legs felt empty after yesterdays race but not too bad! These really steady recovery runs help a lot!

Tuesday

A full day of rest! Nothing but foam rolling, a bath and stretch. Oh and an insane amount of food.

Wednesday

A little bit tougher today, a 16km medium-long run (med-long for future posts). I added in a 3 and 2k effort as the legs felt good and I was testing the water with how a predicted marathon pace felt. It felt fine. The body felt back to full strength even though in reality it probably need more recovery.

Thursday

Recovery day was planned and that is exactly what went on. I really find running slower much tougher to do, it takes a lot of discipline! Something I lacked last time round when marathon training. Although I felt recovered I know my body still needed more rest from Sundays race so I didn't push any kind of pace. Instead I took to the trails around Swinsty and Fewston Reservoirs. A great scenic recovery run. Sadly the ice cream man wasn't there!

Friday

A classic out and back, 14km. Today was ran at an easy pace, only checking the watch if I felt like I was running too fast. Turns out I was more on the slower side! This was good as it aided even more recovery whilst still increasing my aerobic capacity. A vital aspect of fitness to increase for performance in the Marathon (another blog post about this soon).

Saturday

This was a good old solid grafting session! It was 34mph winds and tons of rain! The session was 5 x 10 mins at a guess of Marathon Pace. I wrap the session with a solid warm up and cool down. This session was definitelty a good character builder as the weather made it so tough. But that is good, because I like tough! A total of 20km got ran.

Sunday

Whilst im writing this blog on a saturday evening this session hasn't happened yet but a 22k run is planned. I may run 27km in the end if the legs allow. The pace will be easy all the way round!

Week 1 Total Distance:

95-100 km

(59-62 miles)

*totals dependant on tommorows sunday long run

A good solid week and already looking forward to week 2.

Happy Running!

Steve