PROJEKT LONDON & STOCKHOLM

MARATHON TRAINING - WEEK 7

Monday

I kicked the week off with a nice 15k recovery run. The legs felt good after yesterdays 30k long run that incorporated the Thirsk 10 mile race. I ran the Thirsk 10 at dream marathon pace, with 10km before and a tad more after. I felt really good, however it was really hard to not get involved in racing the event. I raced a lot last year in my marathon build up, but this time round I'm seeing if not racing in events will make a difference to my two marathons and performances in training sessions. I currently find not racing helps me focus on my weaknesses more in the week as I don't have to spend the next 2-3 days recovering after a race. It also helps me to produce better quality sessions within the week, something that I found really tough last time when I was tired from racing a lot. I know at the moment that I personally benefit more by doing this. All efforts are focused on increasing my aerobic capacity and lactate threshold as much as possible. I have a solo 10k Time Trial in a few weeks but sadly no races during this build up. Let's hope that it pays off.

Picture from the last Km of the Thirsk 10 Mile.

Tuesday

Today was a scheduled day off. My first day off after running 20 consecutive days. I felt great when I woke up, no niggles, no aches, no tiredness, but I figured the body was due a breather so I decided to stay disciplined. Not even a recovery run to help blood flow to my legs. I had a really busy day at work, so it made sense to rest too. The only thing that went on s&c wise was stretching and foam rolling, along with taking the doggos on an extra long walk.

Wednesday

I ran with my mate Jonny today. It was awesome weather for today's session, if anything a tad warm for a change! After an easy warm up in the sunshine we ran towards the cycle path to perform an effort at marathon pace. The plan was to simply run the length of the cycle path and stay dead on pace. Jonny is a great runner and equally as good at pacing. We picked a pace and ran stride for stride. Having him there and on pacing duty really helped me to focus on the exertion rather than checking the watch all the time. This session would have been a struggle without him (cheers mate!) After the effort we ran easy miles. Topped off by running some grass laps to make it 24k total for the session.

Thursday

So this feeling was due many weeks ago. Maybe even a month ago! I was finally a tad sore! The legs even felt a little empty too! I haven't been sore for a long time. Today was the newly named THRursday, because on Thursday it seems to be a threshold session (THR). Today's session was already a tough one! Made a lot tougher with empty & sore legs. The session was 5 x 10 minutes at threshold pace (3:21-3:35/km) with 2 minutes rest between sets. I'd planned to warm up and re-evaluate how my legs felt before attempting any efforts. My session would then change to a recovery run if the legs still felt empty and too sore to run at any kind of effort. However this was not the case. The warm up did its trick and off I went. Flying round the block completing all 5 efforts. They were all fine fine apart from the last 3 minutes of the final set. This would be a very normal feeling on fresh legs anyway so I was really happy to get through this session. Ramping up the calories even more and focusing on recovery was on the agenda until Sunday's tough session. Praying for no extra soreness for Friday's session.

Friday

No soreness! The extra calories, stretching and bath did their job well. Today's session was a 14k recovery run around the grounds of Fountains Abbey & Studley Royal Deer Park. I love running here, especially the route I ran today. I explored different parts of the abbey and found some really cool trail routes with spectacular views. I even ran through a tunnel that I had no idea where it led too. It was pitch black and intriguing but it led right back to grounds, phew! I then ventured out on the trails, across the seven bridges and looped back to Studley Royal Deer Park. I decided to make the run more interesting and softer on the legs by running a random route on the grass trying to find the deers, but not get too close that I piss them off. I ran for around 2/3k off road before I finally saw them hiding, way off the main path! Definitely the highlight of the run! After that I headed back to the car. I could spend all day at Fountains Abbey and today was up there with one of the best routes I have ever ran.

Below are pictures from a viewpoint I found & the pitch black tunnel.

Saturday

A simple Saturday session. An 11k recovery run, all on grass laps. I like running my recovery and some easy sessions on grass or trails as this helps my joints, which take a hammering during the week. I think this is one of the reasons, along with the s&c work I do, that I manage to stay injury free.

Sunday

I was excited for this session ever since I wrote my marathon block. The plan was to cover 36k (22 miles) incorporating the Wakefield 10k. A progressive run was planned. The plan was to increase the pace by 10 seconds every 5km, starting at 4:40/km pace, for 20k until the race starts, with the race being ran at marathon effort. I got round the race in 36:12 with plenty left in the tank, randomly placing 14th overall. What mattered most though was how the session made me feel. It felt great and even though it was really hard to not race, I was chuffed about the discipline throughout the total session. Even at the slower speeds in the progressive run, it helped me feel what my body & posture was like at certain paces and the ability to adapt and adjust. Something I may start incorporating in future training blocks. The effort itself felt fine and legs felt strong too! I topped this off with a 7k cool down, sneaking in an extra k to make it 37 for the day. By not going all out in the race, it will allow me to bank some nice easy aerobic work in the week ahead, something for me that still needs a lot of work! Rather than spending days recovering or risking marathon training burnout.

A graph of how the progressive long run went.

Week 7 Total Distance:

121km

(75miles)

A fun fact for the weekly distance covered:

The distance ran this week is the length of 403,333 Cavalier King Charles Spaniels. The breed of my doggos!