PROJEKT LONDON & STOCKHOLM

Marathon Comparisons

Last week I decided to do some homework. The idea was to compare my London & Stockholm 12 week build up against the 12 week build up for The Yorkshire Marathon 2017.

A bit of history before the geeky stats. In 2017 I ran the Yorkshire Marathon in a time of 3:00:09, with my goal of trying to run my first sub 3 hour marathon. On the day I was flying round, until I got cramp around 29/30k in. I had to cramp, walk, shuffle & attempt any kind of forward movement 14 times over to make it to the finish. I worked out I could maybe get back in time by at least moving forward in any way possible. I ended up 9 seconds away from my goal time. To say I was extremely disapointed was an understatement, even though the event and day was really good. If I didn't cramp I would of ran a really good time and smashed the sub 3 that day. Hindsight is always a nice thing though! After failing my goal of sub 3 it motivated me more to try again. So I decided to enter The Nottingham Christmas Marathon, mainly to prove to myself that I can actually run a sub 3! I ran a 2:52 that day on a mentally, over-raced, physically tired body. Even though I achieved my first ever sub 3, the idea of racing a marathon still eludes me somewhat. I find it really hard compared to the shorter events but enjoy the challenge! I toyed for over a year, deciding whether to race another marathon or not. Especially since I really love shorter distances. The challenge for me mainly comes from within and my own goals, not against others. I want to find my peak and keep enjoying the process of training and racing. I feel it gives me some kind of purpose. I also strangely enjoy the longer stuff now.

Okay, enough rambling on, let's look at the comparison.

The graph below compares the 12 week build of the 2 marathons:

Analysis:

This was eye opening for me! As you can see the main difference is the volume between 2017 (left column) and now (right column). I am putting in much more volume now than I was back then. This shocked me! More so at how little voIume I did last in my last build up. I went through my session history and the main reason why I think this was so low was because I raced a lot in 2017, especially in the build up to the marathon. I love racing and really enjoy it, especially back then when it felt like I was improving at a good rate. My times were getting quicker and I was placing good in shorter races, even managing to come 2nd overall in the first ever Brownlee 5k Series. A goal at the time. Whilst this is all great, it looks like it really hampered my 2017 marathon. I was over raced and very under trained. I was really enjoying the races and the passion and morale for running was sky high. But was this the best preparation for a marathon? Very likely not! I was spending the next few days recovering or putting in poor sessions rather than building aerobic capacity and putting in really good tough sessions. This time round I am making a conscious effort to train more and race less. In this years build up I am trying zero racing! This allows me to focus not only on putting more volume in, but a lot more quality mid-week sessions without increasing the risk of injury or burnout. Is it working so far? It feels like it is. I feel fantastic! The structure is there this time round, where as last time it was sessions between races and running on empty tanks a lot of the time. The closest I will get to racing during my current build up will be a 10k solo time trial (on a Saturday). The goal of this isn't to hit a specific time, it's mainly to fatigue the legs for a slightly shorter long run on the Sunday. A good approach before the taper starts.

I have another thought on this though. Why not perform some marathon pace specific work instead or perform more aerobic work (my biggest weakness). Also going through my head is 'Would running a session at an energy system that hasn't been used alot during this build up make me sore for a few days?' It likely will. A bit like if you took a month off doing squats at the gym and started doing them again. Even the light loaded squats on your return will very likely make you sore. Anyone that's done this will know! The same goes for use of energy systems in running. I am seriously considering changing the 10k TT for a more specific marathon workout. Will evaluate how my body feels nearer the time and change if need to. This thought process is also something I have developed over the years and having the confidence to adapt and change plans according to feel, rather than sticking to one plan and swearing by it. A good plan needs to allow flexibility.

The total volume of the current build up is just over twice the amount of last time! More miles doesn't 100% guarantee that you will become fitter, but it's highly likely it will. It's what you do in the sessions based on your goals that will give the highest chance of improvement. For example a marathon is 99% aerobic so most of your development will likely come from long, steady aerobic sessions at the right intensity instead of knocking out a 10x400m session on the track focusing on V02 max work.