PROJEKT LONDON & STOCKHOLM

MARATHON TRAINING - WEEK 9

Monday

A standard staple in my plan, at the start of the week was a 14k recovery run. The pace for this run was 4:40/km. I used to really struggle running slower and holding back in recovery sessions but recently I am much more disciplined in the effort I run these sessions at. I'm also finding I enjoy the relaxed pace more and I'm much fresher in the legs for the tougher sessions later in the week. A good session doesn't always need to be fast. Although there are plenty of sessions still to come, I almost feel race ready. The stats suggested this too, sitting at 8.8% Body Fat with 86.7% lean mass.

Tuesday

The best and the worst day of the week for me. The best because the rest days are important and vital to recovery. An underrated part of most training programs. Worst day because I was feeling fresh and itching to run hard! The closer to the race, the more inclined I am to rest fully rather than recovery run. The plan I set said rest, so that was the order of the day. Earlier in the plan I would have ran another short recovery run on this day however.

Wednesday

Today I had planned to go to the track in Leeds to run a tough session. I had planned to tire my legs out to attempt a marathon effort the next day. This will allow me to run on semi-tired legs and simulate what race pace, or close to it will feel like on lower glycogen stores, a very specific approach for the marathon. I fuelled well all morning and my legs felt ready to run. After a half hour drive I arrived at the track only to find that the uni had a track meeting on and that it wasn't available for public use. The chap behind the desk was very helpful and suggested other places to run, along with offering me a spot in a race during the meeting. I thought he was joking but he said he was serious and I could race if I wanted to. No way was I going to race a 400m or 1500m against some uni whippersnappers at one of the most crucial times in my build up. I would have loved to race, just on another day. Especially over 400m! So off I went, a trip up the road to The Brownlee Centre, the home of where the Brownlee brothers train. I raced a 5km series here in 2017 and love the circuit they have, even the little brow you have to run up! I have good memories of this place. Bad news again! The circuit was being used by some cyclists so that was plan B scarpered! Onto Plan C...The facility manager informed me the groundsman had cut a trail grass circuit intended for use by the Brownlee's and that I could use it as long as I bought something from the tuck shop! This sounded a very fair deal, I'll take it! Even though I had only brought my marathon race shoes with me, to help break them in, I had to use them on grass. I hope they didn't get too muddy or marked was my first thought. My second and much better thought, 'What are you doing?! Just get the job done!' So off I went. A tough grass trail 4x2k session with a 2 minute rest between sets. Holding back for the first 2 sets and gradually increasing pace for the last 2. I ended up running 3:13/km during the last set. I was happy to run such a pace on a grassy and undulating circuit. By holding back for the first 2 sets I wasn't too spent from the session. 16k got covered in total. Job done!

Thursday

The legs were semi tired from yesterday's tough grass session but so they should be! The aim was exactly that and they felt how I expected them to feel. A little empty but far from broken or sore! During a 5k warm up, I bumped into my good friend Guy Close, who's also prepping for another marathon in the next couple of weeks. It was great to run part of my run with him! After that off I went on a 10km marathon effort. Focussing on running at effort rather than pace, but not letting pace drop too much and slowing down if it felt too quick. Only looking at the watch if that was the case. The first 5k on grass, the second 5k on a flat, pathed loop. I followed this by a 4k cool down. The pace felt good in the legs and lungs but looking back at the stats maybe a tad quick as it would have given me a 2:35 marathon. Dreamy!

Friday

Before the weekend I snuck a 14k progressive run in, with a 2k cool down. The pace started at 4:15/km and increased gradually throughout the session until I ended up on 3:37. I felt great and will prepare the legs and stock up the energy stores ready for the Sunday long run! Did I also tell you that it involved rocky road...

Today was also exciting as I found out my race number for London!

Saturday

I kicked the weekend off with a 14k recovery, running grass laps again. Nothing fancy about the session. Just run all the miles & pet all the dogs!

Sunday

The Sunday long run this week was a good chance for me to practice my nutrition and hydration strategy for London. I took on gels, drank water/lucozade sport (orange flavour) at the same distances they would be on the London Marathon course. I placed the lucozade on the roof of my car (my fuel station as it is now known) and the water behind a road sign and prayed that nobody would move these! With it being a quiet Sunday morning, I figured I would take the chance. I put the gels in my little race belt, the same one I will race with. I like to carry as little as possible when running. This allows me to run more comfortably and focus on running form easier. Along with the nutrition and hydration being as specific as I could make it, I made sure the route was flat with as many long roads as possible, with minimal stops for cars or crossings. After a 10k steady run, the session consisted of 3x5k efforts (the efforts went as follows - 18:34/18:32/18:17) with 5 minutes easy recovery between sets, with the last km of the last set being a fast finish. This was followed by a 5k cool down. I managed to cover 32k (20 miles) in total. I felt great throughout the whole session, a bit too good. Why was this? Maybe for many reasons. Some of those include: Consuming 900g of carbs (that's 3600 calories just from carbs alone!) on the Saturday, a good night's sleep, a good mobility session before the warm up, a great breakfast and optimal fuelling during the session. Maybe I am more aerobically fitter than I think. Let's find out on April 28th! But these are all positives to think about. I am a bit of a geek at heart and always love to analyse my sessions in depth once I have ran them. What I did well, what could be better, and why. But sometimes it's not all about the numbers, it's about the process surrounding the session.

Week 9 Total Distance:

111km

(69 miles)

A fun fact for the weekly distance covered:

The distance ran this week is the equivalent to the length of 412 Titanic ships.