Marathon Training Week 3

Warmer weather, finally got to do some speed work and a run along the Thames.

No snow this week, a little rain but nothing to worry about. Plus the temperature stayed pretty much above freezing for the majority of the week which made running infinitely more pleasurable as well as allowed me to keep running in a short top and shorts.

On Tuesday I ran some mile intervals (four to be precise), which was exhausting but rewarding. It never feels like I've started training for any race until I have to start doing interval training or speed work. Having missed a session last week due to a combination of snow and illness I was keen to make sure I ran the session this week. I like intervals. I know most don't but I think they help mix things up during the training week otherwise running similar distances at similar pace becomes monotonous quite quickly. I still get slightly anxious before the run but once it's underway all stress dissipates and I can concentrate in hitting the interval targets.

Intervals over with and the rest of the week was relative simple. A seven miler, four miler and five miler at slow, steady and easy pace respectively saw me through to the weekend and this week's long slow run. This time it was a thirteen mile run that, as I hinted at last week, took me down to the Thames and along the river to Richmond where I crossed the bridge and ran back via Syon house and the Grand Union Canal. It's one of my favourite routes and this morning was cold and crisp. Perfect. As I ran along the Thames several rowers were out early in the half dark. They had little lights on their boats that reflected off the water and made them look quite pretty. I ended up running alongside one or two of them as their rowing pace was similar to my running pace. Eventually I sped up a little bit and left the twinkling boats behind.

Across the bridge at Richmond and back up the other side of the bank. Halfway through the run. Homeward bound. Running through the grounds of Syon House and then a short stretch along the Grand Union Canal before cutting over to the Boston Manor Road. I had to add a few twists and turns to make sure that I ran the full distance and that was it. Back home before 9am and a hot bowl of porridge with honey.

Here's the run from this morning:

Next week my Sunday run is supposed to be a 10k race. At the moment I can't find any locally so I may just have to make my own up around the streets of Ealing. There's a function on my Garmin watch that allows you to run against a virtual partner. You set the speed that your partner will run at and you have to try and beat them. Sounds like a race to me!

Location:Ealing,United Kingdom

Marathon Training Week 2

This week has been a mixture of snow, illness and mild discomfort.

The snow that fell late last week managed to hang around until Wednesday. This meant having to plan my running routes to stay on or near main roads where the snow had melted and footing was more secure. Running on the snow takes more effort and can make what is meant to be an easy paced run feel much tougher.

I've been feeling a bit rough for two weeks (sore throat, stuffy nose, the usual stuff) and on Tuesday I woke up with a voice that wasn't a million miles away from Barry White. My chest was tight and my head felt like it had lost a boxing match to a breeze block. As much as I hate missing training runs I realised that the best course of action was to get back in bed and recuperate.

I felt better later in the week so recommenced my running. Fortunately the snow had now melted and running became easier. I started to feel a slight twinge in my right shin. A touch of shin splints? Not sure, could easily be the muscles adjusting to the training schedule, especially given over two months of slow base training since my last half marathon. I've run on it several times now and although the pain is not strong it only lasts for about a mile before disappearing. It'll be worth keeping an eye on it, and hopefully it will fade away over the next few months as my legs get stronger.

This morning I ran 11 miles for my weekly LSD run, following the route of the Ealing Half Marathon. There are a couple of hills but nothing too taxing. You can see the route below:



Next week is not too different but I hope to be able to run some intervals on Tuesday. A 13 mile run awaits on Sunday. I think I'll take a tried and tested route along the Thames at Richmond and back along the opposite bank.

Still haven't worn a long sleeved top yet!

Location:Ealing,United Kingdom

Marathon Training Week 1

Right, where were we?

It's been over a year since my last entry on this blog. A year in which I tried and failed to train for the Edinburgh marathon by getting injured 5 weeks into the training programme. I then spent a couple of months recovering and putting on about a stone in weight (14 pounds or 6kg depending on your unit of preference). Then I fulfilled a long held dream and cycled from Land's End to John O'Groats during two weeks in the summer (you can see the whole story on my other blog mikelejog2012). Then I decided to enter two half marathons to finish off the year. The Ealing half marathon and Run To The Beat which is held down by the O2 in Greenwich. I managed decent times in both (sub 1:40) and had no hint of injury.

I've spent the last two months base training and looking for a spring marathon to enter. My annual attempt to get into the London Marathon by ballot failed again so I searched for something nearby and decided on the Richmond Park Marathon which is held on the 5th of May.

This then was the first week of my sixteen week training plan. I'm going to be training by pace rather than heart rate because my heart rate monitor has been rubbing my skin and causing it to go dry and hard. So I'm going to give it a rest for a while for my skin to recover.

This first week has managed to coincide with not only me having a sore throat and head cold for the past week and a half but also a cold snap that has meant the temperature hasn't risen much above 0C for the entire week. I'm not sure if I'm being obstinate or stupid or a bit of both but I'm still wearing shorts and a short sleeve running top. It may seem a bit odd but I soon warm up and don't really notice although I have had some looks and someone in the street even shouted out that I was mad. I'll see how it goes but my stubborness makes me think that I will see out the winter.

My schedule has me running six days a week with a rest day on Friday. I might shuffle this around a bit as I'd prefer to have a rest day on the weekend.

This week was pretty easy with no speed work (lucky given how dark it still is in the mornings and the fact that we've had snow for the last three days). This culminated in a 10 mile long run on the Sunday which will increase week by week with the odd 10k race or half marathon (if I can't find a race to enter I'll just try to race against myself around the streets as best I can).

Here's this morning's 10 mile long run:

I'm hoping to make this a weekly blog again as I enjoyed writing it the last time I was training for a marathon. Fingers crossed it doesn't end in the same way!

Location:Ealing,United Kingdom

Coming soon

I'm currently cycling from Land's End to John O'Groats (check out my other blog!). Once I've finished that I'll be restarting this blog as I prepare for the Ealing Half Marathon.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Marathon "Training" - Week 15

As I feared there was to be no miraculous recovery. Having rested my calf for over a week I decided to go out for a quick run today and see if it would hold up.

Before I had started I could still feel a slight twinge but hoped that it would not flare up. No such luck. I managed to run about half a mile during which I thought that it was ok. Then, a quick incline later, and my calf began complaining. I stopped immediately before the inevitable happened and slowly walked back to the house.

So, no marathon, no sub 3:30 finish. Not this year at least. What's the plan?

First step, no running until I can feel zero pain in the calf. Especially after waking up when the muscles are still stiff, that is when I can feel the pain more than at any other time.
When there is no pain then I start to follow the return to running schedule (30 seconds running 4 minutes 30 seconds walking, repeat x 4 and then on subsequent runs increase the running and decrease the walking by 30 seconds).
Once I've completed the schedule then I start to slowly increase the distance and speed week by week up to about ten miles.

Hopefully by following this I will be ready to start spring marathon training at the end of December. This won't be the London marathon though as I received my rejection letter this week (just to pile on the misery!). Second year I've been rejected, I'll try again next year as it is where I live so would be nice to be involved. Currently I'm looking at alternatives with Llanelli and Hull being the front runners (pun not intended). Llanelli because it's near my home town of Swansea and Hull because I went to university there and it is flat as a pancake.

First though, I need to get back to fitness. I'll post again once I'm back running. Hopefully in about a month rather than another four month lay-off!

Marathon Training - Week 14

Here are the final words from my last post - "Finger's crossed that I don't pick up any injuries over the next 21 days". To say I may have jinxed things would be an understatement! Oh, the delicious irony!

On Wednesday I ran an innocuous easy paced six miler. I felt no problems during the run and really enjoyed it. Compared to the 22 mile run I had done on the weekend it felt like a little jog around the park. During the day I felt a twinge in my calf. My right calf. The calf that had put me out of action for four months earlier in the year. No worries, I thought, it's just a bit of muscle fatigue. Nothing that a bit of rest won't clear up.

The next day I was due to run 10 miles at marathon pace. I got up at 5:30 and headed out the door. About two hundred yards down the road I could still feel the twinge in my calf. No problem, I decided, I'll abandon today's run and rest it up further. After all I had run all my long training runs and any runs I was now doing was just ticking the old legs over a bit until race day.

On the Friday morning I got up and went for an easy five mile run. I chose to do one of my favourite routes that I hadn't run for quite some time. Halfway through the run I could feel the twinge in my calf again. Bugger, I thought. I was running on a path around a playing field at the time so decided to run on the grass instead to help ease up the pain. This worked until the grass ran out and I had to go back on to the concrete path. The pain shot up my leg and forced me to stop completely. I abandoned the run and walked disconsolately back to my house.

Since then I haven't run at all and have had to seriously consider the fact that I am about 80% certain that I will not be running the Chester marathon in two weeks' time. My leg is currently strapped in a compression tube and I am trying to stay off it as much as possible.

So, what is my plan of attack?

From experience I know that the chances of my leg healing in time for the marathon is very slim indeed. I will rest the leg for a week. If I feel no pain at all at the end of this week and am able to do 20 single calf raises without pain then I will go out for a four or five mile run to see if it holds up. If it does then I will follow the training plan for the final week and do the marathon as planned although I don't think I will be able to go for the 3:30 finish time that I was training for. I would be pleased at this stage just to finish in one piece!

If I still have pain in my leg at the end of the week or there is any recurrence of pain during the build up to the marathon then I will pull out of the marathon. I can't take any risks, especially after being out for four months earlier this year. I will rest the leg for three to four weeks and then follow the return to training plan that I had used previously. Hopefully this will mean that I will be back to full fitness in time to start training for a spring marathon.

Obviously I have a weakness in my right calf so I think that I'm going to have to perform strengthening exercises from now on, no matter how good I think my leg feels.

If you are wondering, I am not that annoyed. This was always a possibility considering that it was previously injured. I'm a bit angry at myself for not strengthening it and I am a bit confused as to the timing. You would have thought that if it was going to go then it would have happened immediately after my longest run, not three runs later!
At the end of the day I run for the enjoyment and use races to help me focus my training. They are not the be all and end all. If I can't run this marathon and it happens again when I'm training for my next marathon then maybe I will have to consider the fact that I can't run marathons any more. But, as I say, as long as I get to a point where I can run again then I will be happy.

Here's my unfinished run from Friday. I will update next week, either after I've completed a four mile run or after I've decided to pull out of the marathon. Stay tuned!

Marathon Training - Week 13

Another enforced break from blogging due to busy weekends.

Since the last blog I have completed three long runs of 20 miles, 20 miles and 22 miles. I had struggled in the 20 mile long run previous to these which I put down to a lack of sleep and possible jet lag so I was worried that I would continue to struggle. Fortunately this wasn't the case. I learnt my lesson and made sure that I had a good night's sleep before each of my runs. Rest is an extremely important aspect of marathon training and one which I have taken to heart, making sure I get at least 7 hours the night before any run.

The first 20 mile run took me down to the Thames and along the path towards Teddington where I crossed the river and came back towards Ealing via Hounslow. I wasn't familiar with the route so used Google Maps and Streetview to help me recognise landmarks where I had to change direction. On this occasion I knew I had to turn where Streetview said there was a pub called the Horse and Groom. Unfortunately since the photo was taken the pub had closed down and been turned into a Tesco Express so I managed to completely miss it. It was lucky I had a general sense of where I was and managed to make it back to the A4 which leads back to Ealing. The upside of this was that I was so concerned with trying to find my way back that I ate up the miles without really noticing and before I knew it I had completed my run! Here's the route as recorded by my Garmin (by the way the turning I missed was the A314, you can see that I ran straight across it!):




The next 20 miler I stayed on more familiar ground and ran through northwest London down towards Paddington then turned round at Baker Street and back along the Uxbridge Road to Ealing. This time I didn't get lost but did run into a bit of trouble trying to find a toilet! Without going into too much detail running does have a habit of moving things about inside. On this occasion I realised after 3 miles that I would need to stop off for a toilet break. Could I find a toilet at 7am on the Harrow Road? Could I hell! I tried petrol stations and supermarkets and had no joy. Usually when this happens I look for a hotel but there wasn't a single one, not a Premier Inn or Holiday Express anywhere! It wasn't until another 8 miles when I got to Paddington that I managed to stop at the Hilton Metropole. A rather posh place to stop but any port in a storm etc. etc. My run back to Ealing was rather less eventful and I managed to finish in a quicker time than the week before. Here's the route:




My final long run, a 22 miler, was to be the longest run I will do before the marathon and I was looking forward to it for a couple of reasons. The first being that it would be the best test of my fitness and would let me know what sort of form I was in for the marathon. The second reason was that I would do a route that I did 18 months ago when training for the Brighton marathon. It would take me down Hyde Park, past Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament, across the Thames to the London Eye, over Blackfriar's Bridge and back via Hammersmith. This time I didn't get lost and I didn't have to look for any hotels for an unscheduled stop! It seems odd to enjoy a 22 mile run but I really did. I managed to finish strong and pushed my heart rate up a bit more than I was happy with but I figured this was because I don't take any water with me on training runs so was becoming a bit dehydrated towards the end. I do take a couple of gels though so I can practice my fuelling strategy. I reckon I will need to take 3 gels on the day of the marathon, taking one every 10km. I may take an extra one just in case I'm flagging at the end. Here's the route:




Again, I managed to increase my pace compared to the previous week so this is promising.

There is a rule of thumb that says that a 22 mile training run takes about as long as the marathon when run at race pace. If so then I'd be ecstatic since it would give me a qualifying time for the Boston marathon, although I think it might be a bit ambitious. Finishing under 3:30 would be brilliant and just to get under 4 hours would be pleasing.

Anyway, that's caught up with what's happened in the last three weeks and now I enter the three week taper period before the marathon where I reduce the mileage bit by bit although I maintain the intensity. Next week I will run an 18 mile long run which is pretty much the only long run I've got left to do before the marathon on the 9th October. Finger's crossed that I don't pick up any injuries over the next 21 days.