London Marathon Training - 9 weeks to go
Key Blue - Both of us Purple - Kelly Orange - John
Monday 12th February 2018
After getting an early night, we were up at 5am, eager and ready for our PT session. We ran the long route to PT to make the morning run up to 6 miles. After a very heavy session last week, we'd requested something a little lighter for today.
After Sunday nights MOT check on the back/running properly , I ran to PT with confidence and excitement at starting another week of training. A lighter session than last week (much appreciated and very beneficial) meant that the session was testing but fun throughout. Our first go on balancing boards - great for core and ankle strength.
This is what the session comprised of:
Crunches,
Cable rotations,
catch n throw balancing on bum 30s...then 60s
Plank elbow to knee,
Elbow to knee crunches,
Plank to side plank with arm raise 30s....then 60s
Scorpions,
Crunches 4 sets of 12
Medicine ball lowers, opposite leg extensions .x12
Knee drives plus squat thrusts 10 of each ( X4)
Side plank x10
Bar roll outs x10 X3
Glute raises x10
Plank foot jumps x10 X4
Balancing on balance boards (we had one each!)
Throwing balls to each other, squatting, one leg balances - hard but fun!
As it was half term, I had the luxury of being able to go back to bed afterwards!
I didn't stay in bed too long though as I went out again at lunchtime and did a little 4 mile recovery run on the way to yoga. Yoga was great - although very hard - I definitely benefited from an hour of stretching!
Tuesday 13th February 2018
Another early start today. We were out of the door at 5:20am as we had 10 miles at GA to do and we wanted to ensure we had time to have pancakes for breakfast! We decided to use the Portway and run 5 miles out and then 5 miles back. The first 5 miles felt pretty good despite it being uphill. We managed 6 progressive miles up to 7:12 mm. But when we turned around, we realised why we'd found the uphill section so easy - the wind was like 40 miles an hour and had been behind us. When we turned, however, it became seriously challenging to keep the speed up. A one point I actually came to a stand-still with the wind being so strong!
Despite all this, we still managed to get the 10 miles done at 7:28mm average pace.
We got home and celebrated pancake day in style!
GA = General Aerobic or just going for a run. These workouts are supposed to be easy and fun and not looking to hit any specific pace or time - a stress free run. It would have been had it not been for the tornado like winds we were facing! Ah well - karma leveled things out with glorious pan cakes á la GFRG!
In the afternoon, I did another yoga class - felt better today.
Wednesday 14th February 2018
Happy Valentine's Day!
How did we celebrate? By going for a run of course! 15 miles with an average pace of 7:50mm with our running club. It was, once again, really wet and windy. yuk!
I was hoping to go fairly steadily but our friend Orla had other ideas and we ended up doing a few quicker miles down the portway.
Weather was similarly cruel and punishing, same as Tuesday but we all battled through and banked what is now becoming a regular mid week long run. Getting in the mid week long run does help back up the Sunday long run, the body adjusts and get's better at spending some much time on feet and it makes the weekends longer running more enjoyable! 16miles @ 7:20MM pace :-)
Thursday 15th February 2018
Another soggy day of running - I feel like this has been an especially wet campaign. 8 miles at recovery pace of 9:09mm. Tired legs but wanted to stick to the plan and get the miles done.
Back to running with the work guys at the Aalco running club! After the banter passed after going AWOL for a week we had a nice and steady 5K together - I added another 3 miles to make up the planned 5 and Luke went off and rounded up to 12! He's marathon training as well and does his longer runs in the week.
Friday 16th February 2018
Today I was really feeling the effects of my high mileage week. My legs felt heavy and tired and I was hoping for a gentle plod with John as he had the day off work. Unfortunately for me, John had was feeling fresh and speedy and I couldn't keep up. Never mind, 13 miles done and a recovery run planned for tomorrow.
10 miles @ 8MM pace - a nice and steady GA run, earning (almost) all of the calories I enjoyed consuming throughout the rest of the day!
We spend the rest of the day playing bowling with our families! John won...of course!
Saturday 17th February 2018
Saturday means parkrun! We didn't go last week so it was nice to head back to Ashton Court today and tackle the hill once more. I took it really steady (as it was supposed to be a recovery run) and enjoyed some lovely marathon training chats on the hill. An average pace for me of 8:06mm.
I was however starting to feel a little worried about our planned long run tomorrow - I wasn't sure if I would be able to stick to the pace. Lots of foam rolling and calf massaging in store for the rest of the day in a desperate attempt to loosen up my muscles!
Fancied a blast at parkrun today! I like to have the racing feeling at least once a week and also wanted to give myself tired legs for the next days long run - sadistic I know! 2nd finisher with a time of 18:10 - well off a PB time but respectable after last weeks issues and with it being a 5K race in the middle of a 13 mile medium-long run @ 7:25MM pace :-)
Sunday 18th February 2018
Long run day...oh dear! 20 miles with 10 at marathon pace on the plan...after already having done 60 miles this week...this is going to hurt!
We were out of the door by 8:15am and ran to meet the rest of the (super fast) crew at the bottom (hooray!) of Bridge Valley Road. We timed it to perfection...or so we thought...we got caught out by a bridge swing which meant a rather speedy warm up run to the meeting point (we all know that the Maestro waits for no man...or woman!).
There was no hanging around, straight into 6 miles at marathon pace. This for me, should be 6:40mm. This is hard. Really hard. Especially hard when the first 3 miles up the portway are uphill! I managed 6:44, 6:44 and 6:50 on the uphill sections. No quite what I wanted but not too far off. I was happy. Luckily, the next 3 miles were downhill. But, once again, I'd forgotten about the wind. Urch! The next 3 miles looked like this 6:42, 6:54 and 6:50 ...I wish strava measured the wind factor and adjusted the speed accordingly!
We then re-grouped and ran towards the section section of our route - the Bristol to Bath Cycle Path. We waited to Dr Dave to join us (I was very grateful for the short rest) and then headed up the cycle path. The boys wanted to do another 6 miles at marathon pace but I only needed 4 more. The first 3 miles are uphill, so I decided to do 2 miles steady, then 1 uphill at marathon pace and then the last 3 downhill.
Watching the boys storm off into the distance, leaving me along to tackle the never ending uphill section was a bit depressing for me if I'm honest. I couldn't keep a good pace, everything was hurting and I was generally feeling pretty down. As I was getting more and more frustrated with myself, my breathing was becoming more and more labored. I decided to stop and try to re-focus. After giving myself a good ol' talking to, I bucked up my ideas and pushed on. When my watched beeped, I picked up the pace and managed to get to 6:49mm for the next marathon paced efforts.
Thankfully, the boys had waited for me and it was nice to pause for a moment and re-group. I had just 3 miles at marathon pace to go. All 3 were downhill. I was able to keep relatively close to the rest of the crew which kept my spirits high. The last 3 miles were 6:43, 6:32 and 6:26mm. The last 3 miles were hard but I enjoy having a count down and I knew that the pain was almost over!
Finally, I reached the end of the efforts and was very relieved to have done 10 miles at around marathon pace. Yes, some of them were a bit slower than I'd have liked but considering the weekly mileage and the hill and wind factors, I was pretty pleased.
20 miles done with an average pace of 7:19mm.
20 miles @ 7:00MM for me with 2 x blocks of 6 averaging MP - Block 1 = 6:33MM + Block 2 = 6:28MM
This workout was a massive confidence booster for me. I usually get through this workout and bank the times required but on top of that I felt strong and confident throughout. 'T was lush running in a group, really helpful taking it in turns at the front and the time flew by with all the positive banter! As per usual, I don't feel I've done the necessary amount of tempo workouts (runs of 5-10 miles at faster than marathon pace) but today showed that there's nothing to worry about - yet - 9 weeks to go to bank some decent tempo workouts and a couple more long runs with marathon pace. Fantastic week for the GFRG - massive miles banked! No doubt she'll make the distance - will she run the speed and get the time she wants??
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