SNOw training!

London Marathon Training - 7 weeks to go!

Key Both of us - Blue Kelly - Purple John - Orange 

Monday 26th February 2018 

This was going to be a very strange week for me. At school, we were interviewing for a new headteacher and I was very much involved in the process - I knew this would be really full on and mentally very challenging. It meant that for once, running was not taking priority for me. 

I am running the Bath half at the weekend so plan to lower the mileage to taper for it. I want to really go for it and get a big PB. 

We started the week off as normal with a 5 mile run with our PT session in the middle. Today was the sort of session that we really enjoy; a competition between John and me. We had a load of different exercises and had to do as many of each as we could in 1 minute. 

Here's how it looked: 

Squat thrusts over weights bar

K 21. J 29

Sq n throw 5 kg ball to wall

K 36. J 29

Crunches

K 46. J 50

Straddle jumps low reebok bench

K 63. J 67

Squat n press 4kg dbs

K 33. J 25

Pup db to shoulders 4kg

K 53. J 57

Tricep Dips

K 51. J 41

Clean n press 10 kg bar

K 16. J 24

Row 1 minute

J 255. K 206

Squat jumps

K 47. J 43

Balance v sides 3kg ball

K 84.  J 50

Plank foot jumps

K 55. J 85

Mb slams...44

K 53. J 55

25 kg bar squats

K. 41.  J 44

Shoulder taps....raised leg low bench 

K 110. J 70

15 kg db squats to floor

K 21. J 24

Bench Burpees

K 26. J 24

Ski sit seconds count

 K81 J 69.

Standing rows 

K 12. J 32

Down n ups

K 12. J 16

Leg raises

K35   J 30. 

Row 1 minute.

K 216. J 263

Totals - 

K 1318

J. 1382

John wins!!! 

A week of tapering for me as I had the Green Man Ultra and Bath Half on the weekend so started the week with the usual steady 5 mile recovery with PT in the middle. Was a huge boost for me to beat the GFRG in a strength based workout - usually she beats me at everything so it felt like more ongoing confirmation that the strength training is working.

Tuesday 27th February 2018 

With a very busy day on the cards, I wanted to get my run out of the way. 10 very cold miles around the Harbourside. John was just doing 3 miles so I decided to do laps. This was one of those runs where I really had to work on my mental strength. I was wearing shorts and only very thin gloves and, even after 6 miles, hadn't really warmed up. I was very close to just giving up and going home after lap 2 when I ran past my house... but I managed to talk myself into going around for one more lap to make it up to the full 10. 

Even after a long, hot shower, I couldn't properly get warm - the Beast from the East was on its way! Mental note to wear more clothes tomorrow! 

Another recovery run (gonna read a lot of these - boring!) 5k @ <9mm pace - running easy and recovering quicker every week from PT on the Monday.

Wednesday 28th February 2018 

I often struggle to know how best to 'taper' for a half when the marathon is the primary goal. I asked my mentor Jason Cherriman for his advice. He recommended 8 miles tonight with 3miles at HMP and 3 x 400m fast before reducing the miles for the next few days. 

I set out with that intention...unfortunately, with the cold weather well and truly set in and the snow coming down, barriers were coming up all over the place.  At club, I couldn't convince many people to run 8 miles with me. Most people just did a few miles around the downs. I was still keen to try and stick to my plan so set off with two other girls from my club. 

It was a bit icy and slippery in places so I was careful to watch where I stepped and cross the road if the other side looked less treacherous. When I reached the Portway  (a long, and relatively flat stretch of road), I said goodbye to the other girls and tried to pick up the pace to my half marathon pace. 

My aim for Bath is to PB and I'm hoping to get around 1:24 so I wanted to try and run at around 6:20 - 6:25mm pace. As soon as I started the HMP effort, I knew it wasn't going to feel easy. The wind was freezing and incredibly strong and my legs were working way harder than they should have been. I focused on driving my arms and powering through...I checked my watch but had only done 0.2 of a mile! What?! How?! I knew that 1 mile efforts were too much to ask. I managed to hang on for 0.7 of a mile at 6:26mm pace. I was worried that it was feeling so hard. I kept blaming it on the weather and hoped that after a few days of easy running, it would feel better. Effort number two was similar 0.6 of a mile at 6:21mm pace. I knew that doing a third effort was pointless - my legs were hurting and I was worried that, if I pushed to too hard today, I wouldn't recover in time. Instead, I did a couple of strides to stretch out and then jogged back to catch up with the girls.

Another steady effort... 6 miles running around the downs around 9 - 9:30MM pace under the light of the Maestro and Doctor Dave's (fellow Green Men) head torches.

I think Kelly's plan to run 3 miles at half marathon pace in the middle of the week with 4 days to go before race day was sensible - the severe weather conditions just made it too hard. Looking at Strava I think she ran the efforts short? Probably disheartened not having race pace showing on the watch. When the weather is against you, either change the day you run your efforts or focus purely on - effort. Don't worry so much about what your watch says try and feel race pace. Defo in agreement with Mr Cherriman that 3 miles at race pace a few days before is very wise - a confidence boosting dress rehearsal - usually.

Thursday 1st March 2018 

I woke up with a sore throat. Bummer. Whenever I get ill, it always starts with a sore throat. Feeling pretty annoyed, as I'd already had a cold a few weeks ago, I put everything into stopping this from getting worse. Lots of medicines and cough remedies. Hmmm..if I am getting ill, that would at least explain why last night's work out was so hard...

After a couple of hours in work, we're told that the school will be closing at 1pm! Woohoo! 

With snow swirling around, I join the kids playing outside and look forward to a snowy recovery run later!

When I got home I was greeted by John who had decided to take today and Friday off- snow days together hooray! We head out for a snowy run. Everything was just beautiful. But, despite running slowly, I was finding it much harder than normal... 

John had had enough of selfies by this point!

More recovery - in the snow! The first time I've ever taken time off from work due to the weather and the unplanned break was extremely rewarding. Bristol is already the most beautiful city in the world but when covered in gloss like white blanket of soft fluffy snow it's almost unworldly - bliss! We were gonna just plod around the harbourside but what with only getting a heavy dump of snow every 5 years-or-so we headed for the hills of Ashton Court! Well worth is as we caught the last hour of sunlight and saw stunning views all around. 5 miles @ 10mm pace and my body is feeling very tapered and raring to go!

Friday 2nd March 2018 

I woke up today with my throat feeling really painful. Instead of playing in the snow (which is what I wanted to do!) I took the sensible option and stayed inside, watched the Athletics World Indoor Championship and tried to get better. After a really hectic few days at work, I think my body just ran out of energy and I crashed. 

I decided not to run today. No point in pushing my body and making myself worse. Focus on getting better. 

An email today confirmed that the Bath Half had been cancelled...I think for me, this was actually really good. I'm not 100% and would not be able to put in a good performance. I was temped to book in another half marathon. But once again, took on board the advice of Jason who thought it would be better to keep focusing on building up the mileage and not worry about racing - the marathon is the main goal. 

In the evening, I had a sport massage from a new masseuse (Jenny is away at the moment). He was pretty forceful but I definitely felt better afterwards. 

The GFRG is hit with a cold - so a lonely plod around the block in what is now race cancelling snowy conditions - Bath Half has been cancelled and so has the Green Man Ultra! A strange feeling... Massively disappointing not to be racing at all this weekend after tapering so well but in the grand scheme of things - and focusing on London - I've probably done myself a favour by not running 45+ hilly miles and/or a 60 mile weekend! We shall see...

The GFRG's predicament of now not having a half marathon race in her London build up is a tough one. Jason's advice to focus on building up the miles is understandable and hopefully sensible and will lead to the the wanted result - Sub3 at London. The last few weeks have revealed some differing opinions between the GFRG and myself - in regards to training: I think Kelly has banked enough miles and is running far enough (possibly too far?) on a weekly basis. Distance is not a problem... I think if there's one thing (there's actually loads!) she's better than me at - it's finishing a marathon!! Personally I think she'd be better off focusing on some speed work at this stage. 4 weeks of specific marathon based speed workouts before tapering at the end. Alongside the necessary 2 long runs in the week a tempo workout where she's running 5-8 mile block(s) sub marathon pace would be confidence boosting and would prepare the body for running  long at pace. Running Bath Half or indeed another half marathon would force the issue in that she'd naturally be running 13 miles at SubMarathon pace and the occasion and possibility of a PB would make it all, worthwhile in the moment. I think running 70? 80? Big miles weeks just makes running speedy workouts too tough, especially on top of working full time. Kelly is keen to stick to the plan though which is admirable and I support her in everything she does. I've got no doubt that come race day she'd have ran more miles than me and probably anyone in our gang and will no doubt run the biggest PB on the day! (Another thing she's good at is proving me wrong - I predicted 3:07 at Abingdon - she beat me and ran 3:03!!)

What does everyone else think? What's the balance for miles over workouts? Is it more important to feel comfortable at pace, running the distance or do you need both?

Saturday 3rd March 2018 

Another rest day for me. Still not feeling great. Really hoping that it will pass soon so I can carry on with training. I'm almost scared to run because I'm desperate not to make myself worse and miss too many more sessions. 

So no Green Man but a long run nonetheless. The Maestro and I enjoyed the last few hours of snow, glorious now! We headed out from Ashton Court, following the Green Man route steadily and cautiously throughout. 20 miles @ 10mm pace - 2500+ft elevation - good company and stunning views throughout! 

The Maestro - deep!

Views, glorious views!

Sunday 4th March 2018 

I woke up this morning feeling much better -hooray! I thought I'd try for a steady 10 miles. After 1 mile, I knew this was foolish! My legs felt dreadful - nothing in particular - just heavy and sluggish. Not really sure why this is... could it be related to the (harder than usual) sports massage, the lack of running for the last couple of days or maybe just linked to being ill and weaker. Whatever the reason, I wasn't feeling it so just did a steady 3 miles. 

Really hoping that I can just start a fresh next week. 6 more weeks to build back up. 

Yesterdays long run (mainly the hills!) was punishing me today that and a late night celebrating fellow Green Man Dr Dave's birthday - may happy returns Doc! I set out wanting to bag double figures but got a couple of miles in and didn't really see (feel!) the point. The weather was lush so I ran 7 miles steady - 7:30MM pace running through Ashton Court - a totally different scene today with all the snow disappearing overnight. 

50 miles this week for me and a strange one. The tapering and the race cancellations did mean that training wise I didn't achieve much but sometimes it's not all about that. Thursday and Friday were my first ever "Snow Days" off of work. Two days unplanned chilling with the GFRG stuffing our faces with crisps and chocolate whilst watching Harry Potter - if you offered me a Sub2:20 marathon on my Po10 or a day of casting spells at one another with the GFRG - expecto patronum!! - it's option2 - every time! If you were to offer me a Sub7 hour Green Man finishing time running solo in the sun with perfect dry conditions underfoot or 20 miles plodding in what is probably once or twice in a life time snowy conditions with one of your best mates chewing the fat - option 2 again! Running double figures with speed work on the Portway or cutting a workout short cus you've eaten too much curry the night before in great company - yep, option 2!

Wishing KD the quickest of recoveries and doing my best to mend her by reminding her constantly to hydrate and take it easy.

Similar to the GFRG - reset tomorrow and get back on it with the London training !