London Marathon Training 1 week to go!!!

London Marathon Training - 1 week to go!

Key -Blue - both Orange -JohnPurple - Kelly 

On Sunday night, we had our last alcoholic beverage as we've decided to do 2 weeks without alcohol before the marathon. We've done this in the past and found that our bodies feel much better having detoxed. 

Monday 9th April 2018 

We started the morning by driving to meet Jules in Clifton for our PT session. As it's getting closer to the marathon, I think he's starting to go a little easier on us! Feeling stronger and fitter every week.

PT in the morning and inline with tapering I opted to drive us there and back. As KD suggests a slightly easier session than usual/consecutive weeks of strength training is making us stronger.

Recovery run in the evening, 5K @ 8:30MM pace - taper is so far agreeing ith me as 3miles is over in a flash and the legs are feeling fresh and bouncy.

Tuesday 10th April 2018 

John convinced me to have a lie in today so we went to the gym in the evening. I did 1 hour on the cross trainer! I've been building up the time gradually over the last few weeks and so it felt good to finally be able to hit the 1 hour mark. I did a 10 minute warm up, followed by 20 x 1minute efforts with 1 minute steady in between each effort and finally 10 minutes to cool down. 

I still find it frustrating on the days that I can't run but the cross trainer has definitely helped. My foot is really benefiting from running every other day.   

Another 5K recovery run @ 8:30mm pace for me, finishing up at the gym to meet the GFRG where I did 5mins of cross trainer, 10 mins of rowing and 15 mins of cycling. An evening of steady cardio to work up an appetite. 

Wednesday 11th April 2018 

Club night woohoo! I drove to club planning on doing the 10 mile route but everyone else wanted to do 8 so I tagged along. I guess I should really be tapering but it doesn't really feel necessary when I've not exactly been doing a high mileage anyway. The problem with running every other day is that, when I do run, I really want to make the run count so I'm struggling to 'taper' at the moment. I think I will start the taper after today's run. 

The 8 mile group was really big so it was lovely to chat to different people and have a catch up. After easing into the run, I decided to move towards the front of the group and pick the pace up a little. I managed 2 miles at marathon pace (6:47 and 6:39) both felt pretty good as I was chatting at the same time. Without meaning to, I ended up doing one of my fastest times on that route which bodes well. 

I should also mention that this was the first time that I'd ran fast and forgotten that I had a foot injury! It didn't hurt at all during the run and my foot felt much more flexible and I was getting more movement from it. It also didn't hurt after the run or the next morning. 

Same as KD - the club winter 8 route with 2 miles at MP = 8miles @ 7:40MM pace overall. KD talks about struggling with 8 miles being her long run for the week considering the lack of miles she's ran recently. Strange how she produces one of her quickest runs on a route we've all ran 100+ times whilst commenting on how easy it was whilst still even carrying an injury... maybe high mileage isn't what it's all about?!? 

Thursday 12th April 2018 

I knew that my only time to do any exercise today would be in the morning so I set the alarm for 6am as I wanted to be in the gym when it opened at 6:30. John (begrudgingly) came with me. I did 30 mins nice and steadily on the cross trainer. I felt better for having done something. I would have liked to have done a longer session but we didn't have enough time before work. 

Pointless gym work in the morning but I dragged myself to the gym as I know that if KD doesn't get her daily fix of cardio then I'll have to hear about how fat she's getting whilst she pulls on her size 6 jeans... I felt better for it having got a bit of a sweat on training on the rower and the bike so once I got out of my grouchy Gollum-like morning mode all was well! Another 5K recovery run in the evening at 8MM pace - legs are loving the taper and raring to go - looking forward to parkrun on Saturday.

Friday 13th April 2018 

I was very aware that I hadn't been able to make it to a single yoga session this week. I'd really missed it so, while John was getting his miles in, I did my own little session. No where near as good as the real thing but my legs felt a bit better after some good stretches. 

A 5K Recovery run before work with 4 x 100mtr strides (Strides are sprinting for a short persiod of time whilst slightly exaggerating your technique: high knees and arms pumping - good to do the days leading up to a race and a good workout to improve technique)

In the evening we went to the second installment of the Run Fest: The Series at Westbury School. This is a really well organised event where sports people with a story or a message give advice and hitory on their sporting achievements. Both events have been inspiring, it's always nice to hear first hand about real life achievements on what you can do if you put your mind to something. The next one is in June - come along!

Saturday 14th April 2018 

Today I decided to give parkrun a try. I've not been since February and as well as missing the event itself, I also really missed the social element. I was a bit worried about running two days in a row (especially when we had our last long run planned for tomorrow) but I figured that 3 miles couldn't do too much damage. 

I drove to Ashton Court and ran from the car to get a 1 mile warm up in. I felt great. My foot didn't hurt, my legs felt strong and I little part of me thought I might be able to get a pretty good time. Traditionally, I had always ran quick parkrun times in the last couple of weeks of a marathon training block so I did have a little check at the pace I would need to run for a PB (7:00, 6:43, 5:20). 

Ashton Court is unlike any other parkrun (that I've been to so far anyway..) as it is basically uphill for 1.5 miles, turn around and run back down. John frequently tells me that, to do well at Ashton Court, you need to have ran it for a number of weeks back to back...he's not wrong! I didn't take long for me to realise that a PB was not realistic but I still felt that I could get a very good time and the first lady spot. 

John's theory was proved correct when, less than a mile in, I was passed by Marie (a parkrun regular) looking super fit and very chilled. I thought to myself 'I'll catch her on the downhill' and let her pass me with a cheery hello! 

Mile 1 in 7:23 - 20 seconds off PB pace shows me that I still need to work on my hill speed. Mile 2 was a bit better - 6:57. In the third mile, I was starting to feel some pain in my foot. I think the speed, downhill and very rocky ground all made for poor conditions for someone with plantar fasciitis. I managed mile 3 in 5:42 which isn't too bad but I didn't manage to catch Marie who had a fantastic run and earned herself a new PB. 

I finished in a time of 20mins 44 seconds with an average pace of 6:39. Pretty pleased with that. The best part thought was hearing all the words of support and encouragement. Pretty much everyone I saw said Hello or asked me how my foot was or said how lovely it was that I was back at parkrun. The parkrun community is just fantastic. 

As much as I loved going back to parkrun, I didn't love the pain I was in for the rest of the day. I spent the rest of the day doing lots of manic icing and golf ball rolling in desperate hope to get my foot feeling better ready for the long run tomorrow. 

John leading the way on the uphill!

7 Miles @ 6:52MM pace with a 3rd place finisher and time of 18:11 for me. A 30+ second improvement week-on-week for me which backs up what KD was saying about needing to visit the Asthon Court mountain regularly if you want to get anything back from it. I'd of liked to have got a Sub18 but after a week of feeling fresh and bouncy my legs had decided they'd have preferred to had stayed in bed, slow and heavy. KD is ever the optimist considering a PB attempt at a very technical parkrun whilst injured... A Sub21 time is awesome and she ran it with relative ease! I understand the London Marathon course is somewhat flatter than Ashton Court, 8 more Sub21 5K efforts will get you Sub3... #justsaying

Sunday  14th April 2018 

Last long run of the London Marathon plan!!!! 

This was us at this time last year the week before the Boston Marathon. Today John, Marcus and I planned to run the same route. I even wore the same T-shirt...unfortunately it wasn't as sunny! I was however really humid. Typical. After months of training in the cold, the heat wave is due to hit on the same week as the London Marathon. So not fair! 

The first few steps out the door were really painful. After 1/2 a mile I opened my mouth to tell the guys that my foot hurt too much and I was going back...but I managed to convince myself to keep going a little bit longer. Within 1 mile my foot had loosened up and was hardly hurting at all. In fact, I felt great. Once again, I was keeping up with (and sometimes leading) the boys and I even managed all of the hills without complaining! 

A really great last long run that further builds my confidence for next weekend. 

12 lovely miles around the trails of Ashton Court and Leigh Woods - no pressure or having to follow any plan or hit any marathon pace miles - bliss. The three of us were feeling yesterdays parkrun efforts (Maestro ran a PB don't you know!) but we ran together at a steady but easy pace relishing in how short a 12 mile run feels at the end of a marathon campaign. 

So the plan for next week is to do PT on Monday, a slow 6 miles on Wednesday and then Bushy Parkrun (super slow) on the Saturday. I am going to keep icing and rolling my foot and try to get to a few yoga classes as well. I will also be having a sports massage.

Not long to go now! 

Plan for me is similar: Steady 5K recovery runs with a dress rehearsal and some marathon pace miles on Tuesday. Feeling good and I'm really looking forward to the marathon next Sunday. No pressure like there was when we went off to Boston. No way near as many miles run this time round but personally I'm feeling faster and definitely fresher! I'm looking forward to running around London and enjoying the experience instead of looking forward to just getting it done.

KD might not feel like it but watching her training and progress from down and out injured 4 weeks a go to now, I actually think she's running stronger and faster than I have seen her run at any point over the last 4+ years - I've spent alot of miles running behind her so feel I have a reasonable knowledge. It's difficult to know as none of us have run a half marathon or 10K race which historically has resulted in PBs along the way and are reassuring along the way. Her medium-long runs with club the last few Wednesdays and particularly her Sunday runs have been ran at pace and with great form. It'll be interesting to see if her reduced mileage run up to London will get her the result she wants... if it does I cannot wait for the blog titles to come and the philosophy change; "I ran a PB on 30 miles a week" "Swap tempo runs for yoga classes" "3 rest days a week for Sub3" etc More than anything, I cannot wait to say I told you so...