Marathon Training Week 2 of 10

Session 1 - Tuesday (1800hrs - 2000hrs)

4 x 2 miles @ HMP with 90 second recoveries between 4 mile warmup and cooldown.

This was by far the toughest session of the week. The 4 mile warmup was from work to the track @ about 7:40 pace. A few stretches and I was off on the first 8 lap section (lane 3 = 2.07 miles). My plan was to run slightly slower than last weeks sub 6:20 pace, using 1:37.5 (6:30 for 4 laps = 6:17 pace) as my guide. The challenge was to keep the pace

• Manageable enough so that I would not only last the 8 laps but recover sufficiently during the brief 90 second walking recoveries to last the full 32 laps - all at the same pace and

• Challenging enough so that I was running HMP. While my eye was on my PB pace of 6:18, I knew I wasn't in that shape, yet! so I was looking for a pace that somewhere between that and 6:25.

The first 8 laps came in at 13:05 a few seconds over my 13 minute reference point giving me a 6:20  average pace. I walked the 100m to the next 1/4 point on the track and while my Hr had come down from the low 160s into the mid 120s I didn't feel recovered enough to cover another 2 miles @ 6:20 pace, let alone another 4 miles after that. I had to push these negative thoughts to the back of my mind and concentrate on the current lap and trust in my body's ability to complete the session.

It was a struggle at times to keep the pace as the headwind down the home straight didn't help my concentration, coming as it did every 1/4 mile, but the laps passed by and despite the brief recoveries my legs and body held up pretty well to deliver a consistent pace of 6:19 for the remaining 2 mile repeats. I paced myself over the last mile with clubmates, Keith, James and Pat, who had just started one of their mile repeats 10 yards ahead of me. This helped greatly in pulling me along and taking my mind off the rising fatigue.

The 4 mile cooldown back to work @ 7:30 pace completed the workout, with the effects of depleted fuel reserves (carbs) beginning to show over the last mile - a good overall test to see how much fuel I actually need to run hard, as my sole food intake since rising at 7 was a banana, plum and 2 apples about an hour and a half before the session.

16.79 miles in 2:00:12 (7:09 pace @ 148 Hr) with 4 x 2 Miles @ 6:20/19/19/19 pace.

Session 2 - Saturday (0730hrs - 1000hrs)

20 Mile easy long run on grass.

The programme was quite specific that this run be on grass (the only one of the programme?) I opted for the 2.3 mile grass circuit at UCC Farm, running 9 laps to give me 20.7 miles. The opening laps were a bit slower than my planned 7:20/30 pace although I wasn't too concerned as all the programme called for was "easy" running.

I had the company of clubmate, Vivian for the first 6 laps, with Ronan joining me from laps 2 to 7, with the average pace coming down from the initial 7:38 to 7:30 and below. The pace increased for lap 7 and before Ronan left we were joined by Clubmate Pat, who stayed with me to the end taking the pace for the last 2 laps below 7:10 and 7:00 - perhaps not "easy" running but finishing strong is always a good mentally.

20.7 miles in 2:31:40 (7:18 pace @ 133Hr)

The remaining weekly mileage consisted of 4 short easy runs.

Weekly mileage - 63 Miles

Avg Weight - 79.4 Kg