Marathon Training Week 2 of 9

Two weeks down. A busy work week means my weekly (run) mileage was relatively low at 56 miles over 5 sessions. I currently aim for 3 quality sessions each week, 2 dedicated to the Marathon in March and 1 with an eye to the Ironman in September, consisting of a long cycle with Adrian (also signed up for the Mara and the IM) on Sunday morning of between 3:30 and 4 hours, followed by a solo run of up to an hour (typically @ 7:30 pace) - this session is primarily an endurance challenge and requires a bit of refuelling (chocolate/banana milk) between the bike and the run and  a good feed at the finish - the bike brings out the hunger more than running. I have also started to get a swim in on Saturday afternoon (typically 1.5km). I'm squeezing a lot into the weekend at the moment and the back to back sessions are tough, with only one recovery day until the Tuesday speed session. The plan is to up the time on the bike once the Marathon is out of the way in March - good ultra training apparently.

 

My 2 marathon training session consisted of an endurance speed session on Tuesday and a long run on Saturday - although the speed session is also pretty long. I'm not quite in the same shape as I was in 2013, partly due to the fact that I am about 2.5 kg heavier than I was then. So I know what I have to do.

January 2015  - Week 2 of 9	April 2013  - Week 2 of 10
Session # 1 - 4 mile warmup followed by 4 x 2 miles @ HM pace with 2 min active recoveries and 4 mile cooldown
Once you up the ante and begin serious training running becomes as much a mental battle as a physical one. After the 3 hour commute from Dublin in the evening drizzle I was too late for the club track session - by an hour at least. So I ran from home resisting the urge to put off the session for another day as the missus sat down in front of the fire to eat homemade chicken curry. A 4 miles warmup, 4 x 2 miles @ HM pace and 4 miles cooldown stood between me and my dinner.   I had picked the straight road (circa 2.5 miles) to run the repeats - 2 miles in, 2 minute slow jog, turn around and 2 miles out, 2 minute slow jog and repeat. Nothing better for mental training than seeing 2 miles of never ending road in front of you knowing that you can't rest until you get to the end and then only for 2 minutes before you have to turn around and repeat the process another 3 times before you can even think about heading home for the grub.   With a slight headwind on legs 2 and 4 my average paces were 6:14/22/12/29 with the last half mile turning into a struggle to keep under 6:30 pace. Obviously the wind played its part - happy enough with the overall average of 6:20 pace for the 8 fast miles. I took it easy over the 4 mile cool down as my left calf was tightening up. 16.81 miles @ 7:18 pace and 144 Avg Hr with 4 x 2 miles @ 6:14/22/12/29 pace.	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  @ 7:09 pace & 148 Hr) with 4 x 2 Miles @ 6:20/19/19/19 pace.
Session # 2 - 20 miles on grass.
The plan said 20 miles on grass, so that's what I did. The ground was soft underfoot so my target pace of 7:30 felt a bit tougher than expected. I was joined by clubmate Pat for the first 5 miles and was on my own thereafter. My left hammy began to tighten up halfway through the session and was noticeably stiff afterwards. Time for a bit of foam rolling. 20.27 Miles in 2:31:58 (7:30 pace @ 135 Hr.	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)

Marathon Training Week 1 of 9

I have just finished my first structured training week in nearly two years having dusted down the marathon training programme that got me two PBs in the summer of 2013. Back then I had the relative luxury of starting my training plan in April after getting one or two decent races under my belt. This year I was still enjoying the tail end of the Christmas excesses when the programme was scheduled to start.

 

As it is not a beginners programme it does require a good endurance base and a decent anaerobic base before you start. While I had no problem with the endurance base my anaerobic base was largely non-existent so I was prepared for a baptism of fire in that regard. To allow some bit of a lead in I cut the programme from 10 to 9 weeks, still keeping the total number of quality sessions.  I thought it would be a good idea to compare my key training sessions to those of my 2013 marathon build-up, which will give me a better indication of what I could realistically aim for in Barcelona.

January 2015  - Week 1 of 9	April 2013  - Week 1 of 10
Session # 1 - 8 mile warmup followed by 3 x 2 miles @ HM pace with 2 min active recoveries and 2 mile cooldown
I ran from work following a circuitous route in the Straight Road and out the Model Farm Road to the CIT Track. Conditions en-route were icy in places but runnable. However the track was completely iced over and after running a few laps I decided it was too risky to carry on with the speed session and I was all set to run back to work & drive home. However clubmate Vivian (one of 5 who turned up) suggested we could run on on a path that ran around the adjacent football pitches, assuming the floodlights were on. We complete a recce of the 0.8 mile route, which was partially illuminated and consisted of a mixture of gravel, stone and macadam paths with a few ankle deep water features so with 8.65 miles already on the clock Vivian and I struck out on our first 2 miles as snow began to fall - so, long story short, I completed the 3 reps at approximately 6:25 pace - a bit slower than I would have liked, but i'll take it given the conditions. But the effort was certainly on the uncomfortably hard side of the spectrum and I was glad/relieved when I was done.   While I had initially anticipated cadging a lift from a Ballincollig bound clubmate after the track session, the absence of such a session/clubmate meant that my 2 mile cooldown was closer to 4.5 miles, the last 2 of which was in heavy snowfall. Overall one of my tougher sessions. Lets hope it gets/feels easier from here on.	The race (UCC 10k in 39:30) kind of scuppered the first speed session of my training programme 2 days later (too close but I had no other opportunity to get it in) – 8 mile warmup up followed by 6 x 1 mile @ HMP with 1 minute recoveries and 2 mile warmdown. I converted the 6 x 1 to 4 x 1.5 (90 second recoveries) and managed to complete 3 @ 6:14/17/23 pace before calling it a day as I was progressively slowing down during the 3rd rep and the 4th would not have been worth the pain and effort – anyway 6.2 straight miles @ 6:21 pace 2 days beforehand was enough of a training benefit.
Session # 2 - 18 miles with the last 2 @ marathon pace.
I planned on keeping a steady 7:30 pace for the first 16 miles so as to make the last 2 a bit more challenging.   Things went reasonably well until I took a tumble after 13 miles (slipped on an icy path while taking a corner without slowing down) - all I could think of when hitting the deck was stopping the Garmin so that my "pace" wouldn't suffer. No harm done, apart from a few scratches so on I went.   I had planned on completing my faster miles on the walkway at the back of CIT but as I approached I saw a wall of a few 100 walkers in front of me, apparently an "operation transformation" event (annual weight loss TV programme for those of you from outside the jurisdiction). I took a detour around Bishopstown where I found a 0.9 mile flattish circuit and after 16 miles @ 2 hours of running I managed to churn out 2 miles at an average pace of 6:33 (Target was sub 6:40). It's wasn't as difficult as I was expecting, but certainly more on the tempo side of things than MP. As my detour took me away from my intended finish I had a few miles cooldown, bumping into club mate Elaine on the way. Week 1 down, 8 to go. Avg Hr 132.	My first scheduled long run on Saturday went a bit better – 18 miles with the last 2 at MP. I integrated it with a 13 mile club run at 7:20/30 pace, getting 3 miles in beforehand and heading off on my own for the last 2, for which I had targeted a 6:40 pace, to see how I’d get on after 16 miles of steady running. I ran them a little faster and certainly harder than marathon pace/effort in 6:32/34 – it certainly felt more like a tempo run than a pace I could sustain for more than 20 minutes. All good training. 1 week down – 9 to go.

So far so good.



 

Pushing the limits

Specificity

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Training programmes normally culminate with a peak specific endurance run about 10 days out from the main event - the optimum time for the training to be of benefit - leave it too late and the body will not have absorbed the full benefit of the session - for a marathon it's normally longer (2 weeks + before race day) as the body may not be fully recovered in time for the race. By peak specific endurance I mean the toughest race pace workout of the programme.

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As I have not followed a programme for the Charleville Half next Sunday (apart from joining the club speed sessions in late July/early August ahead of the National HM last weekend) I reverted to my running library to pick out a specific endurance workout that might do the trick. One that interested me was the 3 x 5k @ HM pace for "Highly Competitive" runners in "Run Faster" by Brad Hudson & Matt Fitzgerald - sounded like a tough mother - there was a slightly easier version of 4 x 3k @ HM pace for the "Competitive" runner or the 6 x 1 mile @ HM pace for the "Low-Key Competitive" runner. Naturally I gravitated towards the most difficult one.

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The one doubt I had was that my peak run was scheduled for last Thursday - 5 days after running the Dingle marathon. I know, if I was serious about training for the half I would not have run Dingle - but there's serious and there's SERIOUS and the offer to pace Dingle was irresistible. My first run after the marathon, a 5.8 mile unintentional progression run with Brendan @ 7:29 average pace on Wednesday went off without a hitch. Still the doubt was there on Thursday - Would I be recovered enough? Would I complete the full session? Would my pace suffer? As the Garmin has lost it's GPS function I headed for the track with the mindset of "see how I get on". While previous HM pace sessions had been @ 6:35+ pace I decided to head for a pace closer to my PB pace of 6:27, which fitted in perfectly with running in lane 3 (1:40 laps or 50 second half laps - easy to remember 20:02 for 5k or 20:50 for 5.2k = 12.5 laps in lane 3).

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The first 12.5 laps went off reasonably well, can't say they were easy (because they weren't) but I was a few seconds below target - 20:44 (19:56 for 5k).

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A walk/jog 400m around the track in 3 to 4 minutes (a concession from the scheduled 90 second recoveries) and start into the second 5.2k.

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Hit the target again - 20:44. Although I was fairly fucked at the finish and felt reasonably happy to call it a day. However Brendan, who was at the track running 800's at the same pace and had joined me for a few laps earlier on said he had one more 800 to do so I ran with him with the intention of running 1k but extended it to 2k and then 3k (3.12k in lane 3). I probably could have run on but my calves were getting tight and the next club session was starting - no point in risking injury - 7.5 laps in 12:25 (11:56 for 3k)

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All in all 13.52 km (8.4 miles) @ 6:25 pace - that'll do me.

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Mixing it up

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My legs were a bit dead for Friday evening's short 4.5 mile recovery run on grass but I wasn't about to give them a break as I had signed up for the 150k Rebel Tour leaving CIT at 9 on Saturday morning, heading down to West Cork - Crossbarry, Bandon, Enniskeane, Dunmanway, Clonakilty, Timoleague, Ballinaspittal, Kinsale, Belgooly, Riverstick, Ballinahassig and back to CIT.

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The weather forecast wasn't great but the day turned out better than expected. There were 500+ cyclists at the start line (and equal numbers signed up for the 80k and 50k routes, starting at 10:30 and 12:15) There was a lead car for the first 55k to Dunmaneway (1st food stop) to keep the pace from going suicidal - yet staying with the front group required a fair amount of work, which I was willing to put in as the alternative was cycling into a headwind on my own at a much slower pace. I got dropped about 8k out from Dunmanway but managed to catch on to another guy's wheel and get pulled back in - 40 to 50 in the group by the time we hit Dunmanway. While it wasn't a race (I'd be left for dead in a race) I enjoyed the challenge of having to put in the effort to keep pace - kept me focused.

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For the remaining 95k I paired up with Eoin/Eoghan/Owen?(take your pick) from Douglas (who was cycling a hybrid!!!) as we took turns at the front to keep a steady pace. The sun came out as we hit the coast road from Timoleague but the strong south westerly wind was a struggle at times. 2nd food stop at Ballinaspittle (ate & drank like a horse) and we headed south for Garrettstown, where the cross wind blowing sand off the beach cut into our arms and legs.

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For the final 40k or so we joined those doing the 80k and 50k and the road became more congested. Yet we maintained a steady pace, surprised that my legs were holding up reasonably well and after 5:06:02 in the saddle we arrived back at CIT. Eoin had 149km on his Garmin - 18.2 mph @ 131 HR. I cycled the 4.6 miles to and from CIT with neighbour Ian to get my (our)first century ride (101.8 miles) - and he only bought his bike in July - with his longest ride @ 35 miles!!!

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The Limit

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Despite fuelling well at the food stations yesterday I awoke this morning 1 kg lighter than 24 hours earlier. I wondered would this be an advantage for the scheduled 15 mile hilly club run at 8 this morning. I was in two minds as to whether I should run it at all as the only pace on offer was 7:30 miles. Clubmate Vivian, who had also completed the rebel tour, was also a bit apprehensive about doing the run. The first time I ran this route I pulled up with a calf strain 13 miles in and had averaged about 8 minute miles at that stage. Running 7:30 average pace over this course with 100 bike miles in my legs (not to mind Thursday's peak speed session) was going to be rough.

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Vivian and I were the only fools to join John O'Callaghan, who had scheduled the run. We were joined by Paul Daly about 2 miles in - none of us had a workable GPS watch so the pace was guestimated (turns out we were quite close overall). The run certainly was a challenge for me with my HR maxing at 161 at the top of the toughest climb, about 6 miles in - I was at my limit. I managed to recover on the flat/downhills which enabled me finish the run intact although a slight tightness at the base of my left hamstring/back of knee after yesterdays cycle escalated to "ache" status and requires a bit of TLC with the foam roller. The average for the 15 miles was 7:27 pace @ 137 HR - glad to be finished and looking forward to a rest day tomorrow.

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Home for a shower and quick breakfast before heading off to support friend Puds (Liam) and clubmates running the Blarney Half Marathon. Puds, who comes from a cycling background and dips in and out of running had told me that he was training for the race with a target of coming in under 1:20 and sure enough he finished 13th overall in 1:19:49 - there's a guy who sets a target and knows what he has to do to get it.

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Have a good week.

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Focus

Target

At last I have decided to focus on another race as the 100k fades into the memory banks and some speed reluctantly returns to my legs. The 15 mile Maxi marathon in Killarney a few weeks back showed me that I still had some way to go to get back on form. Over the last few weeks I have jumped into the twice weekly speedwork sessions of a club group training for the upcoming national half marathon championships in Waterford on 3rd September. As I will be pacing the Dingle marathon on 3rd September I have signed up for the inaugural Charleville HM two weeks later on 18th September - hopefully the hills of Dingle will be out of my legs by then.

I had the opportunity to cycle the route of the Dingle marathon on Saturday evening as I dropped Ani and Saran to visit their cousin Robert who is on holiday there for a few weeks. An undulating course but more than made up for by the spectacular scenery - leaving the Killarney Maxi marathon (promoted as the worlds most beautiful road race) well in the shade. Similar perhaps to California's Big Sur Marathon, except the road is about 10 foot wide. On the Sunday morning I ran an 18 mile out and back run taking in the last 7 miles of the marathon course and the 1.2 mile brute of a hill at the 21 mile mark - it certainly will be a challenging pacing job, where pace will be based on effort and not speed - banking time on the downhills for the slower uphill sections - looking forward to the challenge. And there's always Thomas to fall back on.

I spent the rest of the day on the beach with the kids getting in my first swim of the summer - the water was surprisingly warm (relatively speaking) and the 15' waves great fun.

Training Pace

As I haven't raced a short distance in a year (my 5 mile PB at Churchtown South 2010) and my training for the ultra wasn't exactly peppered with fast runs I don't know what my training paces should be . Based on peak form in the past these would normally be:-

Repeats @ 5:00/20 (38 second half laps, 80 second laps) - 200s/400 - mile pace

Intervals @ 6:00 (90 second laps) - 400s to 1600s - 5k pace.

Tempo @ 6:20/30 (20 minutes and up) - 10k/HM pace up towards 6:50 MP for 60 minutes.

Steady @ 6:50 to 7:20 pace

Easy @ 7:20 to 8:00 pace

Recovery @ 8:00 to 8:40 pace

Any speedwork on the track up until the past month has been at a slower 6:30 to 6:40 pace for no other reason than I didn't think my ultra training needed anything faster and I didn't want to risk injury by combining high mileage and speedwork. Now that the long slow stuff is behind me (for the moment) and my weekly mileage has reduced considerably, my legs have recovered sufficiently to enable me to concentrate on getting familiar with faster paces again. I had nearly got into the mindset that 6 minute pace was too fast for me but getting pulled along in the group sessions the last few weeks at the track has proved otherwise, with paces varying from 6:13 for 2 miles to 5:44 for 800m.

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My tempo pace has similarly proved fairly consistent with a 6:23 pace on a 30 minute club session last weekend, similar to the 6:24 pace average for the 25 minute session 2 weeks ago. These group tempo sessions are fairly tough and made more interesting by their split time out and back nature whereby at the 15 minute turnaround those that have covered more distance are chasing down the slower guys on the return leg - if everyone ran an even pace for the 30 minutes we should all end up where we started at the end of the 30 minutes. Of course you could take it relatively easy on the outbound leg and up the pace on the return but you'd only be fooling yourself.

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Evaluation

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I hit the track this evening with my HR monitor for a 5 mile evaluation run at a constant HR of 140. I completed 4 of these during my aerobic base training between January and March - progressing from 37:18 (7:28 pace) to 34:24 (6:53 pace) over the 2 months. While I knew my aerobic base was pretty solid I did not know what to expect - hoping to get somewhere close to my last evaluation on 29th March (6:53 pace @ 140.4 HR).

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After a mile warmup, stretching and a lap to get the HR up to 140 I was on my way:-

Mile 1 - 6:43 (140 HR)

Mile 2 - 6:47 (141 HR)

Mile 3 - 6:53 (142 HR)

Mile 4 - 6:56 (140 HR)

Mile 5 - 6:58 (140 HR)

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Overall 34:17 (6:51 pace @ 140.6 HR) - I won't get much better than that. The effort felt surprisingly comfortable for the paces achieved, although the variation over the 5 miles shows an appreciable reduction in speed.

How much speed do I need

The rebel cycle tour last Sunday is the longest lasting endurance event I have completed - just under 4.5 hours in the saddle with a break in the middle for tea, sandwiches and cake (and of course the obligatory banana). A very enjoyable day out in glorious sunshine with a couple of tough challenges thrown in - the 1,000 foot climb from Millstreet up over Mushera and the less daunting (but later in the day) long drag up to Nadd. The difference between drafting in a group and going solo is huge - like riding a train (provided you can jump aboard as it doesn't stop to pick up passengers).

With Monday as a rest day Tuesday saw me back at the track for the first time in months with 6 x 800m (832m in lane 3 to be exact) in 3:00 as my target. Shouldn't be too difficult surely. Given that it was a long time since I did track intervals I was less than confident starting off. My legs felt good but an overall sluggish feeling enveloped me as the intervals progressed. The first 2 went off fine in 2:59 & 2:58 but the remaining 4 pushed over the 3 minute mark 3:03/02/02/03 and any thought of extending the number to 8 that I had entertained at the outset quickly disappeared. Still I was reasonably happy with my effort and put the sluggishness down to residual tiredness from Sundays cycle and lack of recent track experience. Despite this sluggishness I was up at 5 on Wednesday morning for a 14 mile medium long run that went off without a hitch, although the tenderness in my left PF surfaced from the 10 mile mark on. It did not get any worse and there was no discomfort walking after the run. Thursday was my second speed session with a plan to run 2 x 3 miles @ about HM pace (6:40). I changed this to 3, 2 & 1 mile tempo runs with 0.5 mile recoveries as I convinced myself to take it easier lest I get an injury. The 6 tempo miles went off without a hitch although I was glad of the extra recovery before the final mile: 6:41/37/34 - 6:39/34 - 6:27. Average 6:36. Certainly my speedwork has been better in the past. In April I did 6 straight miles @ 6:29 pace, then again 8 days later I was pulled up with a calf tear. This time last year 2 x 4 miles @ 6:34 average pace followed 14 days later with a calf strain/tear. There's certainly a trend developing. I'm very conscious of this and my priority is to get to Dublin on 26th October injury free.

My weekly long run this morning included the hilly Maglin, Knockburden, Ballinora loop with Eagle AC. I decided to get my extra miles in first so I started from home shorty after 7 and ran 5 miles to UCC farm where I met up with the group and ran 11 miles of the loop with them before heading back to Ballincollig. On leaving the group I decided to stress the body with some marathon pace running from mile 16 to 20 settling for 7 minute pace which felt tough but manageable (I had taken 2 gels at miles 8.5 and 15 ) I extended the MP section to 5 miles which I covered in 34:45 (06:57 avg) and warmed down over a further 1.25 miles back home getting 22.25 miles in total. As I have a triathlon in Castlegregory next weekend my next long run is likely to be Cork to Cobh which I will use for longer MP training. Tomorrow will either be a recovery run or more than likely a bit of bike cross training. Tue 15th Sept 6.82 miles in 51:35 (07:34 pace @ 143HR) with 6 x 832m in 2:58 to 3:03. Wed 16th Sept 14.02 miles in 1:46:33 (07:36 pace @ 139HR) Thur 17th Sept 10 miles in 1:12:10 (07:13 @ 146HR) with 3 + 2 + 1 miles @ 6:36 avg pace Fri 18th Sept 2.5 miles in 19:49 (07:56 pace on the treadmill) Sat 19th Sept 22.25 miles in 2:50:09 (07:39 pace @ 143HR) with 5 miles @ MP Marathon Training Week 8/13 - 55.6 miles Postscript Sun 20th Sept 5.34 miles in 43:09 (8:04 pace @ 122HR) - following 21.3 mile cycle. 60.9 miles for the week.