8 x 400m

Tuesday is speed day.

8 x 400m with about 90s rest between each one.

I do them in between 80 and 90 seconds. Luckily there is a track near where I work so I can whizz around it and pretend to be Mo Farah!

I find this session pretty gruelling, mainly because I do each interval as fast as I can. People keep telling me this is wrong and I will get injured but until I get injured I will probably keep doing it!

In other news the London Good For Age time has changed to 3:05! Aagh! So much for my master plan! What about those poor people who have just done a marathon in under 3:10 and now find out it wasn't enough? At least I have time to adjust my training but what about if Virgin change the time again next year? It is hard aiming for a moving target.

5K "easy" + weights

Monday is gym day.

An easy 5K on the treadmill (21:45) and then a mixture of leg and upper body machines.

I think variety is a vital component of successful training, otherwise monotony  sets in and the motivation dips.

I love running outside but it is great to occasionally run in the gym, surrounded by like-minded people. Doing some light weights should hopefully help me avoid getting too skinny.

8 miles easy

Not easy starting a longish run at 9pm when you are emotionally spent. At least the rain had stopped and the wind had died.

7.20

7.10

7.15

7.05

7.25

7.15

7.30

7.00

58.00

I guess I can take consolation in the fact that the pace was bang on 3.10 marathon pace (London marathon qualifying time.) Just 18 more miles needed!

6 miles easy

8.30pm isn't my favourite time to start a run but with my wife being poorly it was the only slot I had.

I just let my legs run themselves for the first four miles and then pushed on a bit.

Felt so much more alive after the run than before it!

7.15
7.05
7.10
7.05
7.00
6.30
42.05

Six mile tempo

Awesome run! Mild weather, legs felt strong and I knocked a minute off my 6 mile PB without trying especially hard.

Splits were:

6:40
6:40
6:55
6:50
6:45
6:35
40:25

Rest day tomorrow. Now that will be hard!

6 miles "recovery"

I don't really do recovery runs. I just find running slower than 7:30 per mile pace too boring. I know there is a danger of over-training but at the moment my body just seems to soak up whatever I throw at it.

Today was supposed to be an easy 6 miles after my hill intervals yesterday.

On a 6 mile out and back route with the first 3 miles mainly uphill my splits were:

7:25
7:25
7:00
6:30
6:40
6:30
41:30

So much for the easy run. Instead a 6 mile training PB!

Onwards and upwards.

Hello World

I am a 37 year old guy who has decided to run a sub three hour marathon before my 40th birthday.

I have one marathon under my belt which was a total disaster. This was in Monaco over 10 years ago. After only 4 months of training I set off far too fast and was spent by halfway. I walked a great deal of the second half and ended up taking over four and a half hours.

I recently got the running bug again and did the Wilmslow Half Marathon in 1:36.

It then dawned on me that I am not a million miles off the pace for a London Good For Age qualifying time (3:10).

So the plan is to run the Manchester Marathon next April in under 3.10 and qualify for the London Marathon the year after when I can have a go a beating 3:00.

The second part of the plan is to not get too skinny and to keep the family life going!

This blog is as much for my own record as anything else but feel free to comment with advice or encouragement!