The problem with marathons is that you have to take time out from regular training to allow yourself to recover. Your body is fragile after a marathon and there is no sense in punishing it more when it just needs time to repair.
With this in mind I kept the mileage very low for the first two weeks after Chester Marathon, with three rest days after the marathon and only 15 miles for the first week and 30 for the second.
My first run after the marathon was a bit grim as expected with tight hamstrings. However, two days later my club had the first cross country race of the season and rather naughtily I decided to join in.
I started at the back to keep my pace down but my legs actually felt good and I spent the rest of the race overtaking people. I actually completed the course quicker than last year which surprised me as last year I was racing whereas this year it was just a medium / hard effort.
Last week I joined a club session for the first time in ages. Running up and down hills in a group was fun and I felt strong.
This Saturday I am going to attempt a parkrun. It will be almost four weeks since the marathon so I will be ready for a test. My last parkrun was a rather poor 20:08 so it would be good to at least get under 20:00. Even better there should be some club mates there who I can hopefully show a clean pair of heels!
Monday 27 October 2014
Friday 10 October 2014
Chester Marathon
Here I am with a smile on my face after a marathon. Something must have gone right!
In the spring I had targeted 3:15 and had got nowhere near it. Now I was targeting 3:20 and had another marathon training plan in the bank. Surely I wouldn't miss my target a third time?
In the two weeks leading up to the marathon I had had a sore hip that made driving and even sitting at a desk uncomfortable. I was unsure about whether I should attempt the final 10 mile MP run but in the end went for it and smashed it. 10 miles at 7:00 min/mile pace made me happy!
The hip pain eased over the next week but the night before the marathon I felt pretty dodgy with a head cold. However I felt reasonable at 5am on Sunday morning so decided to go for it.
Arriving at Chester at 7 am it was cold but no rain and a tail wind for the last ten miles. Perfect. My plan was to stick to 7:4x pace and then hopefully speed up in the second half. However when I started I locked into 7:3x pace which felt about right.
It is a great feeling when you feel really comfortable, look at your watch and see that you are actually going too fast. This never really happened at London but happened all the time at Chester.
Conservation of energy is the name of the game in the first half and I kept the effort easy, despite being overtaken quite a lot. I knew people would come back to me and they did.
So 10K in 47:02 and position 452. Feeling great.
At around 9 miles I was temporarily running by myself and got a lot of support as I ran through a village. I was also cheered by someone from a Runnersworld forum I post on which was very welcome. At this point I felt fantastic.
I just kept plodding along, happy to be there, saving the excitement for later.
The second 10K was completed in 47:08 and position 447
Halfway was reached in 1:39:28 so slightly ahead of target but feeling good.
Mile 13 is uphill and this saw my first 7:4x mile but mile 15 is downhill and I cruised down it, giving myself a breather.
At the end of mile 16 I saw my parents, cunningly positioned on an uphill section! However I had plenty of energy to wave and overtake people.
The third 10K was completed in 47:21. Position 406. A slight slowing but miles 17 and 18 are undulating.
Last year I ran out of gas at this point and ended up doing 9 minute miles. This year... I sped up! Mile 20, which is slightly downhill, was a 7:15, my fastest of the race. Miles 21 and 22 were both 7:2x. Miles 23 and 24 were both 7:3x.
During mile 24 I was joking with some other runners that they weren't allowed to slow down as I was using them as pacemakers. It was amazing to still have a clear head at this point.
Since mile 22 I had had warning spasms that my legs weren't happy and cramp was around the corner. In the 25th mile the spasms increased and I had to drop the effort. However...
The fourth 10K was completed in 46:48. Position 329. So chuffed with that.
Another random goal of mine was for each mile to be below 8 mins. With this in mind I kept a reasonable effort up over the last two miles, despite the risk of cramp. I managed miles of 7:48 and 7:54 to tick another box! The final 0.2 at 7:10 pace saw me home in 3:18:49.
I am very pleased with a slight negative split and my most enjoyable marathon yet by a long way. I can now have the confidence to attack my next marathon a bit more.
As for Hansons - well it worked! My theory is that marathon training is all about working the slow twitch fibres which means slow / steady running. Maybe the volume of easy miles is more important than the length of easy runs? What is endurance anyway? Isn't it having the fitness to not get fatigued at a certain pace? Maybe you don't have to run 20 miles to get that?
The weekly MP run, although hard in the second half of the plan, was probably very beneficial although I can't prove it!
So my trend of knocking five minutes off my marathon time every six months continues. 3:15 is a nice doable target for next spring.
I failed to get through the ballot for the London marathon but will happily do Manchester instead.
But for now, four weeks of being a jogger as I let myself recover.
In the spring I had targeted 3:15 and had got nowhere near it. Now I was targeting 3:20 and had another marathon training plan in the bank. Surely I wouldn't miss my target a third time?
In the two weeks leading up to the marathon I had had a sore hip that made driving and even sitting at a desk uncomfortable. I was unsure about whether I should attempt the final 10 mile MP run but in the end went for it and smashed it. 10 miles at 7:00 min/mile pace made me happy!
The hip pain eased over the next week but the night before the marathon I felt pretty dodgy with a head cold. However I felt reasonable at 5am on Sunday morning so decided to go for it.
Arriving at Chester at 7 am it was cold but no rain and a tail wind for the last ten miles. Perfect. My plan was to stick to 7:4x pace and then hopefully speed up in the second half. However when I started I locked into 7:3x pace which felt about right.
It is a great feeling when you feel really comfortable, look at your watch and see that you are actually going too fast. This never really happened at London but happened all the time at Chester.
Conservation of energy is the name of the game in the first half and I kept the effort easy, despite being overtaken quite a lot. I knew people would come back to me and they did.
So 10K in 47:02 and position 452. Feeling great.
At around 9 miles I was temporarily running by myself and got a lot of support as I ran through a village. I was also cheered by someone from a Runnersworld forum I post on which was very welcome. At this point I felt fantastic.
I just kept plodding along, happy to be there, saving the excitement for later.
The second 10K was completed in 47:08 and position 447
Halfway was reached in 1:39:28 so slightly ahead of target but feeling good.
Mile 13 is uphill and this saw my first 7:4x mile but mile 15 is downhill and I cruised down it, giving myself a breather.
At the end of mile 16 I saw my parents, cunningly positioned on an uphill section! However I had plenty of energy to wave and overtake people.
The third 10K was completed in 47:21. Position 406. A slight slowing but miles 17 and 18 are undulating.
Last year I ran out of gas at this point and ended up doing 9 minute miles. This year... I sped up! Mile 20, which is slightly downhill, was a 7:15, my fastest of the race. Miles 21 and 22 were both 7:2x. Miles 23 and 24 were both 7:3x.
During mile 24 I was joking with some other runners that they weren't allowed to slow down as I was using them as pacemakers. It was amazing to still have a clear head at this point.
Since mile 22 I had had warning spasms that my legs weren't happy and cramp was around the corner. In the 25th mile the spasms increased and I had to drop the effort. However...
The fourth 10K was completed in 46:48. Position 329. So chuffed with that.
Another random goal of mine was for each mile to be below 8 mins. With this in mind I kept a reasonable effort up over the last two miles, despite the risk of cramp. I managed miles of 7:48 and 7:54 to tick another box! The final 0.2 at 7:10 pace saw me home in 3:18:49.
I am very pleased with a slight negative split and my most enjoyable marathon yet by a long way. I can now have the confidence to attack my next marathon a bit more.
As for Hansons - well it worked! My theory is that marathon training is all about working the slow twitch fibres which means slow / steady running. Maybe the volume of easy miles is more important than the length of easy runs? What is endurance anyway? Isn't it having the fitness to not get fatigued at a certain pace? Maybe you don't have to run 20 miles to get that?
The weekly MP run, although hard in the second half of the plan, was probably very beneficial although I can't prove it!
So my trend of knocking five minutes off my marathon time every six months continues. 3:15 is a nice doable target for next spring.
I failed to get through the ballot for the London marathon but will happily do Manchester instead.
But for now, four weeks of being a jogger as I let myself recover.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)