After steady running with beginners / intermediates (Doncaster Pacers (Doncaster Athletic Club same thing)) yesterday I decided to go out and have some fun . I never really know where I am going to go, what pace or how far. I had 7 min miles for perhaps 10 miles as a starting point.
About a mile after I set off I decided to do a fartlek run, I do not do as many of these as I should. Then as you do I started thinking about incorporating some strava segments which meant some of the fast speed play was over a mile long so a mix of fartlek and long interval reps, recovery sections a bit slower.
As I approached 10k I decided to stop for a minute and then reset my garmin.
I then climbed over fences to get through a construction site and carried on. Building up for a mile then I hit Stoops Lane to Cantley Lane Strava segment and I KOM’ed on it, then eased back and did 1.5 miles of strides.
Todays tune of the day – I found this tune about 8 years ago and what a remix. It also introduced me to London Elektricity .
Martin Hookway rolled up and ran the Edinburgh Marathon with no specific training. He is an ultra runner but his training is quite erratic. He enjoys pushing the limit of his endurance (solo #TR24).
I got in form a run one day, jumped in the shower and started thinking I should enter a local low key marathon with less pressure than London and see what I could do. No hassle with transport or where to eat. I decided on the Leicester Marathon and entered it with the intention of following a 16 week training plan (the same plan that got me 2:59:23 in 2011 and 2:58:53 in 2013) that was provided by Mark Higham (published in runners world). I have always been a solo runner with my long runs with the occasional running buddies joining me.
I train to music, this is not recommended but it helps me. I would never race to music. I am known as DJ at the track, I was probably the most unlikely hardcore, techno, drum and base (rave for the unsure) in the early 90’s. To this day I still love the oldskool and new drum and base. When I run to tunes like this one (and I have thousands of them) I go sub 7 minute miles what ever the distance. Put me on a Strava segment and I will go for KOM 12 miles into a long run (and often fail but its all good fartlek).
I had a terrible end to 2013 after falling in an event called the Pain Barrier where I damaged my stomach). My mileage dropped through the floor, I have never been a high mileage runner but I tried to average 35 – 40 a week:
November 2013 – 87 Miles
December 2013 – 32 Miles
January 2014 – 10 Miles
February 2014 – 57 Miles
March 2014 – 71 Miles
I wanted to do the SY Road League, and after being prescribed some Anti Spasmodic pills by my DR, my stomach pain went within a day or 2 so I did the league and my mileage for April went back up to 144 miles. Whilst I had been not doing much running I decided to seriously try to loose some weight. I had been advised not to do this but common sense dictated that it was necessary if I wanted to get faster. I lost a stone and I have no doubt that is the most important factor in my preparation that enabled me to run faster. My times in the SY Road league were about the same as usual but off no speed work or much training at all.
I visited top runner Carl Ryde to pick up some race numbers and we had a good talk about running and DAC. Carl lent me a book called “British Marathon Running Legends of the 1980’s”. I have not yet finished this book but when I got time I would read and be totally inspired by the very different individuals. Running is a simple thing and we over complicate it in my opinion.
In May I started to add some longer runs in to my training,
2 May – 11 miles @ 7 minute miles
11 May – 12 Miles @ 7:18 minute miles
17 May – 9 Miles @ 6:47 minute miles
28 May – 15 Miles @ 6:58 minute miles off road in trail shoes (gave me a lot of confidence)
On 31st May I was timekeeping at the parkrun and I had the urge to go for a very hard run and I told myself to run a PB for a 10k. This did not happen but I ran a PB for 5 miles of 30:05. I was feeling great and the following day I ran 15 Miles at 6:46 minute miles.
I then eased back like mad for a couple of weeks just running with the beginners at the Doncaster Pacers. I would do the occasional long run
My training officially started on 13 July and around this time Mick Clarke told me he had entered the Chesterfield Marathon. I looked into it and decided to enter it, I would run it as a long training run, it was about 8 weeks before Leicester and I had about 8 weeks to train for it.
I modified my training plan (starting on about week 8), I decided to make some of my longer runs quicker (if I could, James Smith suggested this), others more steady and I decided to add a 3 hour training run in at some point where I would run about 24 miles (I think Chris Ward suggested this).
I did all my long runs carrying 1.5 liters of water on a bottle belt, I like doing this as in the race I will not have to carry this so it should be easier.
My first long run 20 July was 22 miles, I ran this in 3 hours on the coastal paths around Scarborough, really hilly and no energy gels, just water.
On the 27 June I took part in the Sheffield Trail Rush, This tough off road race follows a circular walk around some of the parks of Sheffield, it follows the Sheffield Round Walk route. The runners went off in 15 minute waves and both the conditions and course were great. some really good descents through woodland and some evil climbs including 2 massive sets of woodland steps up the sides of valleys not far from the end. I finished in 7th place on the 15 mile run which had 1772 feet of climb @ 7:32 minute miles.
On 3 August I ran 22 miles @ 6:59 pace. I remember it was windy for the last 8 miles which hurt. I did find that running my long runs quicker than before would wipe me out for a few days.
My 24 mile run was on 10 August, I ran the long way from home to Askern (14 miles), entered the Askern 10 mile road race, ran that in about 1:12 and felt absolutely fantastic chatting to people all the way, I could not help myself, I ran the last mile in 6:12. I did this in 3:01:00. I know I could have easily gone on to do another 2 miles in about 3:15:00. This was all in torrential rain and I ran with a camel back on.
At some point I had decided to enter the Leek Half Marathon, I wanted to do a half around the 17 August to see where I was. Unfortunately I picked the hilliest half marathon I had ever run by a long way, hills from start to finish. I ran hard and finished in 1:24:30, not a PB but the hills added a few minutes on.
I don’t remember when but I decided to run Chesterfield Marathon hard, I would go for 2:50:00 and if it went wrong then I would use Leicester as a fall back plan.
My last long run was on 24 August and it was 20 miles, I ran this at 7:05 minute miles.
That made august my highest mileage month with 156 miles. Previously when marathon training I have gone up to 235 miles.
I did a couple more 13 mile runs at @ 7:15 and 8 min miles.
I did interval training every Thursday, this would be typically a 35 minute session on hills, gravel paths or tarmac. These were lead by coach Paul Brown and they were as tough as any track session I had ever done.
I was quite worried that I was not doing enough hard fast runs but I did a couple of fartlek or interval sessions by myself around the Town Fields.
I ran my recovery runs far slower than at previous marathons, I ran them with the beginner runners they would be at between 9 and 14 minute miles. I found running at this pace would make me ache in new places in my legs which was fine as I felt I was working new muscles.
In the week before I did a total of 13 miles, with a quickish 4 on the Friday @ 7:07 pace.
I slept well on Saturday night after a bar meal, I had a pot of porridge, a banana and a boost chocolate bar for breakfast.
The Marathon and Half Marathon followed the same route and I got a bit carried away with the pace for the first 2 miles, its very hard to run slow when your feeling good. When my garmin said 6:13 for mile 1, I thought SLOW DOWN, I tried my best and ran through mile 2 in 6:12 lol (ignore the HR as my chest strap fell off for a couple of miles).
I then got sensible and ran at something like my target pace. You have got to understand it was hilly and I will always accelerate on descents.
I had a toilet stop at about mile 8 which lost me 30 seconds.
At half way I was by myself as all the half marathon people finished. Between halfway and the finish I passed 1 runner and no one passed me. The second half had some very challenging hills and although I went through half way in just under 1:25:00 I think I found some of the hills very tough so I lost about 5 minutes on the second half. I had a drink at every drink station and I took 6 gels. From about 20 miles I set my new aim as 2:55:00, I could see my mile splits were not good.
With about 1km to go I spotted my family and down I went as soon as I passed them cutting both knees, both elbows, my right solder and by chin. My glasses fell off. I jumped back up and could hardly walk let alone run, I started limping and jogging and just about burst in to tears, I was unable to breath. I had a word and and forced myself to get back into it, I could still do it. I started to accelerate and ran around the playing field finishing with 5:59 pace for the last 0.2 miles.
I finished with a 4 minute PB in 2:54:56, this was 4th place.
Previously I have taken sports supplements which are said to speed up recovery and I have taken expensive multivitamin etc. I took no supplements at all this time in the lead up to the marathon, I did increase my fruit, veg, salad and nuts etc.
