Marathon Training: Weeks 1&2 (of 16)

And so for the 3rd time in as many years January marks the beginning of a 16 week plan culminating in an April London Marathon. This year I'm keener than ever to get the high mileage under my belt and finally bag that sub 3:15 time in London.

Week 1 passed pretty much without incident. 5 runs totaling 42 miles. The first 40+ week since last September and my long run of 17 miles being the furthest I've covered since last year's marathon. The long run went OK. It was 1.5 miles further than the previous week and I ran almost all off-road along the trails of Holywell, Earsdon and Backworth getting briefly lost along the way. The last 2 miles were tough and I needed to stop and stretch my legs and back a couple of times. Overall, I felt pretty good.

However, the effects of week 1 were soon hitting me in week 2. Tuesday night saw me competing in Grand Prix 5, a handicap series along the seafront at Whitley Bay. Its a 3.5 mile race and I started quite well, felt comfortable on my way to a first mile split of 6:06. From then on in it all turned sour, painfully sour. My legs and shin seemed to seize up, I was in real pain. Not injury type pain, just the legs saying I don't want to do this. The pace slowed right down. Those who'd started behind me began to pass in a steady stream and I didn't seem to be gaining on any of those ahead of me. Mile splits 2 and 3 were 6:57 and 6:51. Mercifully in the latter stages I managed to pass a dozen or so runners and get me away from the tail end of the field and finish in 23:42 - a personal worst. Glad it was all over but a little dejected my spirits raised a little when my club coach reminded me this isn't where it counts, London is what matters. Today's pain can give you strength in the future.

I sort of struggled through the rest of the week. Legs were still aching and heavy on Thursday and Friday before easing a little by the weekend. Storms had been predicted for Sunday but it turned out to be a great day for winter running. Cold but bright and not a great deal of wind. I decided to stay away from any hills and run a series of out and backs along the Waggonways trails to Seaton Delaval totalling 18 miles. For the first time I planned to run according to heart rate. The first 14 miles at less than 150 beats per minute (bpm) and then raising it to around 160 bpm. Through the first 14 I felt quite comfortable, maintaining a steady heart rate as planned and averaging around 7:50 per mile. With 4.5 miles to go I picked up the pace, not quite hitting the 160 bpm but clocking the next 3 mile splits in 7:19, 7:14 and 7:19. By now it was getting really hard. My back was beginning to hurt and I chose to do the last mile and a half as a warm down, stopping twice to stretch out. Total miles on the watch were 18.23 in 2:22:01, bringing the total weekly mileage to 44 miles.

Overall, I'm quite pleased with the progress so far. My back injury continues to be a worry but its showing some signs of improvement. I'm stretching more regularly, have a new ergonomic chair at work and have been referred to a physio by the GP. Hopefully the combination of these will help me recover in time for the marathon and not hamper my training too much in the meantime. Still to decide on the length of next week's run. I'd like to do my first over the magical 20 mile mark but part of me thinks I should play safe and just log another 18. I'll see how this week goes and decide later. Running to heart rate worked well but I'll need to do a bit of research to find my true HR max and then work out my easy and marathon pace percentages.