In the BOSTON MARATHON TRAINING: WEEK 3 & 4 update I got back on track with the long runs after cutting two short in the first two weeks of training. I also continued with the speed endurance work, building in some miles at my goal marathon pace of 6:50min/mile.

WEEK 5 – 3rd – 9th February:

This week followed the same routine as previous weeks. One long run, one speed session and five easy runs to continue to build time on the feet.

Monday was a day off running, which after feeling tired and exhausted towards the end of last week, gave a welcomed rest for the legs. Tuesday, Wednesday & Friday were Easy Pace Runs with Sunday being a double Easy Paced Run day.

Thursday was the first “proper” run of the week. A 4.5 Mile Speed Endurance session. 2 x 1 Mile @ 6:35min/mile, off 2 mins, 2 min recovery, 0.5 Mile @ 6:25min/mile, 3 min recovery, 1 Mile @ 6:35min/mile, 2 min recovery and 2 x 0.5 Mile @ 6:25min/mile. The aim of this session was to bank some good volume but hit some harder paces.

Whilst the pace of these was quite a bit faster than marathon pace, I did feel comfortable running this fast over the shorter distance. It did get me thinking whether I could try to run the Big Half in 3 weeks time at 6:35 or 6:30 and really push hard for a good PB.

This weekend I moved the long run from Sunday to Saturday. We are due to get hit hard by Storm Ciara. The forecast for Sunday didn’t look good. Heavy rain and 65-70mph winds. I didn’t fancy being out running in that for 2-hours, so I swapped Sat – Sun and moved the double easy run day to Sunday. Two short wet & windy runs seemed better than one longer run.

This week the long run was an increase in distance to 15 miles but all at a constant steady pace of 8:00min/mile. The first 2 miles were a little sluggish but I was clocking 7:45 pace over those miles. After that it was downhill and flat so I decided to go for 7:45 pace instead. This then turned into 7:40 and eventually from mile 5 I was targeting 7:30 pace. Still a good 40sec per mile off my marathon pace and very comfortable pace but a good bit faster than I was told to run.

I finished up averaging 7:28min/mile for the 15 miles with 430ft of elevation gain, not flat but not that hilly, although if you stretch that out of a marathon distance the total gain would be on par with Boston.

After this long run, one thing that struck me was how easy it felt running long at 7:28 pace. Given my goal marathon pace of 6:50, it should feel easier running at 7:28 but looking back 12 months to my training block for TOKYO MARATHON 2019 my longest run back then was 20 miles and I pushed the pace on that one to run 7:30 pace. Now I am looking at 7:28 and thinking how easy that was.

Sometimes you have to take a step back and look further back in your training to see how much you are progressing.

• Running – 50 Miles, 6h 34m
• Cycling –  165.2 Miles, 9h 34m
• Swimming – 5,960 yrds, 1h 47m

 

WEEK 6 – 10th – 16th February:

The plan for this week was to race a Parkrun hard as a speed test, increase the long run once again to 16 miles and run a progressive run during the week as a speed session.

That was the plan, however, my body had other ideas. After easy runs on Monday and Tuesday I felt a little pain in my right piriformis. Wednesday was the 5 mile tempo run and Thursday a day off running. I decided to push on with the tempo run knowing I had Thursday to recover and hopefully the piriformis would be ok.

The 5 mile tempo was 1.5 mile warm up & 1.5 mile cool down sandwiching 1 mile @ 7:20min/mile & 4 miles @ 6:50min/mile (goal marathon pace). The run didn’t go too bad, I could feel that the piriformis wasn’t happy during the warm up and cool down, both involved running up/down a hill. The 5 mile block was flat and although running faster, there was no pain.

When I got back I then felt more pain in the piriformis and also pain in the left hamstring. I took Thursday off completely, no swim, bike or run training and foam rolled the legs to try loosen the hamstring and ITB to help the piriformis. This did help the hamstring but the pain was still there Friday.

After speaking with Adam & Charlotte we decided to not race the Parkrun and cut the long run short. I ran 3 miles Friday, 4 Saturday and 6 Sunday all at an easy 9:00min/mile pace and all pan flat. The daily foam rolling did help the hamstring pain go by Sunday and the piriformis improved day by day too.

Next week I will be having a sports massage to try and get things sorted and get things back on track again. Missing another long run is not ideal, but not the end of the world right now.

Next week we were due to cut back mileage and intensity as a taper into The Big Half on 1st March, all being well, I will now try to get in the missed 16 mile run next Sunday and not focus so much on the half marathon. The main goal here is to get marathon ready, not run a half marathon PB as part of getting marathon ready…. although that would be nice, I would rather concentrate on the marathon work.

I am pretty disappointed to see the run and bike mileage drop so much this week but pleased that I did take a step back and look at the bigger picture. In previous years I would have probably tried to push on and do the long run because it was on the plan and I can’t miss sessions. After leaving Mallorca on crutches last May and spending 4 months out injured, I don’t want to be in that position again so missing sessions is nothing I am ashamed of now, in fact, I am proud to say I didn’t race the Parkrun and didn’t do the long run. Instead I focused on my health and fitness and at this stage, it looks like I caught the niggle early and didn’t make it worse.

• Running –  31 Miles, 4h 23m
• Cycling –  106.9 Miles, 5h 31m
• Swimming – 13,643 yrds, 3h 57m

To see how the next two weeks went, check out BOSTON MARATHON TRAINING: WEEK 7 & 8