As I thought, I have fallen a little behind with the training blogs, as I am now into week 8 as I write weeks 3 & 4. Clearly, the demand of marathon training, family, and work plus trying to write a blog post each week is too much for me.

In the Chicago Marathon Week 2 post I had gotten over a sickness bug in week 1 and starting to form the routine which will put me in good stead for the next 14 weeks, man that sounds long doesn’t it, 4 months of training for race day is a long time!

This week I am building the mileage slightly, the aim for this block is to build 2 miles per week so as not to overload the achiles and do too much too quickly (we’ve all been there, right?). I was signed up to race the Wilmslow Summer 10k on Sunday but my daughter wanted to run the Port Vale fun run which we did last year and it falls on the same day as the 10k. To be honest, it was an easy choice to pick the fun run over racing a 10k. My 10k pace isn’t there right now after the 11 weeks of reduced running since London so I signed us up and swapped my 10k to the virtual option, I had thought I could run an easy 10k on Friday but they want us to all run on Sunday. A little annoying but I will run the virtual easy 10k in the morning, then do the Port Vale run.

I did feel guilty not racing the Port Vale 5k so I caved in and signed up for that too. Not sure why considering I had felt my pace wasn’t there for a 10k, so instead I signed up for an all-out 5k effort instead.

Week 3 – 8th – 14th July:

• Monday: – 8 mile easy run @ 8:41/mi 130 HR
• Tuesday: – 4x8min @ threshold (10k) pace, 2min recovery (2 mile warm up & cool down)
• Wednesday: – Non-running day
• Thursday: – Progression Run (30min Easy, 15min @ HM pace, 5min @ 10k pace, 10min Easy)
• Friday: – Non-running day
• Saturday: – 15 mile long run @ 7:24/mi
• Sunday: – virtual 10k @ 8:34/mi, Port Vale 5k and Boomers Fun Run with Sienna

51 miles for the week.

Some progress made this week. The heart rate on the easy runs was down slightly on week 2 with similar pace and I managed 4x8min reps, as with the first 2 weeks the pace of these threshold intervals is around 15-20sec/mi slower than the Boston training block. It did knock my confidence slightly with being so far off my “usual pace”. I did question whether I would be able to run the 5k under 20mins. Typing that now does make me laugh as I spent 2016-2019 trying to run a Parkrun under 20mins.

In the end, I didn’t need to worry, the 5k went better than expected finishing up in 18:27, it wasn’t close to my 5k PB but I feel happy with that time and the effort I put in to try and set a good time.

The long run was pushed out from 14 miles to 15 miles and at the same 7:24/mi pace as week 2.

Week 4 – 15th – 21st July:

• Monday: – 8 mile easy run @ 8:23/mi 128 HR
• Tuesday: – 3x10min @ threshold (10k) pace, 2min recovery (2 mile warm up & cool down)
• Wednesday: – Non-running day
• Thursday: – 2x15min (rep 1 – 6:45/mi (MP), rep 2 – 6:30/mi), 2 mile warm up & cool down
• Friday: – 8 mile easy run @ 8:37/mi 127 HR
• Saturday: – Congleton Parkrun with Sienna @ 9:53/mi (30.47)
• Sunday: – 16 mile Long Run @ 7:23/mi

54 miles for the week.

More progress this week. That’s what the marathon training block is all about, stringing together consistent weeks of progress, each building on the last not running 1 amazing run and 5 poor runs. Consistent progress, progress not perfection is my motto for this training block.

As with week 3 above, the heart rate was lower on the easy runs again, a good sign that the aerobic base is starting to improve. I am probably now where I would be at the start of a training cycle so these first 4 weeks have got me to the usual starting point. I am not overly concerned by that, it is what it is and I knew that I would be starting from a lower base than normal.

The weekly threshold session was longer 10min reps this week but the pace was a little quicker than the 4x8mins I ran in week 3, another good sign of progress. What did give me more confidence was the second half of the week. The longer endurance interval session of 2 x 15min starting at 6:45/mi marathon pace and pushing out to 6:30/mi in the second rep. That went well and I felt comfortable running at that pace for longer intervals once again.

This week’s long run was 16 miles, 1 mile further than week 3. I changed the route slightly this week and ran on the more hilly loop which I used to train on for the hilly long runs in the build-up to Boston. I did feel like the pace would drop in comparison to last week, as the elevation was up close to 900ft gain over the 16 miles but in fact, it was 7:23/mi so 1sec per mile quicker with a lower average heart rate. This did give me a good confidence boost going into week 5.