Final two weeks leading into the Berlin Marathon aka the last long run before Chicago. 

Week 11 & 12 turned into a struggle after making great progress in weeks 9 & 10. In the last update I had picked up a niggling hip pain which wasn’t causing major pain but it just ached in the latter stages of longer runs and the next day. I ended up aborting the first 20 mile long run but then got it done in week 12.

Week 13 – 16th – 22nd September:

• Monday: – Rest Day
• Tuesday: – Rest Day
• Wednesday: – Non-running day
• Thursday: – Progressive Reps: 3x4min @ MP, 3x3min @ Tempo (HM) pace, 3x2min threshold (10k) pace, all 90sec recovery (10min warm up & cool down)
• Friday: – Non-running day
• Saturday: – Congleton Parkrun pacing Sienna @ 9:56/mi and 4 mile easy run off the bike @ 8:53/mi 132 HR
• Sunday: – 15 mile long run @7:37/mi

30 miles for the week.

Having finished up last week with a 20 mile long run, the hip didn’t feel too good on Monday. I took Monday & Tuesday off, didn’t run Wednesday but did two bike sessions that day. The bike is something that has actually started to improve in recent weeks. Not running as much has given me more time to swap over to the bike for some lower impact cardio in an attempt to maintain some degree of fitness.

By Thursday the hip was feeling ok so I ran the planned progressive interval session. This was 3 sets of 4min @ goal marathon pace, 3min @ half marathon pace and 2min @ 10k pace. I managed to run the full session mostly pain free which is a big positive but it’s the next day which has been impacting the training more than the pain during a standalone run.

With that in mind I took Friday off, did an easy run and another Parkrun with my daughter to keep things easy but get a feel for how the hip felt.

Having missed the 20 mile long run 2 weeks ago but making up for it last week, I was going to run last weeks 22 miles this Sunday and use Berlin as my last long run instead of the usual 24 miles last long run, what’s an extra 2 miles when your already 24 miles in lol.

The Sunday long run didn’t go to plan once again. I cut it short at 15 miles having almost stopped at 6 miles with the hip discomfort being a concern. I pushed through to 15 miles which in the end felt like a moral mental win. Not the 22 I had planned and needed with the marathon so close now so it was a disappointment on the end but the hip is the main concern right now.

Week 14 – 23rd – 29th September:

• Monday: – 4 mile easy run @ 8:39/mi 128 HR
• Tuesday: – Taper Week Intervals: 3x15sec Strides, 10min @ MP + 10sec, 3min Recovery, 4x1min @ MP, off 90sec (1mile warm up & cool down).
• Wednesday: – Race Week Intervals: 3x2min @ MP +10sec, 5min Recovery, 3x1min @ MP (10min warm up & cool down).
• Thursday: – Rest Day
• Friday: – Rest Day
• Saturday: – 3 mile Tracksmith Berlin shakeout run
• Sunday: – Berlin Marathon – 03:11:05

40 miles for the week.

It’s a relief to make it to this stage and mentally I am ready to end this training block now. All the injuries and niggles coming as a result of the fall in Boston has meant this block has been far from perfect and a long way off where I would have liked to be, however, despite the injuries and pain I have trained through, I have ran my highest mileage week in training, ran so good sessions and a few good long runs to build a base which should see me through 26.2 miles. It won’t be PB pace but I will do my best.

This week is Berlin Marathon week and coming off the back of last weeks aborted long run, it’s fair to say the confidence isn’t high.

My plan for this week was to condense all my UK runs into Mon – Wed, see the physio Wednesday night, take Thursday and Friday off, short shakeout Saturday morning Berlin and run the Berlin Marathon slightly quicker than the typical long run pace.

Monday was a nice easy paced run and the hip didn’t feel too bad for that one, Tuesday and Wednesday just short 50-55min runs with a mix of marathon paced and slightly slower intervals to keep the legs moving and some tempo in them heading into race day.

The physio appointment went well, she believes the pain is likely a mild groin strain, she worked on the hip and groin area to get it moving as well as the continuing back pain from the fall in Boston.

Whatever she did worked really well. The pain really subsided when I ran the 3 miles Tracksmith Berlin Shakeout on the Saturday, I could still feel a little pain but nothing too concerning.

The actual Berlin Marathon was amazing. I haven’t ran Berlin since 2017 so it was great to be back and the groin didn’t hurt at all during the race.

I set off with 7:20/mi in mind and ended up averaging 7:14/mi so around 16sec/mi quicker than the usual long run pace. I held a good steady and consistent pace from start to finish running a negative split: 1st half 1:35:56 and 2nd half 1:35:09 finishing in 3:11.05 which is actually 29min 59sec faster than the 2017 Berlin Marathon despite pacing it steady and all the issues during training.

A real big confidence boost going into the final 2 weeks of Chicago Marathon training. Man it feels good typing that out, final 2 weeks of this block. I am really looking forward to a break after Chicago and a period of recovery and rehab to let the groin heal and finally get over the shoulder, neck and back mobility issues which have plagued this training block, all stemming from that fall in Boston.