Marathon Training - Week 1 plus.

Now, the plan for my blog in the run up to the Milton Keynes Marathon isn't to give you a blow by blow breakdown of every run, every training session, every mile covered, but as I've just finished Week 1 of my 16 week plan I thought now would be a good opportunity to set out my stall.  Also, in all honesty, this week did not exactly work out as I thought it would.

I've based my plan on the one that I used for the Yorkshire Marathon in 2015.  It's an amalgam of training plans that I had found online with the excellent Marathon Plan from Graeme Hilditch's book as it's backbone.  This got me around York in 3:59:38, a time that I'd love to emulate in Milton Keynes, so I have no real reason to change things too much.

In a nutshell I'll be running 4-5 times a week, with my LSR* on Sunday being no more than 50% of my weekly milage.  As the distances of my Sunday runs increase so will the distance and frequency of my weekday runs.  I'll be mixing up hills, tempo runs, fartlek, and speed sessions during the week and keeping Sunday long and slow.

That said, last week was week 1 of my training plan and it didn't quite go as I had expected.  A good friend (hello Adam) had pulled out of The Brass Monkey Half Marathon, and foolishly I bought his place from him, so week 1 would end with a half marathon that I had not trained for.  This was not in the book!

I had not run a half marathon since the Dalby Forest half in July last year.  I had managed the odd 10 mile run since then but I was fairly sure that I was on a fool's mission.  The Sunday before the Brass Monkey I took to the Leeds Liverpool Canal and strode out for a 12 mile run, aiming for 9 minute miles to give me the confidence that I could at least cover the distance of the race at a little under the magical 9:09 pace of a 4 hour marathon.

With that LSR in the bag, and a couple of mid week 10ks, I set off for York with a couple of likley lads from South Leeds for company.  I was happy that I could run the distance and wasn't bothered about the time, this was to be the first part of my MK Marathon journey not an end in itself.  I bumped into a couple of other friends from Leeds before taking my place optimistically in the sub 1:45 pen.  I was stood in close to freezing temperatures, wearing little more than a vest with a number pinned to it and shorts, and race day delerium had set in.  I was not going to manage 1:45 but I could dream of past glory.

The race started and, for the first time in over a year, I was racing on tarmac**.  The route took us South of York through Bishopthorpe and Acaster Selby before hitting Appleton Roebuck and heading North towards the finish.  I was keeping better time than I had anticipated and, due to my choice of vest, was getting cheers and comments from runners and spectators alike. 

 

However, by the time I got to mile ten my legs were feeling the lack of training.  Every step reminded me of a lacklustre summer and an over indulgent Christmas.  I knew my pace was dropping and then a knight in shining armour came to my aid.  Chris Sawyer, a parkrun friend from Cross Flatts, caught up to me and in passing told me to drop into his wake.  I've never slipstreamed a runner before so I don't know how effective it was, but matching Chris' pace for a mile was exactly what I needed.  Left to my own devices I would probably have dropped to a crawl and limped home with my tail between my legs.

We got back through Bishopthorpe and struck out to the finish at the Knavesmire.  I had the bit between my teeth and was determined to keep my new found pace to the end of the race.  The supporters and faster finishers who lined the home straight were fantastic,  I even got a shout out from the man with the tannoy mic as I was crossing the line.  I had done it.

 

One of my goals last year was to become fit enough to run a decent pace for a half marathon without having to specifically train for it.  I had thought that goal was long lost, but it turns out I had managed to get myself to a position where I could enter a half at short notice and run a good time.  I had wanted to go under 2 hours at the start of the race so to finish with a new PB of 1:41:48 was astounding and a feat that I'm still struggling to come to terms with.

Click on the pic to enter the MK Marathon

I am training for the Milton Keynes Marathon on the 1st May and have been selected to be one of their ambasadors.  I am also raising money for Bliss the premature baby charity.  You can find my Just Giving page here.

*Long Slow Run
** Last year I swore myself off road races after too many runs up and down Kirkstall Road.