The winter plan: part 2

I have been jotting down what my winter training is actually going to look like and this is what I have come up with so far.

Running. Following my really enjoyable run at Luton I want to build on that so in a fit of madness I went and entered the Edinburgh Marathon. It falls nicely at the end of May, meaning that I would have had a clear 7 weeks or so to get over the DW. I'm going to run 4 times per week, doing one long run up to 2 hours, a tempo run of about an hour and then whatever recovery or speed sessions I need to do. I don't think that this will be a problem as I am bloody loving running at the moment and I am extremely excited about Edinburgh. I will be aiming to get under 3.10 before having a crack at another marathon in the autumn. My immediate goal is the Tadworth 10 mile race on January 2nd.

Cycling. It's time to turbo. I did my first turbo session of the winter this evening and it was as rubbish as I feared, but thankfully I have all winter to improve my lactate threshold (lucky me!). Two of those per week and a road or mtb ride of about 2-3 hours at the weekend should see me right, plus a lot of commuting.  I've bought myself some mtb shoes and cleats which should arrive from Wiggle any day now (bday pressie from parents-  :-) so I might have to put my money where my mouth is and enter some mtb races. I will be rubbish but I am assured that they are fun. Hmmm.....

Kayaking. Adam and I are paddling again at the Royal and the aim will be 2 paddles per week. Up until Christmas it will be all K1 stuff in Laances. We've done a few already and so far all good, trying to slow down our stroke. We did a stroke counting drill which I nicked from swim training, trying to use as few strokes as possible to get to a distant landmark to try a glide the boat more and get our stroke higher. I have absolutely no idea if that's what we should do but it makes sense to me. It seems that the lads at the MPCC are kindly going to let us have the Mystere again to use for the DW, which we are extremely grateful for. We'll start up again in that proper in January, when we will start to think about the Waterside series. Yes, you read that right; the races that we swore we would never do again. I just think we need an interim goal between now and the DW and while the Watersides are not particularly DW specific, except being on the same course, they will give us something to train for. Also, with our level of ineptitude, completing them in their own right will be a considerable achievement.

GAME. ON.

The Luton Marathon, or....

how I finally learned to pace a long run correctly.   :-)

As this race drew closer and closer my confidence became a thinner and thinner veneer, but in many ways this was a good thing. Rather than me going out with the intention of smashing a big time, London 2008 and the last 7 miles of that run are still very fresh in my mind, so being conservative became all important. Get round in one piece at a low rpe and take whatever time was given to me. 3.30 or under was going to be nice, but not critical on what is generally considered a fairly slow course. I just wanted a positive experience. The day started well, travelling up to Luton with Simon and the thick fog gave way to blue skies and luke warm November sunshine; perfect running weather. A porridge and banana breakfast had been consumed and I had no aches or pains to worry about so I felt that everything was falling into place for a solid run. Simon and I placed ourselves in the 3.30 area and waited for the gun to go.

As soon as we started, Simon was off and ahead. I should state that he's a very good runner but had not done much specific marathon training in the lead up to Luton and there was a small temptation to go with him but right from the start it was important that I ran my own race. Luton is three laps, so while the first is slightly shorter, it meant that doing the maths was pretty easy; 3 laps, doing each lap at about 1.10 would see me home in 3.30. The lap is in three general parts. From the leisure centre at the start it winds out the back across a large playing field before hitting the 3-4 mile hilly section and then finally turning onto the main road which brings you back into the town centre. This bit is quite dull, eventually looping around another large playing field but the hilly country section was actually surprisingly pretty. As we went through the first couple of miles I could just see Simon pulling out ahead, already some 2 minutes up. I settled into a group and encountered the hills for the first time.

If I am honest, they really were not that bad but knowing I would be doing them three times I knocked it right back, conserving myself. I was really focussing on myself and quite simply, if I was breathing hard I was pushing too hard. In spite of this, I found myself passing a few runners who had gone out too hard early on and with only 6 miles or so done looked pretty tired. I came through the first lap and checked my watch to see 65:xx. If I am honest, I was a bit confused. I felt very, very comfortable but yet, hear I was, again going out faster than I had planned. I thought back to 2008 and I remember I was pushing harder than this, so I felt confident that I was on the right effort level and the right pace, but I made a mental note to slow up sooner rather than later if things looked like they were going to turn ugly. As I started the second lap I had a little wave of runners go past me who obviously had finished their warm up and were now going to push on. A wizened old runner went past with a painful yet economic gait, followed by another large bloke who went past me up the big hill. He was breathing hard as he went and I was impressed at the pace he had suddenly found but I felt confident that he probably would not stay away. On an open part of the course I could just see Simon up ahead, probably now some 3-4 minutes up on me and therefore running at around sub 3.10 pace. This was actually the lap where I had to exert the most self control. I was feeling very good and I wanted to start to pick up the pace, but for once I listened to the voice in my head and kept myself in check. If they were that much faster than me then I probably wasn't going to stay with them, and if they were not that much faster then they'll probably come back to me. Time would tell. The wind picked up a bit on the second lap and with the field strung out it was hard to shelter from it, but I found myself gradually pulling in those ahead of me, bit by bit. At 16 miles, towards the back end of the second lap there is a small narrow path that rises and it was here where I first started to feel some aching in my legs; nothing major but it made me keep a lid on it and not get too carried away.

So, I started the third lap and saw that my elapsed time was 2:11, so I had paced it exactly the same as the first. Woop woop me. I still felt really good and now I had another 8.5 miles or so to do and it was really important to me that I ran them well and didn't lose the mental game. Remember, the wall doesn't exist, it's only a badly paced run and I knew that I had paced it right. As the final lap started, I encountered more and more people who had blown up and were walking. Been there; done that; won't do it again. But also, there were other runners who were still running but their pace had slowed drastically, including wizened runner and the big bloke. As I ran around the first recreation ground I caught sight of Simon and I saw that I had almost halved the distance between us in the space of the second lap and I could see that I was catching him with every stride. I caught him at 20 miles as we approached the village of Streakley and the largest hill on the loop. This was where it started to hurt but I was still running at my goal pace whereas everyone else around me seemed to be slowing down and the fact I was overtaking people gave me the encouragement I needed to forget about my legs ('Fooosh my legs' as any Marathon Talk podcast listeners will be aware of) and to keep picking people off. At 24 miles I caught another runner. I had stupidly hit the stop button on my stopwatch at the end of lap 2 instead of the split button so I couldn't work out what sort of time I might be on for, so as he had a Garmin on I asked what finish time we were looking at. He said he thought we would finish in about 3.16. Crikey! While I was running much better than I could possibly have hoped for I really wanted to try to get under 3.15 and so upped my effort level. I felt like I was running quite fast but I had reached that point in a marathon of ever diminishing returns. My arms and legs were going as fast as possible but it didn't seem to be getting me anywhere. I ran into the finishing chute pretty spent and beginning to cramp up and saw 3.18.xx on the clock. Simon held on to finish in 3.23. A great run, on frankly, very little marathon training by him.

So, I am a very happy bunny. I feel that I paced it perfectly. On the day I do not feel I could have gone any faster or better and checking the results I worked out that I overtook 40 runners during laps 2 and 3. I am delighted to have finally laid the marathon ghost of London 2008 and knocked a very healthy 24 minutes from the time I set that day, but I am not satisfied, not by a long chalk. I now know that sub 3 is achievable. 18 minutes is still a lot of time to take off and I envisage that it will take me another 3 or 4 marathons to get there; but get there I will.

Cramping up at the end; ouchy!

I am pooped. I want to sleep most of the time so the next couple of weeks is going to be some rest time, but over the next 6 to 8 weeks I intend to get back into a boat and do some proper all over body conditioning. Running will continue after this week, but very gently along with commuting on the bike and a turbo session once a week. I am basically looking at it as active recovery with a strength and conditioning focus. Then onwards and upwards.

There is no such thing as 'The Wall'.....

.....only a badly paced run.

That will be my mantra tomorrow. :-)

I don't seem to have developed a cold so things are looking pretty good all considered. There has been some additions to the Winter plan which will involve a lot of getting wet. I'll fill you in next time.

See you on the other side....

November's finally arrived

Ad and I were out for a quick paddle and run last night, going out in a couple of Laances from the Royal. It was proper woolly hat and pogee cold, but we had neither. Adam did however have his new shiny paddles, Canoesport 4's. Very nice they are to. Westminster is now a certainty.

The Winter plan

I am on eggshells at the moment as I am definately fighting something off and I am fearful that this could really put the kybosh on my Luton Marathon run. I want it to either break so I stand a chance of getting rid before next weekend or to just magically dissolve away. It is very frustrating but with the run miles that I had put in recently it is not altogether unexpected as I was feeling quite run down and everyone and their mother at work has had a cold. I suppose the only good thing to come from it is that it will be another factor to force me to be conservative in my pace. Every cloud.......

I have finally finished building the mountain bike that I started last month. As expected, Mrs Wheezy blew a gasket when she saw the multitude of ebay and bike shop purchases but she calmed down eventually and my bruises have started to fade. It's a real mongrel of a bike with a mix of old and new equipment and at about £250 not too bad cost wise (best bargain was a set of Shimano SPD pedals for £10 and the frame for £15)  I just enjoyed tinkering and putting my own machine together and I'll be able to upgrade further as time goes by. I took it out for a little spin this afternoon along the bridle path to my parents' house and other than the need to tinker with the front mech, all was good.

My main reason for putting it together was to give me another opportunity to get on a bike over the winter and to get out outside when the weather is bad. I just need to mix my riding up; road, turbo, mtb, commuting. The more I do, the more likely that 5.30-40 IM bike split will be next year. There are quite a few off road duathlons in the winter months so they are the main races that I would like to have a go at as they just look like they've got a high grin factor.Add in a lot of bike commuting, the odd long ride and a paddle or two a week, then that basically constitutes the Winter Plan.

Off. To. Bed.