Building blocks

Training can seem a little bit daunting and/or repetitive sometimes.

If you are looking to make significant improvements in your times and performances, then if you don't break your training down in to small, manageable chunks, then it can be easy to get lost and forget exactly what the aims and objectives you are striving to are.

Conversely, if you was to take each session separately, and fail to form some sort of cohesive training plan, then it can be difficult to maximise your training and get the most out of your sessions as you can.

To that end, I try to target specific races and put together training plans that are moulded more towards preparing myself to perform over that distance - whatever that may be.

Now, obviously when  training for a marathon, these training blocks are a bit different. You tend to work off in the region of a 16 week training plan. For London this year I actually trained specifically for the marathon distance for 19 weeks. But even then, it is possible to break up those 16-19 weeks into smaller chunks and set yourself little targets, or goals, in order to make the training seem slightly less daunting and more manageable.

Since London, I have moved onto my next wave of training and set my sights on the Freckleton Half Marathon as my big 'goal' to work towards.

From the finishing line at London, to the start line at Freckleton, I was left with pretty much exactly 8 weeks to prepare.

I took most of the week immediately after the marathon off to allow my body to fully recover. I had a massage on the Thursday, then left it until the 6th day after before I went on my first recovery run. It was possibly the slowest 7 miles I have ever run! But it was the start of the preparation for Freck. I then took the final day of that week off, so it was pretty much a full week of rest and left me feeling nice and refreshed.

It was hard refraining myself from running in that week, such was the buzz that I was on after finishing - but looking back now, I know it was the right decision and probably vital for my recovery and to make sure I was back fit to run hard as soon as possible afterwards.

The following week, I surprised myself slightly at how quickly I managed to get back into my training. I did the Avenham Park 5k on the Monday, and despite tiring half way through it and feeling leggy, I think it was a very important run for me, as the quick miles seemed to blast the remaining lactic out of my legs.

My last 6 weeks of training have seen me record the following miles per week: 65, 61, 64, 70, 70,68. So an average mileage of 66.5 miles a week over this period - which interestingly is pretty much exactly identical to the biggest 6 weeks of training I recorded in my training prior to the marathon.

With the Half Marathon at Freckleton now just one week away, the next 7 days will now be about conditioning myself to try and ensure I am in my best possible shape to run well on the day.

Then I will sit down and assess how things went and what I could have done differently. After that I will pick out my next race to target, and the same process will begin again.

Improving is a process and it will take all runners different amounts of time to achieve their goals, but take it one step at a time - I have come a long way sine I started out in this picture, my first run in a Wesham (borrowed) vest! But I hope I still have a long way to go on this journey to self improvement :)