Keep calm and carry on

Week 7 of the marathon training block then, and having spoken in the previous blog update about little niggles and aches starting to creep in, I started this week with the first real scare. Thankfully, swift physio and extra work on the old foam roller has sorted me out again. But whilst taking a day off last week to allow knee niggles, achilles aches and general tiredness to clear itself up, it was the recurring battle with my pesky periformas that was the cause of my first real concern so far.

With hindsight, my 20 mile long run last week - in which I stated I felt leggy and a bit tired - might have just been a tad too close for comfort on the back of a 10k race on the Saturday. Through the day on Monday I started to become increasingly aware of first a general tightness, and then the starts of the now familiar throbbing kicking off deep in behind my right hand glute and tracking across to my lower back. Thankfully, I now seem to have become that aware of the early signs of the problem almost before it has chance to become one - I was straight on the phone to Vicky Birkett to ask about some treatment and she managed to sort me out that same day. By using the foam roller when I got home from work, I even managed to get out and do a very gentle 8 miles before my massage too - having taken Friday off, I didn't fancy another day off training so soon if I could avoid it.

In the past, problems with the periformas have kept me out of action for anything from 3 days to a full week, and that was my biggest worry in the middle of my most important phase of training I've ever undertaken. This time, by getting swift treatment and then reigning back my training to a more relaxed intensity for a few days, I haven't actually had to miss any training at all, which is a massive bonus and also hopefully points the way towards me now being on top of future concerns about this particular injury, as long as I keep on top of it with regular massage.

As I say, I decided to get back to basics for a few days after this, and decided to do a few days of easy running whilst my body caught up on recovering from a hard weekend of work. So on Tuesday I opted against doing any speed work - deciding that Saturday's race had probably been enough of a top end workout for the week - and instead plodded around a nice and steady 12 miles in the lanes, just ticking over at 6:30s.

On Wednesday I doubled up with two easy runs - and my evening run was even broken up into two, as I had to fit it in around the AA engineer having to come out to me after work to replace a blown tyre!

The rest from any real hard training appeared to have done me good, as Thursday's progression run went extremely well. Doing the same 12 mile progression that we have done for the past couple of weeks, we went through halfway at 6:04 pace - compared to 5:58 the week previous - despite that, we were able to gradually and steadily crank it up through the second half, in order to finish up with an average pace of 5:44 for the session as a whole. The last 3 miles were ran at an average of 5:18 and I felt really strong in the final stages too, which is promising.

I doubled up again on Friday, with two easier runs getting some of the lactic and rubbish out of the system. I decided to bring my long run forward to the Saturday morning this week, and it felt good to get a 23 mile effort ticked off, my longest training run of the block so far and equal to my longest training run prior to the London marathon in 2015. I took it very easy through the first half of the run, reaching 6 miles at 6:48 pace and 12 miles at 6:38 pace, before slowly increasing my effort and finishing up with 6:28s for the run overall. 

An hour long recovery run of 9 miles on Sunday brought me to the end of the week with another highest mileage week - not bad seen as I started the week worrying that it might have been a bit of a write off! 

Something different, which I have really enjoyed doing through this summer so far, has been reading up and studying the sport a bit more and trying to become a smarter and more knowledgeable runner. I have already spoken about reading Charlie Spedding's brilliant autobiography, but I have been doing reading around online and through several different means and sources too.

This week though, something a little bit different and out of the box caught my attention. A post on Twitter by an extreme swimmer - who trains for up to 6 months per swim in the Arctic sea - about the mental and physical challenges that he has to overcome in both the training and the execution of his swim. I found it a fascinating read, and entirely relatable to marathon running. The tweet that I have shared in the photos below in particular struck a chord. There will be a point in Berlin where the pain starts to increase and the little voices in the head start trying to make me doubt myself and what I am trying to do. But no matter how many reasons you can come up with to stop and to ease off and no matter how painful it gets, as long as you have ONE really meaningful reason to keep going, you will find a way to overcome them. I am very lucky to have a very strong network of family and friends that are supporting me through the journey, both out there and back at home, and that will be what I use as my inspiration on the day.

Total mileage for the week: 88.5

Average pace for the week (m/pm): 6:39

Total mileage for the month of July: 367.5

Total mileage so far this month (August): 80

Total mileage for 2017: 2198

Average miles per day 2017: 10.13

Drop down week / Pilling 10k

This weekend marked the halfway point of my 12 week block of marathon training, and having successfully maintained an 80+ mile a week average so far, I used this week as a bit of a drop down week in order to allow my body to recover from all the little niggles and aches that I have developed over recent weeks.

I decided to take Friday off from training completely, making it my second day off from training in the block so far - having ran for the previous 24 days on the spin, getting in 300 miles in that time. I was also booked in for a massage on Friday, and so, being confident that I would be feeling quite fresh this weekend I decided I would have a go at a race and introduce a bit of pace work to my training programme.

I had been tipped off about Pilling 10k, and had heard that there might be some quick lads at the front end, and so I thought that it might be the ideal opportunity to try and put down a quick time.

Unfortunately, the runner that I had hoped to try and chase around (for as long as I could!) broke down on the way to the race, so it became a bit of a plan B - but more about the race later on...

The week started off with a relatively steady 11 miles on Monday, at 6:17 pace. I made a decision at the start of the week not to double up as much this week to allow me some extra sleep as I was feeling a little tired, so instead I just tagged an extra mile or two on the end of a few of my evening runs.

On Tuesday I wanted to get some pace work in, but couldn't face a trip to the track on my own for a series of long reps, so instead I decided to improvise and run my local 10.5 mile route as a fartlek session. I set my watch for a training programme of 15 minutes warm up, 5 x 5 minute reps off 3 minutes recovery and 10 minutes cool down. I figured that if I could get the whole run in at around 6 minute mile-ing, then that would mean the reps would be working out at around low 5 minute mile pace, so that was my target set.

I ended up having a very pleasing run, and my efforts recorded were at 5:09, 5:04, 5:03, 5:03 and a final easier rep at 5:30 pace. I managed to hold my pace under 6 minute mile-ing for the session overall too which was pleasing.

Wednesday was the only day this week in which I doubled up, with 4 easy miles in the morning, followed by 7.5 more in the evening.

On Thursday, myself and Affleck did our 12 mile progression run through the country lanes for a bit of a change, and having ran the 6 miles out with the wind behind us at 5:58 pace, on the turnaround I was more than happy to record an average of 5:32s on the way back into a fairly stiff headwind. I finished up with an average pace of 5:44 for the session overall, a slight improvement on the previous week.

Having had Friday off, I did feel pretty fresh on Saturday morning, and was hopeful of putting in a decent performance. I had Joe Monk for company at the front end, and we moved through the early stages of the race at a good pace, with my first two mile splits at 4:58 and 5:02, which if I could have kept it up would have equated to 31 minute 10k pace. Unfortunately though, mile 3 was a long stretch into a fairly strong headwind and my pace dropped significantly despite opening up a big gap to the rest of the field. The pace dropped to 5:18 through this mile, which put paid to any aspirations of a quick time for the race. I recovered somewhat in mile 4 with the wind in favour again, with a 5:08, but the start of the second loop saw us turn back into the same headwind through to the 5 mile mark - with that fifth mile coming in at 5:22. I recovered again in mile 6 to run a 5:06, and a decent sprint through the final stretch brought me home in under 32 minutes at least, for 31:54 - which is actually a course record so I can't knock it too much I suppose! It was a good hard and honest workout, and one which I definitely felt the following morning on my Sunday long run! 

I had intended on running I excess of 22 miles for my long run this weekend, but feeling a touch leggy and lethargic from the race, I settled for 20.5 miles at a steady 6:31 pace. I will look to work this long run distance up now over the next 6 weeks, having set a decent base with six 20-22 milers now in the bank from the first half of the training block.

Total mileage for the week: 78.5

Average pace for the week (m/pm): 6:18

Total mileage so far this month (July): 359

Total mileage for 2017: 2109.5

Average miles per day 2017: 10.05

Berlin build up week 5 - Wesham interclub

The way that our long run/race had gone last Saturday, left me feeling much more confident about the task ahead in preparing for my marathon. Not only was it a good psychological boost in ticking off 22 miles, but to feel so strong throughout the 10 miles of the race, and be getting quicker through what was effectively miles 18-20 was a great sign for me that my endurance is coming along nicely.

This week, I continued my push onto higher mileage, but also I am now just starting to think about introducing a little bit more pace work back into the mix too.

Which worked in perfectly this week, because Monday was the latest race in the 2017 interclub series - I seem to be saying this a lot lately as these races are coming around thick and fast at the moment. I was a tad concerned going into the Elswick 10 miler that the 22 miles total was going to take its toll on me ahead of the interclub, with a quick turnaround of a little over 48 hours. 

Training-wise, the quick turnaround was excellent, as I am well aware that the more used to running on tired legs I can get (especially at pace) the better ahead of the marathon. And this race would be ran at a fair rate too, as a good standard turned out for this fixture. Affleck was there, and in the same boat as me, with plenty of miles in the legs from the weekend exertions - but Joe Monk and Luke Minns were also there, which meant that I knew I would have to be well and truly on my A game if I wanted to register a win.

This was Wesham's home leg of the series, and as we are having a very good season so far, we were determined to try and keep the momentum and positivity going on our home patch. Having Joe in the team as second claim was a huge boost to our chances, although we were a bit depleted in comparison to previous races this year.

From the gun, Joe made a very quick start and would take on the early pace, and to my bemusement an older looking runner, from Red Rose followed him out and ran really hard through the first 400. It wasn't somebody that I have ever seen at the front end before and setting off at the pace he did (and even hanging onto the pack of the group through the first half mile or so) I would imagine may have taken a toll on him later on!

As I say, Joe seemed to go out hard for the first 400 - and if we had been in a 1500 race I don't think I would have seen him for dust! But with all the recent mileage and training I have been doing, I was feeling calm and confident that I would have the endurance to push on as the race progressed. It was a good paced first mile, with myself and Luke taking it in turns sharing the lead with Joe. This served to keep the pace at a decent rate, but it never really increased and I settled into a nice rhythm and was happy with my form and rhythm.

I managed to start pulling away from the other two at around the 2 mile mark, after two miles at 5:00 and 5:02 pace. Knowing that a little gap was opening up behind me, I kept my foot down a touch to make sure I made the most of the opportunity and ran the third mile in 5:00 again. From then on in I was fairly confident that I had enough of a gap behind me and so wasn't overly concerned about pushing too hard through the final mile and a half, but instead I was more interested in keeping the same form and rhythm and just generally making sure that I didn't let my levels drop. Mile 4 was 5:03 and I ran the final half mile home uphill in 5:02 to give me 22:39 for 4.5 miles on a nice rolling and slightly undulating course.

I had ran well, and slightly faster than I had been anticipating. With not much recent top end speed work or racing behind me, it was a huge confidence booster to be hitting my 10k PB pace so comfortably and feeling as though if the race had been a mile and a half longer I could certainly have sustained it and gone close to clocking a sub 31. It's almost a shame I'm in training for a marathon and not a fast 10k race! 

Later on in the week, I did a 12 mile progression run with Affleck, and as we went through the first half in 6:01s, I felt stronger and stronger as the miles ticked by. My final two miles were at 5:20 pace and I ended up with 5:46 average pace for the session.

With an iffy forecast for the weekend, and Saturday looking like the nicer day, I decided to get my long run done and out of the way early - rather than risk having to do it in grim conditions on the Sunday. As something different I ran out towards St Anne's and took myself up and around Fairhaven Lake and back, making for just under 22 miles in total. I took it fairly easy on the way out - hitting 13 miles at 6:30 average pace, and slowly increasing it through the second half of the run to finish up with 6:23 average for a nice and steady run.

Total mileage for the week: 87

Average pace for the week (m/pm): 6:24

Total mileage so far this month (July): 280.5

Total mileage for 2017: 2031

Average miles per day 2017: 10.00

Taking a different approach

During week four of training for Berlin, things are starting to take shape a little bit now and the challenge is very much becoming more real. I have managed to complete four weeks in a row of 80-85 miles a week for the first time, and am enjoying the work that this bigger training block is requiring. It is a new test for me, both physically and mentally it is something different to all that I have done before.

I have been trying to break the 12 week block into smaller segments, in order to make it seem both more of a gradual process of building fitness and also to keep things fresh mentally - rather than one big twelve week slog, I am trying instead to break it down to a weekly, fortnightly and monthly approach. 

The end of this week has brought about the end of the first four week segment. The target four weeks ago was to build a solid base of mileage and to try and string together four weeks at 80 miles plus. So in terms of where I am in comparison to my expectations at this stage, I feel I am bang on track with where I wanted to be at this point.

In addition to all the physical training that I have been doing throughout the initial weeks of marathon training, I have also begun to start trying to study the sport in a a bit more depth. I am trying to build my knowledge of what it takes to be a better runner, both physically and mentally. One way in which I am attempting to do so, is to take in more some of the reading material that is out there to learn from. I have started a book by Charlie Spedding called "From last to first", it is an autobiography describing his progress from school boy crosscountry running, to taking Olympic bronze in an English record time in the marathon. The book was recommended by Luke Minns,mane it hasn't disappointed so far - I am halfway through it and have already taken so much away from it.

One of the main things that I have grasped from the book so far, is the effects that the language that you use to describe yourself and your actions can possibly impact on your performance. That may seem far fetched, but in the way that Charlie explains it, it does make a lot of sense to me - and it is something that I can completely relate to. 

For instance, in the book Charlie describes answering questions about how his training is going, how he is feeling, how his races have gone as always being answerable by the same phrase "not bad", and how "not bad" can also be qualified as meaning "not good" either. In that sense, even good performances or sessions have something of a black cloud hanging over them in your own mind, by how you perceive them and describe them publicly. He suggests that taking a more positive approach and mindset, and using more positive vocabulary and thought processes can lead to you believing in yourself and your ability more, opening up your mind to bigger and better things.

He also uses the example of the runner that has a target set for themselves in a session, but never feels satisfied unless they not only meet said target, but exceed it and go the extra yard. Because these runner's are never satisfied with their training, he says, they never entirely believe they have done all they can to be in shape for their big targets and races. He argues that training optimally - or to the "perfect" level for you - is better than going the extra and training too hard, or overtraining.

This is an interesting concept to me, and I put it into action this week myself. On Thursday, myself and Affleck did our progression run, but whereas I usually try and try to better the previous weeks run, this time I took it much more relaxed and just hit our intended target for the individual session. We had decided to do a 10 mile race on the weekend and to top the mileage up to make a good long run, and so it was important that I held back enough on the Thursday and left enough energy in the tank for the more important workout on the Saturday morning. We still got a decent session in on the Thursday, but didn't overstretch as much as the previous week. I averaged 5:52 for 10 miles, progressing from 6:08 pace at half way.

On Saturday, both me and Affleck decided to venture to the Elswick 10 miler, but also to get there early and do a full reccie of the course beforehand as a warm up, in order to turn it into a 20+ mile long run. We did the warm up at 6:52 pace, and the target for the race was to run around in roughly 5:35 pace, to bring us in at around 56 minutes for the 10 miles. We started off with 5:35, 5:38 and 5:41 for the first three miles, and then we clicked into gear. I was so pleased with the consistency and rhythm that I developed through the final 7 miles of the run. The splits for the remaining miles were: 5:28, 5:28, 5:27, 5:28, 5:28, 5:29 and 5:25 for the final mile. As usual I didn't run by the watch, but by feel and so I was delighted by how controlled and consistent the run went. I opted out of a 'sprint finish' against Rob and don't begrudge him beating me to the line - I was more than happy with what I got out of the run anyway, and was happy to save that little bit of energy for another day. I came in with 55:09 for the 10 miles for 2nd place, over two and a half minutes slower than my best time for the distance, but a performance that I am very pleased with considering the extent of the warm up! We added another two miles in as a cool down at the end to make up a very nice 22 miles for the morning.

At the four week point, I am very happy with how my training is progressing so far.

Total mileage for the week: 85

Average pace for the week (m/pm): 6:24

Total mileage so far this month (July): 193.5

Total mileage for 2017: 1944

Average miles per day 2017: 9.92

Berlin build up: week 3

I started off week three of my twelve week block of marathon training with a bit of a rare day off on Monday. Despite feeling good enough to run, with it still being relatively early doors in the training and being concious of the fact that my body will still be adjusting to the recent increase in mileage, I stuck to my original plan of having a rest day at the start of this week.

Originally I had intended to have a go at a 5000 metre race in Trafford on Tuesday. However, a combination of work getting in the way, as well as a few second thoughts, meant a change of plan. Eventually, I decided that at this stage of my training block, getting as many miles in my legs as possible and concentrating on longer efforts is my main concern right now.

So instead I ran a decent paced 12 miles. It wasn't a particularly hard effort, but a steady and consistent run at 6:18 pace.

I doubled up on Wednesday, with 4 miles before work and 8.5 miles in the evening. My evening run was supposed to be gentle paced, but as I tend to run on feel rather than by my watch, I actually clocked 6:10 pace. My heart rate recording suggests that I was indeed running well within myself anyway, so perhaps I just ran a bit stronger due to the day off earlier in the week.

Thursday was, as usual, my progression into a tempo run. This week we did 11.2 miles, starting at 6:04 and working the way to a 5:23 final mile. The average pace throughout the run was 5:39, which in comparison to the previous week's 5:48 pace, again shows some nice progression week to week. Hopefully this is an indication of my endurance and fitness improving, as well as the rest day doing me a lot of good.

I doubled up again with two easier runs on Friday of 4 and 7 miles. On Saturday, I did a bit of a tempo session, I did 5 miles at 5:19 pace. I had intended to do some shorter, sharper two mile efforts around Cottam cycle track, but due to getting out a bit later having got distracted by the Lions rugby match, I settled for one longer effort instead as the track was already in use by the time I got there!

I finished my week with a long run of 20.5 miles on Sunday. The first half of the run went very smoothly, but I encountered some stomach problems from about mile 11 and felt sick through to mile 19 - when I eventually did throw up! I actually felt good once I'd been sick and the last mile and a half was much easier. I don't know what caused the sickness, but in spite of it I was actually pleased with how I went about the run. Despite not feeling great, I held 6:16 pace throughout, slightly quicker than my two previous 20 mile runs of this block. Mentally, this was quite a tough one, so it was very pleasing to come through it fairly strongly, and it makes for good preparation for the challenges I will no doubt encounter on race day.

Total mileage for the week: 79.5

Average pace for the week (m/pm): 6:15

Total mileage so far this month (July): 108.5

Total mileage for 2017: 1859

Average miles per day 2017: 9.84

Clocking up the miles

The training for Berlin is now well underway, and this week I clocked up my biggest mileage week for the second successive week. I have also managed to get my second 20 mile long run completed and it feels good to have a couple of good long runs under my belt early on in the training block.

The longer training runs are the ones that I feel I was a little bit apprehensive about. I hadn't done a longer run than 18 miles since training for the London marathon in 2015, so mentally it feels good to have a couple done nice and early, knowing that I can at least cope with that distance, and it seems less of a barrier now to increase that distance gradually over the coming weeks and months.

I feel positive about the way the longer training runs have gone too, although I haven't focused on running at any sort of pace, I seem to be finding a nice and relaxed rhythm on them so far and have been hitting 6:20 pace fairly comfortably, and feeling strong towards the end of each of the runs too.

This week was also the fourth race of the 2017 interclub race series, staged at Thornton Cleveleys. The course was a 5 mile single loop, with the first 2.5 miles out being fairly undulating in parts and very much into a straight on headwind. The second half of the course, on the return, was downwind and ran on a harder - albeit much flatter - concrete surface. 

It was a nice evening for racing really, with dry and overcast conditions. The turnout wasn't quite as strong as the previous races so far in this series and so I won the race quite comfortably, and was able to treat it as a nice hard run, putting in the effort still - but without ever really having to move into the top gears. I held 5:08 pace throughout, finishing in 25:42, which was a pleasing effort in what was effectively a time trial run.

The lack of top end competition turning out from other clubs also benefited Wesham in the team standings too, as we managed to take a well deserved first place on the evening to open up the race for the team title a little bit and make things much more interesting going into the second half of the season.

My other main training session of the week was my progression run on Thursday, as we upped it to 11 miles this week, running the 5.5 miles out at 6:05 pace, before returning at 5:30s, to give us an average pace of 5:48 for the session overall.

Apart from that, the rest of the week has been largely easy running, with the focus at this stage being very much on racking up as many miles as I can and getting that solid endurance base built as much as possible. I have managed back to back 80+ mile weeks for the first time since February 2015, so hopefully I can keep that going now in the coming weeks as I try and keep getting stronger and fitter on the road to Berlin. 

12 weeks to go...

Total mileage for the week: 85

Average pace for the week (m/pm): 6:25

Total mileage for the month of June: 320.5

Total mileage so far this month (July): 29

Total mileage for 2017: 1779.5

Average miles per day 2017: 9.78

Back to basics

After suffering a nightmare run out at Freckleton Half, it was important for me to get straight back into the swing of things and putting last Sunday behind me.

No matter how good of a form or shape you believe you are in, and no matter how long you have spent training and racing well, it only takes one bad one to rock your confidence a bit and have you asking questions about every little piece of your preparation.

You are only as good as your last performance as they say, and I definitely was affected somewhat by my experience last weekend as I began a new week. The temptation was to throw myself straight back in with another race somewhere - it didn't really matter where, or what it was - just to try and 'prove' something to myself. I found a one mile event at Cottam and was debating doing that, just to run angry and get my frustrations out of my system.

But after a discussion with Coach Affleck at the start of the week, the clouds in my head soon shifted. Our chat refocused my mind on the big picture and that long term goal of Berlin, which is looming large on the horizon. He made me realise that I am at the start of possibly my biggest and most important training block yet, and doing off-the-cuff things like that could potentially de-rail my attempts for that. 

Instead, I opted to get my teeth into some proper sessions and to start putting the hard miles in as the 14 week countdown to the marathon began. I am glad that I did, as looking back on the week's training, I would actually put it down as one of my most satisfying I've ever done. I completed a personal highest mileage week, and encorporated all of the main ingredients - with a track session, a progression run, tempo, and a longer than normal long run (as I start to build up to that big 26.2!). I also managed to double up on two of the days by adding a 4.5 mile run in before work on a couple of the days to top up my mileage and loosen my legs up after my bigger sessions the night previous.

I am my own biggest critic anyway, so after a poor performance I am always left scratching my head and looking at my plans and training and seeing what and where I need to improve. Ahead of Berlin, mileage and getting used to running on tired legs is definitely one aspect I will be looking to improve over the next 12 weeks or so. For what it is worth though, I don't think I am a million miles off having the right balance now, so it will be more a case of gradual evolution of my training, rather than root and branch revolution. 

This week I ran 10 miles steady on the Monday and was wary about how it would go, just a little over 24 hours after bombing out of the race. I needn't have been too concerned though, as I ran solidly and averaged 6:10 pace comfortably all the way around, without ever really striding out too much. 

Then on Tuesday, I decided to try a bit of a track session. I didn't do a full session, as again I was still a little bit concerned as to how much the weekend would have taken out of me. Instead, I did 3 x 1 miles (4:52, 4:53, 4:53) off a two minute recovery, then 1 x 800 metres (2:28) and 1 x 400 (69). My times faded towards the end as I began to feel a bit jaded and so backed off a touch.

I doubled up on Wednesday, choosing to do an easy 4.5 miles in the morning, followed by a steady 6 in the evening, rather than just doing one big session. This was mainly to break the miles up a bit and to get some of the lactic out of my legs early in the morning.

On Thursday I did a solid 10 mile progression run. I started out a tiny bit quicker than intended, but that just meant that I didn't have to up the effort quite as much through the second half. It was a big undulating loop, so I was pleased to finish up with 5:43 average for 57:15.

Friday was similar to Wednesday, with two gentle runs bringing another 10 miles to the bank.

Over the weekend I got two particularly pleasing sessions in, with a 2 x 3 mile tempo on Saturday (5:23 average pace) followed up by a long run of just under 20 miles at 6:21 pace. I had been dreading my first 20 miler of this training block and so it was a good one to get out of the way, but it went surprisingly well and I felt really relaxed and comfortable throughout. If it hadn't have been so early into the training schedule I would actually have been tempted to carry on for another few miles - so that has to be a good sign!

I have put a good first serious week of work down now, and it is a nice platform to build off from over the next couple of months. 13 weeks until race day...

Total mileage for the week: 83

Average pace for the week (m/pm): 6:19

Total mileage so far this month (June): 264.5

Total mileage for 2017: 1694.5

Average miles per day 2017: 9.68