Chicago Marathon: Training Summary 21/5/17

Sad moment of the fortnight: I’ve put some serious miles into my ASICS Dynaflytes and did a recent Half Marathon PR in them, but I’ve worn the thread down and had to have them replaced. Is it just me or is it hard to throw away PR shoes? 

Song of the fortnight: As Alison rightly said to me, a good workout song makes you feel like flipping a table over. So my song that represents this recently has to be Shutdown by Skepta.

And following on from my last training blog featuring a LL Cool J song, thanks to Erin for recommending Headsprung to my workout playlist. If you have any suggestions for good workout songs let me know.

Marathon training overview: Below is an overview of my weekly training from 8-14 May 2017, which gives a snapshot of this particular weeks mileage and SiS nutrition, which I manage around a full time job. 

It’s definitely not easy and it takes a lot of my time. But there are other people with family’s, jobs, that do more miles. But regardless of this, I try and do the best I can with the time I have.

Patience. To run a fast marathon takes time, especially when your not a naturally talented long distance runner like myself. What I don’t have in talent I make up in stubbornness.

In terms of effort as a rule of thumb, the marathon mainly consists of aerobic effort, and with a small part made up of anaerobic effort. Whereas if you train for a 5k the anaerobic side of training would be higher than the aerobic side.

For this reason I’m spending more time building up and developing my aerobic capacity, which is a combination of slow easy paced runs, and good mileage. Alongside this, I still work on my anaerobic side by doing one speed work session and one race pace session, as a minimum per week.

Patience. Speed doesn’t just come after a month or two, it will come following consistent training.

However this snapshot of my training only tells one side of the story, it doesn’t talk about the importance of regular strengthen and conditioning, stretching, sports massages, foam rolling, rest, general nutrition etc. If I was to try and run this type of mileage without considering these factors I’d get injured and burn out. If your nutrition is poor then it negatively impacts recovery and following training sessions.

In terms of me sharing a snapshot of my training, I’d like to say that this isn’t the only way to train. There’s faster runners than me that do things differently. Running more miles, or running less miles. Running regular double sessions, or running more often at race pace etc.

But for me personally, it’s important to keep learning and find what does and doesn’t work for you. 

Thought of the fortnight: Although my social media profile is focused on my running, at times it’s important to stop and pay attend to the moment. Bar my strava updates I wanted to just focus solely on enjoying my training, and not on social media likes, so I had a mini social media break, partially inspired by this satirical take on the relationship between social media and running…

On a serious note…Life is often so fast paced, that it’s easy to just focus on conscious thoughts like “I’m frustrated with xyz” and never stop to take time to look into the subconscious feelings of “why do I feeling frustrated with xyz?”

I had a series of recent conversations with Clair, and she reminded me of the importance to make time daily, to journal your day, noting how you feel, so you can be more aware and present with your feelings about what’s going well, or what is distracting you. Having this time allows you to better understand yourself. She also reminded me not to get way too deep into analysis paralysis, when this happens, drop it likes it hot and do something else.

But regardless of the answers to the things you pay attention to, I accept that life is a flux of good, bad and indifferent moments, during this cycle it’s important to always be kind to yourself. Not in an unrealistic happy clappy positive way. But in a realistic, optimistic and adaptable way.

Thank you list:

• I just want to clarify that I’m not being paid to say this, or have a vested interest in this, but I wanted to thank Clair for her part in reminding me to stop, pause and pay attention to the ideas discussed above. I’d highly recommend following her on Instagram @_coachclair for a great dose of healthy realism.

Thank you list for my partners that support my training:

• Thanks to Science in Sport for the supporting my nutrition needs. You can get 10% off your orders using the code: AMB10MBN
• Thanks to Enertor for the performance insoles. You can get £10 off Enertor Performance Insoles, using the code: MARCUS10