Sub 3 hour marathon training diary – Week 2

Week two: 12/24/2018

Weekly training from Coach John:

This weeks target was six single runs. However I wasn’t well and I made the decision to rest, rather than run when my body needed to recover.

Four runs were easy paced runs, with one short workout.

My first weekly workout allowed for a warm up and warm down miles, with a short four mile tempo run faster than marathon pace.

To run sub three, the slowest I can run is an average 6’50 min/per mile.

After a lot of easy paced running recently, thankfully my legs responded and I ran it in 24:51 at an average pace of 6’13 min per mile.

For this weeks training over the Christmas week Coach John has brought me my first present. The introduction of the double sessions!! I don’t get to unwrap this present until Thursday. This week my rest day is Christmas Day, which I’m happy about.

I also have two sets of strides to introduce speed work without over-stressing my body. Finally I finish with a medium tempo run at the end of the week.

Peak & trough from the previous week:

Training was good, and at times down right ugly.

The good was hitting my paces for my short tempo and just missing one run after being unwell.

The ugly part was my daughter being unwell. It’s always worse when your kids are sick as you don’t want to see them in discomfort.

For my training and general wellness, my underlining feeling was what can I do NOW to help recover quicker. That was rest recovery and plain food/water fuelling.

To help with recovery I had two days off where I missed one session of an easy paced 8 mile run.

The return to training, was tough but that was too be expected after being unwell. My comfort in those moments, came from knowing that my running will feel better in the future! Whilst I don’t feel 100% now, I don’t feel as bad as I did at the start of the week!

Thanks to Pro:Direct Running for sending me the personalised ASICS Gel Nimbus 21 shoes with my initials.

It’s in its 21st year of production. For my easy runs I tend to choose more support, rather than lightness and this neutral shoe (previous versions) is my go to shoe that I wear the majority of the time.

I tend to switch up to a lighter shoe for workouts and races.

It’s still early days, but I like the fact the new Nimbus 21’s has a wider toe box.

Additionally it reminds me of the ASICS GEL-DS Trainer 23. It’s designed to propel you forward when running on your forefoot. The DS trainer has less support than the Nimbus 21’s as it’s for faster running. The new Nimbus 21’s help propel you forward also but have more cushioning in the fore and rear foot.

Weekly Tip:

For track workouts it’s easy to run all out on the straights, to make up speed lost taking it easy on the bends. But I took this advice from Ed Price and it really helped me this week. Cruise the straights at a steady pace, then attack the bends as you end up running even splits.

This weeks recommended podcast for the slow runs:

David Goggins interview with Lewis Howes (The School of Greatness). David is an Ex special forces, ultra marathon athlete etc. He has done a few interviews and I think this is one of his best deliveries of the values he lives by. I think sometimes his no nonsense outlook gets misinterpreted, and he gives a real and honest approach into how his background shaped him. Click here to listen.

To follow my journey on Instagram follow the hashtag

#2019projectsub3