A quick update
I haven't blogged for a month or so, but I'm still keeping things ticking over. I did pick up a bit of a cold so had to take it easy for a week or so, but since my last post I've done the following which isn't where I wanted to be, but it's not too bad.
w/e 22nd September: 38.53 miles
w/e 29th September: 18.15 miles
w/e 6th October: 32.98 miles
Next up for me is still Dartmoor Vale Marathon and I'm still hoping to do it. I've been considering dropping back the half marathon but at the moment I'm still planning on doing the race. If I do it, the target time is 4hrs to 4hrs30mins, so we'll see how it goes.
Since my last post many thousands of people have had the disappointment of not getting a ballot place on 2014's London Marathon and unfortunately was one of those people. I do still have a chance of a place via by club (I've marshalled at 4 events, which ensures I'm eligible for the club ballot) but obviously that's not guaranteed. My sister-in-law is talking about doing the Edinburgh marathon (which is a fast one!) to get a GFA time for London 2015 but I can't commit to that yet as if I do get the London place I'd prefer to do that one.
P&D for me?
Even though I haven't got this marathon out of the way yet, I'm thinking ahead to the spring already and (reluctantly) find myself revisiting P&D again. I'm again looking at the 18-week 55-mile plan and think I should be able to start it in reasonable shape mileage-wise.
P&D is quite technical (I'm quite a simple soul at heart....) but I have come up with the below based on my current Half marathon time (1hr42) with a view of getting into the sub-4 category next Spring.
- Long/Medium Long runs- 10:21 to 10:48min/mile. This is based on 15-20% slower than MP).
- Marathon Pace runs. 9min/mile.
- General Aerobic runs- 10:21 to 11:15min/mile (15-25% slower than MP). 11:15 is slow, even for me.
- Lactate Threshold - 8min/mile. P&D says between 15K and Half pace. I've never ran a 15K but 8min/mile is 1hr45 for a Half. My PB is 1hr42 on a fair course. P&D say that people on this training plan should be at the slower end of the range for these LT sessions so I came up with 8min/miles.
- VO2 max - 7min/mile. This is very slightly slower than my 5K average PB on a flat course and looking at the schedules, the VO2 max sessions are interval sessions where I think I could do this pace (or slightly quicker for the shorter intervals).
- Recovery - P&D doesn't really specify the recovery pace, although it says it should be the slowest session of the week. Slower than the 11:15 GA pace seems very slow though....
I do these paces anyway in various sessions, with the exception of the GA run which is slower than what I would do currently and I think I'd do the LSRs at 10min/mile pace. However, it's the mileage increase that is a concern for me in terms of tiredness. The most I've done for this marathon is 45 miles in a week but I've done several high 30s and a couple of low 40s.
The other big difference compared to what I do now is the amount of miles at Marathon Pace that are in the Medium/Long runs, but I can definitely see how this would improve my chances of getting the sub-4. I think if I can do these it will be a confidence booster, if nothing else.
Sub-4 should be within my grasp based on my Half PB (probably not in October though). Some predictors even say 3:45 but I'm well off that currently with my PB currently at 4hr08.
Another concern with P&D is the stories I hear of people getting injured. I'm still not sure yet on if I am going to follow the plan. I may follow it loosely with a view of getting some more miles in as I think that is what I need to do if I want to see sub-4.
A couple of specific session that I enjoyed
5K individual time trial
For one reason or another I haven't done a parkrun for a few weeks so I decided to go out and time myself on a flat loop I know.
There's an industrial estate near me that my running club use for various interval sessions as it is pancake flat, and it's very quiet when everything is shut (evenings and Sundays), apart from the odd learner driver. It's 2 miles from my house, so I jogged down there and warmed up. I had set my Garmin up to count down from 5K so altough I know it's not 100% accurate the Garmin read 21:38 for the 5K effort. My PB at a flat parkrun is 21:29 so I was pleased with my effort, and then I jogged the 2 miles home.
6x600m with the club
Last night I did a 6x600m session with the club, with 200m recovery, in one loop.
Interval Time Dist Av Pace
1 2:29.4 0.37 6:39
2 2:35.0 0.38 6:53
3 2:34.6 0.38 6:48
4 2:33.3 0.37 6:51
5 2:33.5 0.37 6:50
6 2:28.0 0.37 6:35
It's not a measured course so it relied on me clicking the lap button on the efforts but 0.37 of a mile is 595m (according to Google). I'm pretty pleased with that; it's relatively consistent and I finished strong, although I was gasping at the end which I suppose is the point!
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