Week 2 – 29th Jan 2024 to 4th Feb 2024

No injuries from week one and here we are straight into week 2. The plan this week is to do 4 runs, a bootcamp and throw in a walk in the Lake District. If I am going to tell the story of the marathon journey, I should do it warts and all, right? Let’s see how I got on.

Reminder – this is not intended as any kind of recommendation, it is purely my own thoughts and comments on my weeks training. You should seek professional advice for correct marathon training tailored to you. However I hope it gives you some kind of inspiration to try something different yourself.

Training runs

Monday 29th January

That was a busy weekend, Saturday – big hills, Sunday – very big hill, so ideally I wanted to have a nice easy “Easy run”. It was a very wet Monday night and I got to the start point of the group run late, not a great start. I had looked at the options which were a 3+ mile run or a 4+ mile run. I picked the 4+ mile run. The rest of the group were nowhere to be seen by the time I set off so I was playing catch up. I started with Kmac but she was ahead very quickly. We ran from VT car park along the front to Tempest Road (the first hill tonight). We then continued to climb up New Strangford Road towards the bottom of the Avenue.

Kmac waited at the top but then took off up the Avenue. For those that know it’s a long old slog up there. A mixture of the rain, being late and trying to catch up and maybe going too quick to start, as well as being by myself began to start playing with my head. You know that feeling of Imposter syndrome,

“what on earth am I doing, trying to run a marathon, this is for proper runners, I’m not a proper runner“

Maybe you don’t know that feeling but it certainly gets stuck in your mind, if you let it. I ended up walking up the Ave a bit then running a bit. Once at the top, it was a downhill to the Mill Inn, then down Station Road, Denehouse Road and back along the seafront to the car park. A little lesson learned tonight I hope!

Wednesday 31st January

The first technical run of the week was something called a Progressive Hotspot according to my Runna app. This is a typical progressive run (each mile is a little quicker than the last), with a short, all out run towards the end of the progressive and then a cool down.

We started at VT car park again and I was on time this time (just) so could start with everyone. We headed along the seafront to Denehouse Road and went up here. At the top is was back down Church walk to Tempest Road and then turn right to go up Tempest Road to the top. All the way along Princess Road and Queen Alex Road, down Mount Stewart Street to Noses Point, then a loop round Spectrum Business Park. This was a cheeky little up hill, so if the Progressive was going to fail it would be here. According to my watch though it was still on target. When we got back to Noses Point roundabout this was going to be the start of the all out faster bit. At this stage I was happy that I was generally keeping up, the others were not having to loop back too far!!

I was planning on the “Hot Spot” bit from Noses Point down to Costa. My Ambassador of Cheekiness, Jet asked if I was doing a Hot Spot or a G Spot gave me a little smile before I started the faster bit.

Chris W and Lynne were pacing me all the way down to Costa around 0.6 miles and trying to keep under 10 min/mile pace. With their encouragement I managed it, although I have to say I nearly puked when I reached Costa!! Now just a steady jog back to VT car park and Sophie kept me going right to the end.

What a different night to Monday night, confidence restored and head back on track!

You can see here that each mile is quicker than the last, with the last three quarters of a mile more of a cool down.

Thursday 1st February

New month starts with another Technical run, called Broken miles. This is an Interval run, about 5K with a half mile warm up, then 0.75 miles trying to stay around 10 min/mile pace. A 2 minute rest, then 0,25 miles trying to stay around 9 min/mile pace. This time a one minutes rest and repeat both intervals. The emphasis is on the 0.75 mile intervals, going into them with only a short rest after the faster spell.

I was joined tonight by Lee C, Sophie and Sally D. Lee brought Dexter and Sophie brought Luna to help pace us along the way!

We started from VT again and just went straight up to Noses Point and back. Sally was keeping a close eye on the clock for me to make sure I kept to the pace and the distance.

Like Wednesday I really enjoyed this one. I am not usually one for doing the technical runs but I know that’s what makes you a better runner and I am actually enjoying tackling something a little different.

Saturday 3rd February

On Friday I received the following email which started to bring this journey into reality, 100 days to go to the big day!

No Foxes run for me this morning, the Foxes were left in the safe hands of Sophie. I was in the Lake District getting back to what this blog was originally for, a little Fell walking with my mate Peter.

It was a great day for early February and we did Helm Crag, known as the Lion and the Lamb because of the rock formation at the top (which I didn’t get a photo of).

Here are the photos of the walk, a nice change from the running but still plenty of time on the legs.

Sunday 4th February

Last run of the week and the all important long run. Laura plotted a similar route to last Sunday, just a little longer. Thanks to the Sunday squad for letting us join today.

Starting off with a 2 mile jog along Princess Road and round the Green Drive and back we then set off along Grants Crescent into Dawdon and along to Noses Point. Then up round Spectrum Business Park and up Hell Hill and then further along into Jade Business Park then turned around and back down the old railway line between the Golf Course and Parkside to Dawdon Park. Same as last week, we were able to pick the pace up down here especially with the wind behind. When we were back at Dawdon Park we still had just under a mile left. We carried on down Cottages Road and turned left at the old Subway and up towards Tempest Road. I hit the 10 mile point at the railway bridge at the top of Tempest Road and was delighted to see it was a PB, by about 2 minutes.

Nutrition

Similar to last week, plenty of water, fruit and veg, plenty of protein which is meant to repair torn muscles. I am told by Junior, currently studying Nutrition at University that protein is made up of amino acids. As we consume proteins our body breaks them down into amino acids which is then absorbed by the bloodstream and dispatched straight to muscle tissues where they help repair damaged muscle fibres caused by exercise. All very clever stuff but basically it makes sense to eat protein!

During my longer run I took about 3 dextrose tablets originally suggested by Emma D. They suit me and just help to give me a little energy boost.

Progress to Plan

I have again exceeded the plan, the long run for example was supposed to be 10k (6.2 miles) but I did 10 miles. I also exceeded the pace on the technical runs. Still feeling good and whilst it may balance out later in the plan, I would like to be slightly ahead now if possible.

Key Learning

I suppose the biggest learning this week was on Monday. I was feeling good from last week and started the week in a buoyant mood, maybe a little too buoyant. I should have stuck to the plan and did an Easy run, a steady pace and left the hills out. They were coming later in the week and weren’t needed on Monday. The Easy run should be about recovery rather than trying to push yourself, plenty of opportunity for that later in the week!

Again the power of friends is so important as I saw on Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday in those runs.

22 miles covered this week in running only plus the Saturday walk of over 5 miles.

Fave of the week

Even harder to pick this week as so many people to mention. Monday special thanks to Kmac for hanging around for me at certain points to get me going again. Wednesdays run special thanks for the chats with Kathryn, David, Kmac, Emma D, Maria and Sophie. Then a very special thanks to Chris W and Lynne for keeping me going in that faster bit for over half a mile. Also thanks to Jet for the G Spot comment :-).

Thursday thanks to the Famous 5. Lee, Sophie, Dexter and Luna and a very special thanks to Sally D for keeping one eye on the clock and the other eye on pace. Thanks to Peter for another great walk where we put the world to rights wandering up and down a hill.

Finally Sunday, another great long run with Kmac, Kathryn and Lynne and a very special thanks to Laura for keeping me going up Hell Hill and back down the old railway line. Especially after doing an amazing 20 mile run yesterday. I know I have that to come myself but it was inspiring to see how Laura is taking it in her stride.

So with that in mind I think I have to give the Fave of the week to Laura for being so inspiring. She is doing an amazing job.

See you on week 3, have a great week.