Week 3 – 5th Feb to 11th Feb 2024

This weeks plan was 4 runs and a bootcamp or two. So far my long runs have been ahead of plan and I have followed the technical runs as closely as possible, maybe staying just ahead of them too.

The support I have received on this blog has been absolutely amazing and I am delighted that people are finding it of some use. Thank you very much for the kind comments and hopefully week 3 will hold your interest. If you would like to catch up on previous weeks, here they are:

Week 1

Week 2

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 5th February

So last week my biggest learning was on Monday. I decided that Monday should be a proper recovery day, nice easy run, steady pace, no hills or speed intended. I think I learned my lesson this week, I opted for the shorter of the runs available and took a nice easy pace so a good start to the week.

The run started at VT carpark and took us along the front to Noses Point. Then up round the Villas to King Edward Road, along there to Cottages Road and down through Ropery Walk to the seafront and back along to VT.

My watch died on me just before the end however and didn’t record the run so huge thanks to Becca for tagging me into her run, we ran a similar distance and pace.

I was delighted to get a picture of me with some more of my faves I like to call the Munchkins, no idea why I call them that! Here they are from the left Sara, Sandra (or Gill as she calls herself), Sarah and Donna.

Wednesday 7th February

On Tuesday I threw in a 45 minute HiiT session and then Wednesday was back to a technical run. This one was called 200m repeats on my Runna plan. It’s basically an intervals session with the intervals at a tempo pace. It was great that Chris R was leading this session. Chris did a marathon last year and has great ideas around planning and techniques so it was good to listen to his experience.

We started at VT again and did an anti clockwise loop round East Shore back to the seafront and along to in front of ASDA. This was done at a nice steady pace just to get warmed up. Then the plan was to do 200m at tempo pace then a 50 sec walking rest and do this 6 times.

Runna suggested in the coaching notes that this is a good opportunity to practice your form whilst running at speed. I was advised to concentrate on my feet landing underneath me, keep my shoulders relaxed and engage the glutes to drive forward. The aim is NOT to go flat out but to try to hold a consistent pace at a good speed.

Chris also said the same thing just before we started the intervals, so hearing this from two sources was very encouraging.

I think I managed to stick to the intervals as you can see on the 6 peaks on the diagram below. The 4th and 5th maybe tailed off slightly but came back strong on the 6th.

Thanks to Chris for the advice and also lending me his calf sleeves which I would try out later in the week. Very positive technical run which is something I have concentrated on in this training so far. I would never do these kind of runs in the past but I can feel the difference they are making. So many of my running heroes have always said the only way to run faster is to run faster. May sound obvious but when you do this via these technical runs it all becomes very clear.

My watch died again but fortunately the run had recorded before it died.

Saturday 10th February

The luxury of a couple of days off running felt good coming into Saturday. Today was going to be the longest run so far. Runna suggested an 8.1 mile run but I was aiming for 12 miles. Saturday is my favourite day of the week as we get to do the Foxes run early on. This getting bigger and bigger each week and more and more fun. So, I was going to do around 7 miles in the Foxes run then another 5 miles in the usual Tempest Fit running group. We started at Dalton Park so I wanted to do a run which took us into Hetton. I am no expert on the paths round here so I drafted in the local knowledge of Richie to help plot a route for today. I have to say he played a blinder and gave us all a great route. Richie is another legend in the group like Chris, a very strong runner, very technical and also did a marathon last year so bags of experience.

We met at Dalton Park for 7.10 am, here is our meet up picture although I realised after I had missed off Richie (the main man) and Sally H (the main woman), sorry both.

Some new Foxes today with a very special guest J Low, great that the Foxes helped her on her way to a massive 23 miles this morning. So inspiring to see and thanks for joining the Foxes Jo.

The route took us round Dalton Park and out to the main road through Murton then round the paths behind Dalton Park all the way out to South Hatton. Here we turned right and ran through the middle of Easington Lane. Turned right half way down the Lane towards Murton and then back out to the main road to Murton. Up the big hill to the old Crossings at Murton (which turned out to be not too big a hill after all). Then finally all the way down through Murton back to Dalton Park.

We passed another of Ray Lonsdale’s statues which are appearing in many East Durham villages called the Children of Mothers right next to the Cenotaph.

Some great chats along the route thanks to everyone for keeping me going but especially Sally D who paced me for most of the run and Sophie who kept me going at the end.

As I was running down through Murton, the last mile and a half my knee started to niggle just a little. I decided then that I wasn’t going to do the extra 5 miles with the group. Better be safe than sorry I thought.

Sunday 11th February

I woke up to the following weather forecast, not the best news to wake up to! It looked like it was going to be a very wet run.

I checked with the others as I would have been very happy to stay at home but received this back.

That’s fairly clear then, we are running.

Laura had planned out a 10 mile route for us. At this stage I wasn’t sure what I would do but I would give it a go. I was trying the calf sleeves lent to me by Chris R today to see how they felt.

Just found out at the start that today is Lynne’s birthday as well, what a way to start your birthday!

We did the same as the last 2 Sundays, out to Noses Point then up Hell Hill, I am quite enjoying it now to be fair, then straight over towards Jade Enterprise Park. We turned right at the end and headed back towards the main road through Murton. We were following the same route as we did yesterday in reverse to day. I made a wrong turn in my directions here but fortunately only for maybe 20 or 30 yards, so we quickly got back on track.

On the main road we turned left and headed up to the old Crossings. Here we got on the old line down to Seaton. We were going to go all the way down to Seaton, then back to the seafront. However this is what the track looked like.

We really didn’t fancy around 2 miles of that, so we got off the track and went back through the housing estate and back to the main road. We were going to go back past Dalton Park, down the Times Inn bank and through Dalton le Dale.

As we got to the Dalton Park/A19 junction, I checked my watch and completely dead again. New watch incoming! Thanks to Laura for tagging me in her run so I got it recorded.

We got back to the end of Dalton le Dale and hit 10 miles, just before the hill up to Maureen terrace.

This had to be one of my most rewarding runs. I really would have not even turned up if the others didn’t but felt great when it was done and actually felt great all the way through. Once you’re wet you’re wet, right? These 4 were amazing to keep me going, chatting all the way and I don’t think I held them up too much.

Nutrition

I was talking to Sally H about nutrition, who better to talk to than a food expert and she has written this amazing article you can access on the Tempest Fit Facebook page.

Also my in house nutritional expert, Junior, has put together some notes on the benefits of carbohydrates for runners.

She writes

Carbs are important as the central nervous system is largely dependant on glucose. ATP is the currency of energy in your body. Carbs are the preferred primary source for its production.

Carbs are stored as glycogen – exercise is compromised by a lack of glycogen kept in storage to fuel the body.

You can increase your glycogen stores by eating high carb foods

Pre- workout food should be simple carbs as this gives immediate energy (complex carbs are longer lasting)

Carbs can make you lethargic, this is because they help raise tryptophan which converts into serotonin and then melatonin which makes you sleepy.

Junior – studying nutrition at Northumbria University

So there you have the science as well, proud of my girl, thanks for this.

Progress to Plan

Plan exceeded again, long run should have been 8.1 miles but did 10 and also 7 miles the day before. I stuck to the plan with the other runs. Other than a slight niggle in my knee on Saturday I am feeling good. By the way on Saturday I didn’t take any carbs on board during the run which backs up Sallys article and my daughters comments above. I really crashed after just 7 miles on Saturday but felt great after 10 on Sunday.

Key Learning

So what have I learned this week, well definitely the importance of carb intake on a longer run. See Sallys article here and also read the Nutrition section above. It’s clear that its vital for me to be properly fuelled.

Also I really found the calf sleeves helpful so thanks to Chris for those (currently being laundered for return). Also the importance of stretching. I am finding with the increasing distance my calves are getting tighter. Over the weekend runs I have been constantly reminded of this quote by The Greatest – Muhammad Ali. You HAVE TO put the effort in to make the big day a success!

25 miles covered this week, slowly increasing the miles!

Fave of the week

Man o Man this is getting harder every week! So many people could take the award this week, so many people have given great advice, made a poignant comment or just been so helpful in my journey.

Thanks to:

• Becca and Laura for sharing their Strava runs when my watch died.
• The Munchkins for always making me smile and always putting in the effort, always inspiring.
• Chris R for the solid advice, support on the Wednesday run and for lending me the calf sleeves.
• Also all the other runners in the Wednesday session, great support from each other.
• Captain O’Marvel for the posts on Facebook, always motivational from a true Superhero.
• All the Foxes, you all have lifetime Fave status anyway as you all know. Brilliant turnout on Saturday, always my fave run of the week.
• J Lo for your inspiring 23 miles, I know I have this to come and it’s great to see other people doing it.
• Richie Eagle (Regal) for plotting Saturdays run and leading the Foxes, great route.

That just leaves Sunday. For (virtually) dragging me out of bed and then through chat, encouragement and making me actually enjoy 10 miles in the non-stop rain on a Sunday morning I have to give 4 Faves of the week to:

• Holly
• Kathryn
• Laura
• Lynne

So that means Laura has back to back awards, can she get a hat trick? Her dedication to her plan is so inspiring to be fair and its great to see the distances she is covering.

Thanks to everyone for a great week, still feeling good and on to week 4 we go!