Week 4 – 12th Feb to 18th Feb

Late in posting this week, you will see later that I did a later run on Sunday so no time to write this on Sunday evening. Thank you again for the support and comments so far. We are now on week 4 with 12 weeks to go to the big day on 12th May. You can catch up on previous weeks here:

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 12th February

Mondays are Easy run days after a busy weekend of long runs. Easy runs are nice easy pace to help you recover from the longer runs. I was a little late in arriving so started late, typical Monday! So rather than trying to catch everyone, I ran to meet them in the loop they were doing and then turned round.

So it turned out to be a run along the front and then just up to the Villas in Dawdon and back down along the front.

Wednesday 14th February

Tonight was a tempo run. One mile warm up, 3 miles at a tempo pace and then another mile cool down. I wasn’t actually sure what my tempo pace should be so I turned to my running Yoda, Jen T to set the pace for me. Based on my best 5k times Jen set me 10 minutes 20 seconds for the tempo with the instruction I kept between 10.15 and 10.30.

My new Apple Watch arrived today so no more losing runs! There was a 5 mile route planned in Group and Chris W was going to lead it. Around the first 2 miles was going to be uphill, so that meant the first mile of my tempo would be uphill!!

Chris stuck with me the whole way, pacing me a coaching me on technique. Some of the stuff we all learn in the early days of running is so easy to forget. Things like taking deep breaths in through the nose to feed your muscles with oxygen really made a difference. It helped to get my breathing under control when I was pushing hard on the tempo and actually improved my performance. Also advice like trying to keep on your toes to land lighter on your feet, all really solid advice. Thanks also to Lynne and Jet for getting me up Station Road, the first mile of the tempo and a steady incline all the way was the hardest part and they kept me going all the way. You can see from the Splits and the Pace Analysis that I kept in the zone Jen suggested and managed to hit the tempo. This was a particularly enjoyable run and one of the times I can hopefully look back on and remember which runs got me over the line at Leeds.

Saturday 17th February

Usually we do a Foxes run on a Saturday followed by the VT Group run. This week was a little different in that we had a Charity run to support 3 of our members who are doing a Sky Dive to raise funds for Red Sky Foundation, more of that in a moment.

It also meant a little later start at 8.00am. The first part was a 4 mile run, steady pace planned today as we were planning a 14 mile run tomorrow.

From VT car park we dropped down onto the promenade and headed south along to what we call the Travelator, a steep hill back up to the seafront. then we went up Denehouse Road and up Station Road to the Kestrel, turning right into Northlea. We passed my old school grounds then out onto Byrons Walk and back down to the seafront. This completed the first 4 miles of the day and in time to get back to the car park to get our instructions for the Charity run.

Also managed to get a few snaps with some of my faves on the way.

Then we started the Charity run, Hunt the Heart. There was a 5K run and a 5 mile run. I opted for the shorter run again as a longer one planned tomorrow. We used the app What3Words to navigate to certain points around Seaham to pick up hearts along the way. We had to take selfies at each heart stop and get back to the Crows nest for a quiz.

Our team was me, KMac and Shazam and we took off for the first stop just along the seafront to the Masonic Hall, then you can see below the selfies we took.

We all had a great morning and a really good quiz back at the pub. Thanks to Sally, Drew and Leanne for organising. If you would like to support them on their Sky Dive here is the link to the fundraising page.

Sunday 18th February

Sunday is long run day and today was going to be my longest run ever having previously only covered a Half Marathon distance. This was important to get through the mental barrier of the longest run ever!

The usual Sunday crew were not out running in the morning because they had only gone and done a marathon the day before in their training for an Ultra!! So, yet another lie in and we were running at 2 pm. The route took us from Dalton Park through the back paths to South Hetton then retraced our steps and down Hell Hill, along the seafront to Ryhope. From Ryhope we would run round to New Seaham and down the the Mill Inn turn left down Station Road, hopefully completing 14 miles around the Green Bridge at the end of Princess Road.

KMac was doing it with me and Sally H also joined us at the last minute.

We had done Bootcamp on the Friday night and I did a lot of squats with weights. So my thighs were in agony even when I was walking so was not looking forward to 14 miles but we would see how it went.

Once we started the legs were feeing better but I could still feel them. As we got back to the top of Hell Hill we had done over 5 miles and we were going well, the pace was a steady 11 min 20 sec mile pace, ahead of where I wanted to be.

As we got to the bottom of Spectrum Business Park we met Chris W and Laura who were going to join us for the final 10K or so. My watch was reading a little under the mileage I had planned which sometimes happens when you map out a route. So we may have to extend a little at the end.

From 8 miles or so onwards my legs were hating me and I didn’t feel anything like I had done on the 10 mile runs I had done the previous weeks. I knew however it was the squats and not the running so I carried on knowing it will be better next time.

We reached the Half Marathon Distance at the Mill Inn (Ranch) at the end of Station Road, so I knew we were into new territory from here. The good news is it was mostly downhill from here too! Laura and Sally were great keeping me going and looping back for me.

I hit the 14 mile marker behind the Youth Centre and I was delighted. Sally had the idea to get to 14.1 miles so I had done a clear mile beyond my last longest run. So I hit 14.1 miles at the top of Tempest Road and we had group High 5’s!

Nutrition

There was some good advice on last weeks blog from Sally H and Junior so I stuck with that this week. I wanted to make sure I was feeling right during a run. Before the 5 mile on Wednesday I had a Hi5 sachet on my way to the run. I did the same on Saturday and Sunday and then around every 30 minutes I would take on more carbs. On Sunday I had a mixture of Hi5 sachets, dried apricots (thanks to Cap for that one), Dextrose tablets (thanks Emma D) and Squashies (thanks Laura). They all did good because my energy levels were quite good.

Find what works for you and make sure you fuel during the run.

Progress to Plan

Again I stayed ahead of the plan, last week was supposed to be a de-load week but I really wanted to get the longest run in and I will make this week a de-load week, basically cutting back on miles a little to make the longer miles easier later on.

Key Learning

What a week of learning this was! the carb intake talked about last week was absolutely confirmed this week. Also the timing and regularity of the strength training. Either I need to consider doing squats more regularly so I don’t get the DOMS close to the long run or maybe I don’t do them at all. Will have to decide on that one this week.

It also turns out that I CAN run further than a Half Marathon distance so that mental block is now smashed! I was also delighted with my timings. Usually on training for a HM, my times for up to 10 miles are Ok but I tail off up to 13.1 miles. This week felt much better even though there were more hills in the last 3 miles or so. I actually got my second fastest HM without trying .

Fave of the Week

This is now becoming impossible with so many people helping and encouraging me.

Thanks this week to:

• Jet and Lynne for getting me up Station Road at a great pace on Wednesday night to hit my tempo pace.
• Jen T for setting my pace on Wednesday night, thanks Yoda! Maybe one day I will be able to ligitimately run with you (who am I kidding!)
• Again a big thanks to everyone on the Wednesday run, giving me support on the way. Whilst I couldn’t speak much on Wednesday, I appreciated it!
• Big thanks to Chris W for pacing me the whole way and getting me to target. I was just thinking that Chris has helped nearly everyone in the group to become a better runner. We all owe you a big thanks mucker!
• Drew, Sally D and Leanne for putting on a great event on Saturday morning and raising so much for Red Sky.
• Sally H, KMac, Laura and Chris for dragging me through the 14.1 miles on Sunday. A great milestone to smash through and thanks for the support.

Some of my best runs this week including the tempo and the 14.1 miles but the most fun of the week had to be the Hunt the Heart run on Saturday. Actually the shortest of the week but we had such a good laugh finding the hearts and coming up with the selfies so my faves of the week are my teamies:

• Kmac
• Shazam

29 miles covered this week, although the coming week will be a little less to recover. Still enjoying the miles and still feeling good. Thanks to everyone for the support.

See you next week.