Week 8 – 11th Mar – 17th Mar

Another challenging week and for the first time so far I had to take most of the weekend off due to an injured foot. Initially this was devastating to me and I didn’t think I had a lot of slack in the plan and wanted to keep going.

However, realistically I am half way through the training plan and I did 17 miles last week. My training will probably only take me to around 22 miles so it’s really not that bad.

As I said, week 8 brings me to the half way point in this 16 week training plan. So I thought it might be good to compare the stats I did in the first week.

If you would like to catch up on previous weeks you can find them here:

Usual reminder coming up but I thought I should explain why I keep putting this reminder in. This original blog was written for walks I did in the Lake District with my mate Peter. Like this blog they were written mainly so that I had a record for myself in years to come but if anyone else was interested in reading it then great. One walk we did, we ended up going totally off-piste by mistake and walked over a very boggy area. It was fairly clear that we had gone off-piste and that it ended up a very hard walk and indeed that it was a mistake. Some guy put a comment on saying that he took his wife on the same walk and that they had an horrendous time and it took ages and they literally got bogged down etc etc! He basically wasn’t happy at all!

So I feel like I should make it very clear not to follow what I do, it’s literally my own journey and you should apply your own common sense and judge your own abilities. IT’S NOT A GOLDEN MARATHON PLAN, IT”S JUST MINE (just in case the same guy is reading this!)

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 11th March

Easy run Monday and again it was just a gentle pace run after the rigours of the weekend to ease back into the week.

Monday night was also the graduation ceremony of the beginners group. Something most of us have done and a sort of right of passage. After a solid 10 week training plan, the beginners do their first 5K and everyone else joins in to support them on their way and then round to the pub afterwards for a drink and a medal ceremony. Congratulations to all the new runners and I hope you find this as rewarding and as much fun as I have over the past 4 years.

The route was just a straight up and down as we call it, from VT car park to Noses Point and back.

Congratulations also to the beginners of another running group who also decided to have their own graduation ceremony in exactly the same place on the same night and in the same pub. I hope you all enjoy your running journey too. Say hello if you venture over to Seaham again, we are a friendly bunch.

Wednesday 13th March

Wednesday night is technical night, where I do something perhaps more speed based or strength based. Tonight was a Progressive run where each mile is progressively quicker than the last. The route was a similar one to what we have done before.

As you can see from the splits below I was pleased to achieve what I set out to do.

Saturday 16th March

So the plan for this weekend was to do 2 half marathons, one on Saturday and one on Sunday. Something Laura mentioned to me last week was during her training for the Ultra marathon, she did a marathon one day and then 8 miles the day after so she knew in her head that the Ultra had been done over the weekend. I liked this idea and I felt 2 half marathons back to back would achieve the marathon over the weekend and fill me with confidence. After all, over the past couple of weekends I had been doing 23 or 24 miles so it was no big step up.

I was not feeling great at the start as I had dry eye (apparently I sometimes sleep with my eye open and it takes 2 or 3 hours for it to fix itself). Also my right foot was niggly.

We started at Dalton Park and to keep it as easy as possible ran downhill towards the seafront. My eye was improving but my foot wasn’t. Especially as we reached the seafront, it seemed to be worse on the flat. To add to my woes, I also started this run wrong, I added an extra mile on (I was thinking of a future run we have planned from the same place). You know when its just not going to be your day!!

I made it to VT car park (after 6 miles rather than 5) and started the second run of the day. I only got a mile or so into this and had to turn back, the pain in my foot was too much.

This hit me hard. I feel like I have a very good vision of what I should be doing personally and where I should be on my journey. This is something that Muhammad Ali used to call Future History. He would see himself winning and he would predict what round it would be. It compares to crossing that finish line in my head and is something that is keeping me going on this journey.

A dodgy foot was now in the way of my Future History. I have to apologise for everyone around me most of Saturday as I was not great company. Everyone who spoke to me personally, sent me text messages, gave me pep talks and even sent little videos, well they are appreciated beyond words.

However, Saturday was a game of two halves. Loads of my friends were doing the Ultra marathon on the dark side of the Tyne. Billed as 32 miles (but turned into over 34 miles), it was the ultimate challenge.

I was given a lesson from my running friends who are all Proper Runners, not a plodder like me and it was a delight to see.

So I don’t have any more of my content to include today so please enjoy with me the absolute joy of these 18 people doing their Ultra.

So sorry to Chris R and Richie (CRitchie) for not capturing their finish line moment, they were just too quick for me!

My favourite images of the day are captured in the following pictures. A little background first, Lynne is running and Jet, her best mate, is waiting at the finish line but Lynne thinks Jet is away on holiday. Perfect images of the joy of today, the power of friendship, closely followed by the remaining 4 of the Famous Five (or rather the Favest Five, see what I did there) who all ran together. I had a tiny glimpse into the camaraderie and friendship of these five on some Sunday morning training runs I did with them. It captures what Tempest Fit is all about, Friendship, Love and Support of your team mates.

Oh, and it’s also a perfect advert for the result of doing regular squats…..

So all in all Saturday was a day at school for me….Inspiration School. It was so great to see 18 of my friends complete this Ultra Marathon, the mental and physical pain they endured is to be admired and I am so pleased so many of us could be there to see it.

Thank you Ultra runners (and supporters) of 2024!

Sunday 17th March

First Sunday rest in some time. The journey will be continued next week……., hopefully!

Nutrition

Nothing to report this week.

Progress to Plan

Well technically this was a de-load week although I was going to make it a de-load week next week. So the long run was only supposed to be 6.2 miles and I did over 7, so still ahead of plan even though I did 20 miles less than I planned. As everyone has been pointing out to me though that is no bad thing. As I am ahead of plan, there is some slack to be played with and in fact quite a bit.

Key Learning

As I said this was a big school week. When the dust has settled it is still only half way through the training plan and I have done 17 miles. Set backs happen and they will continue to happen over the next 8 weeks I am sure. The plan is there to give me a guide and I have managed to stay ahead of it. Even with, what I felt in my head was a bad week, I am still ahead of that plan so I will plough on.

I was given a lesson in mental strength on Saturday, 18 people set off for a 34 mile run from the Quayside at 8.15 am and 18 people finished it, every one with a smile on their face.

That Future History is painting lots of pictures for me for 12th May right now and I know how the story ends…. the rest of you will have to keep tuning in to find out 😉

Fave of the week

First some huge thank yous to give out this week for their kindness and encouraging words, in no particular order thanks goes to:

• Sophie and Luna for keeping me company on Saturday morning when the foot was not doing too well.
• Emma C for the same and for the support on Saturday.
• Claire B for the support on Saturday and for checking in later to see how things were.
• KMac for the support throughout and checking how things were constantly.
• Maddie and Cap and Kathryn for the foot/ show lace tying advice. Watch this space to see how that works out next week.
• Pep talks from so many but especially Jen T, Jet and Sally H. Obviously I know you were all right from the start, just took me longer to realise 😉
• Miss Blue Sky for the text and support.
• All the Foxes as always.
• Debbie for the best video message.
• As well as the Ultra madness this weekend there were also some mega performances elsewhere. Jen and Helen got 5k PB’s, Julie ran her farthest distance to date and KMac knocked out a cracking Half marathon PB. What a weekend.

Hope I haven’t missed anyone but I appreciate you all.

So to the Fave of the week, well no surprise that it goes to 18 Ultra legends who ran on Saturday and helping with my Future History images.

• Cap
• Nigel
• Derek
• Chris W
• Lisa
• Chris R
• Richie
• Laura (that’s 4 now)
• Kathryn
• Lynne
• Michelle
• Jo
• Sally D
• Faye
• Lee
• Coffee Kristine
• Leanne
• Ashleigh

Here’s to next week.