Getting Technical with my Training

I have now started week 4 of my 18 week training programme - eek! 14 weeks to go!  The good news is I survived Christmas and have somehow kept up my mileage and training sessions despite the festive overindulgences & the inevitable winter lurgy . This did involve nipping out for runs on Christmas Eve, Boxing Day and even fitting in two 6 mile runs during a pre-New Year's break to Center Parcs with the family.  The standard response among my children is now "She's out for a run" whenever anyone phones, even if I do happen to be in the next room.

So - this 18 week programme - I contacted one of the coaches from my running club for advice as I wanted my training to be very targeted to my specific goal of achieving a sub 4 marathon time.  He looked at my recent PB's for 5K (23:14), 10K (47.29), 10 miles (1:20:30) Half Marathon (1:48:40) and worked out that in theory I could achieve a marathon time of 3:45.  Gulp!  This is all theory please remember - there are lots of factors that can come into play, like the wind and the rain and the sun and any other excuses I could throw in but the reality is that the potential is there if I get the training right.

So down to the training, well my stats also showed that I have the pace but I'm lacking in speed endurance (this was where it all started to get technical and I had to google a lot of stuff), the bottom line is that I need to get more focused in my training, each run needs to have a specific purpose and for me to be able to run a consistent and even pace in the marathon I need to spend time getting my legs used to running that pace.  So my plan peaks at 50 miles per week at week 10, with an average of 37.1 miles over the 18 weeks and includes sessions like Kenyan Hills (continuous running up and down hills at an even pace), Threshold runs (running at a speed just below that point where the lactic acid builds up in your legs and you start to feel like you are running through treacle), Long runs at easy pace and strides (short sprints to activate the fast twitch muscle fibres).

Over the past few weeks it has all started in earnest- I have been running consistently since the marathon earlier this year, fitting in quite a few long runs and speed sessions over the summer months but now is the time to take it to the next level and try and get my head around the science behind being able to run faster.  Instead of relying on the downloads from my watch - a good thing too as it failed me this week, I am keeping a journal of my runs, so that I can track my progress.  Over the past weeks I  have been on a extended threshold run around Richmond Park and a session of long, slow hills and I also joined in a Lactate Threshold Pace session with the club which consisted of running 400metres in 2 minutes (this was the time calculated by the coach to be my threshold pace) with a 1 minute recovery - I managed 12 reps. It was a great session for me because my problem is rushing off too fast in a race and then fading at the end when my legs feel heavy, this session was designed to build speed endurance, exactly what I need to do, so I had to be disciplined not to rush the early reps although the pace felt very slow and I felt like I was straining at the bit to run faster, this paid off though because by the 12th rep I was still running a consistent pace and would not have done so if I had set off too fast.

My husband was away just before Christmas which meant that I could not get to any of the club training sessions, I was getting worried about managing the technical training runs on my own but found a great solution.  I visited the David Weir Arena in Sutton and for £3.95 I had unlimited use of the running track.  This was great for being able to do precisely measured out 1k intervals with 2 minute recoveries, even better was the great changing facilities and parking plus my knees thanked me after all that time spent on trails I felt like I was running on air.  I'm definitely going to use the track more, especially if the weather turns really cold and icy like last year.

My biggest worry is fitting it all in - with 4 children, including one with complex disabilities, my time is often not my own and I also seem to spend a rather large proportion of it courtesy of the NHS.  However I am going to try doubling up on some days - running an easy paced run early in the morning then a club hills session later in the evening in order to fit in the training and the mileage.  The plan is not necessarily to do this every week but to have it there as an option.  The other thing will be to try and fit my running around other things happening in my life - recently I took the car for an MOT, so I wore my running kit to drive to the garage and ran the 6 miles home.  As Daisy, my youngest is due for a stay in Great Ormond Street Hospital in the beginning of February I could even run the 11 miles home one day when I have a carer sitting with her.  I guess it's all down to planning.  So I have my running log and calendar all primed with the sessions mapped out for the next few months  The next job is to enter a few spring races to test my pace and clock up those miles.