Tim's 2012 marathon training by tnmboswell

So I’m three weeks into this year’s marathon training, and the return of the usual aches and pains is like welcoming back an old friend!  My two marathons so far have gone like this. 

London 2010.  Only had time for 15 weeks training as I found out late that I’d got the place.  The race started well – too well in fact, and I reached 18 miles in 2 hours 45 minutes.   I then completely, utterly and spectacularly blew up, putting in the final miles at 10, 11 and even 13 minutes each – finishing in 4 hours 22 minutes.  If you want all the gory details, have a look here - http://www.realbuzz.com/blogs/u/tnmboswell/tim-boswell-s-london-marathon-blog/posts/the-virgin-london-marathon/ 

London 2011.  Trained harder and longer – clocking up three runs of 20+ miles, using the book “Four months to a four hour marathon”.  I paced myself better on race day and reached 20 miles in 2 hours 59 mins (approx 8m57 pace).  Then, on an increasingly hot day, I cramped all the way up my left leg and again just had to hang on until the end.  I finished in 04hr 04m 40s.  At least it’s easy to remember!  The full story’s here - http://www.realbuzz.com/blogs/u/tnmboswell/tim-s-countdown-to-the-virgin-london-marathon-2011/posts/the-2011-virgin-london-marathon/

So, how to beak that elusive 4 hour barrier?  I posted recently on a running forum that, in theory, my marathon time really should be better than it is.  Using my half marathon PB of 01:40:03, the Macmillan running calculator (http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/index.php/site/calculator) thinks I should be somewhere nearer 3 ½ hours for the marathon.  Now I know my running, and I know that’s never going to happen.  But at least the site agrees that I should be able to do a sub 4 hour marathon!  The reply to my online post recommended a book called “Advanced Marathoning” by Peter Pfitzinger and Scott Douglas.  The training plans, I was told, use higher midweek mileage than most to build better endurance.  So, onto the Christmas list it went!

Luckily, Santa was kind and I set to work reading the book on Christmas Day.  Through an online preview of the book I’d seen that the ‘easiest’ training plan was called “up to 55 miles per week”.  I thought this meant ‘somewhere up to 55 miles per week’.  It actually meant “this training plan peaks at 55 miles per week”.  My previous highest mileage week was 43!

What also quickly became apparent was that, if I wanted to follow the full 18 week training plan, my training was – in effect – already underway.  I’d run on Boxing Day (a really pleasant 6 mile loop from parents’ in Alcester), and on the Wednesday after Christmas (a 9 mile, slightly undulating loop starting at Alcester and taking in Spernall and Great Alne).  I think it was on Boxing Day evening that I realised that that day’s run had been, in effect, the first of the training plan.  However, the total mileage for the previous two weeks had only been 15 miles, so I was very wary of launching straight into a 33 mile week with a 12 mile long run at the end of it!  I modified that first week’s training slightly, and ended up doing 24 miles – running every other day.  I was 9 miles shy of the week’s prescribed mileage but I thought it was better to have pulled back a bit than go in all guns blazing and get injured.

I had the first week of the New Year off work, so that was a big help in getting the training underway in earnest.  Again, there was a bit of juggling to be done, to try and at least make sure I ran the previous week’s 12 miler, but I ended up matching the 36 miles laid down by the training plan, finishing with a 13 mile long run on the Saturday.  The plan calls for 8 miles at marathon pace at the end of this run, but given the big mileage jump week-on-week (24 to 36), I decided to keep this to 4 miles at race pace. 

And so to the week just gone.  Back to work, and my first go at juggling (often) ‘normal’ working hours with marathon training for the first time.  In 2010, I was working early shifts, so getting in all but the very longest runs was quite easy.  Get home at 2pm-ish, get changed, get out.  Last year, I was working later shifts, starting work at about 11am.  So again, it wasn’t too hard to get most runs done before work.  Get up, get out, get showered, get to work. 

This year I’m working lots of different hours, and whichever way round things pan out I’m doing what lots of other people are doing, and mostly running in the dark.  Anticipating this, I asked for a head torch for Christmas ... and it’s brilliant!  I’ve mapped out runs of 4, 5, 8 and 10 miles around Warwick and Leamington which I know will be street-lit, however I also know I’m going to get very bored of them very quickly!  The torch has opened up training routes using lots of the roads I’d use in the spring and summer, and decent stretches of the canal towpath too. 

This week’s training has included my first speed session, which I must admit to having been a bit nervous about.  I’m really trying hard to run my weekend long runs and midweek long-ish runs really slowly.  Firstly, to prevent injury given the high mileage (for me), and secondly because everywhere I look, people are saying to other people ‘slow down’!  Even the Pfitzinger / Douglas book says I should be running my long runs somewhere between 9m38 and 10m30 pace to get my body better-trained at using fat as an energy supply as opposed to glycogen.  So after a couple of weeks saying to myself ‘slow down’, saying to myself ‘speed up’ was a little daunting.  The tempo run needed 8 miles total, with four of these at  10k pace.  My legs were feeling tired before I even started, so I knew getting back anywhere near 7m30 pace (my 10k PB pace) was going to be tough.  It was.  The first mile of the four quicker ones went by in 8m07.  I could see this on my Garmin watch but tried not to worry, stay relaxed and concentrate on running smoothly, with relaxed shoulders (I tend to tense them while running), and breathing well.  Thankfully, things did get quicker from there, with miles of 7m46, 7m45 and 7m37 (an average of 7m42 over those three miles and 7m48 for the four overall.  Ok, it wasn’t the 7m30 pace that I’d wanted but I’d done quite a bit of speedwork to get to that pace last year.  There’s plenty of time yet!

Just one other thing to mention – Saturday’s long run.  Now, setting the alarm for 7am on a Saturday is madness enough.  Going out to run 14 miles in temperatures of minus 2 is another thing altogether.  I was a bit late setting out, but I’m really glad I didn’t stay in bed.  Sure, it was cold but being wrapped up warm in vest, fleece and jacket, shorts, hat and gloves made the run really toasty!  The canal hadn’t frozen over, but the towpaths were frozen enough to make the muddy bits easier to run through and the scenery either side of the canal was stunning.  The sun was out but wasn’t really strong enough to melt most of the frost, which was particularly hard in the rural areas beyond Shrewley.  In those more exposed spots about 6 miles north-west of Warwick the canal had actually frozen too.  There was no wind, not a cloud in the sky and very few people around.  It had been tough to drag myself out of bed, but it had been well worth it.

So that’s us up to speed.  Lots more to chat about I’m sure, but today I’m enjoying a lazy Sunday.  Or ‘recovery day’ as Messrs Pfitzinger and Douglas would call it.