4 Athletes 4 Marathons - Week 12 Diary
Oct 26, 2023
Marathon Blog Week 12
Each week we bring you the athletes perspective on how their training has gone and then follow it up with Coach Tune’s view on it.
With Matt, Lee and Jenny now having done their respective marathons it is over to just Keri and Dave who are doing Frankfurt next Sunday morning and first let’s hear how Keri feels her training in the last 7 days has gone and then Dave will do an overall of his block:
“Week beginning 09th October
Monday - PM 7 miles in 60 mins, really easy off road after a big day of 24 miles.
Tuesday - PM long day at work planned today and Thursday, so planned an easy 30 mins today and will take Thursday as a rest day. Trying to avoid digging myself into a well with less than 3 weeks to go and a race this weekend.
Wednesday - AM 60 mins with 10 x 30 secs strides, all relaxed and at target 10 mile pace. These felt pretty good.
PM Test with Dave, we did 4 x3 mins, to test at last years marathon pace, a bit quicker than that, then what we think might be marathon pace and a bit faster than marathon pace. We already know what heart rate I can hold for a marathon so it was to see how efficiently I am able to process the lactate at those speeds. Really pleased with the outcome and all other markers showed an improvement and importantly that I can process lactate at a much faster pace than my previous test.
Thursday - scheduled rest day
Friday - PM Initial plans at the beginning of the week was to use the 10 miler on Sunday as part of a session and run the race at marathon pace, however, we adapted this mid week and intended to race so Fridays run was reduced to 45 mins to allow me to make sure I was fresh enough to race Sunday.
Saturday - AM 4 miles in 32 mins. Super easy 30 mins followed by some relaxed strides, legs feeling pretty fresh and in general, after a few monster sleeps starting to feel less fatigued from work in general. Sometimes it’s too easy to compare your training to those who have a lot more flexibility or work part time hours, when in reality it’s just not comparable. A kind reminder to myself that I am doing the best I can do with the time I have available.
Sunday - AM Yorkshire 10 mile race
Dave gave me the instructions to throw all caution to the wind and just have a good blast out!
I was fairly confident I could pb, however I got the tactics wrong on the morning.
I decided not to look at my watch and realized after a few miles, I had gone out way too hard and was not going to be able to hold it and had to back off quite a bit.
We have not done much work above marathon heart rate so my ability to hold much higher than marathon heart rate is not great.
I ended up being seconds out of my PB, however whilst frustrated that I didn’t PB and that I got the tactics wrong after being much better at pacing in recent races. I believe this came from the confidence that was capable and just got a little bit carried away.
A huge positive was that I was able to hold sub 6.20s only a few beats above marathon heart rate.
With two weeks to go, for my own sanity will make sure next week is as “normal” training week as possible, due to the chaotic last few weeks at work. But as training partner Sarah Lowery, said to me this week, it’s far better to be “undercooked than overcooked” going into the marathon. Which coming from Sarah’s experience was welcome advice.
Feeling quite excited for the marathon now and the new challenges of racing abroad.”
Here is Coach Tune’s view on Keri’s week:
“After a very chaotic last week or so for Keri at work the focus needed this week to reassure her that a few missed days training in reality the week before could have actually helped her a little.
This week a lactate test and looking at what the data told us we already knew that she is in the shape of her life and her ability to process lactate at her target marathon effort is better than we have ever seen before.
On Sunday I encouraged Keri to race the Yorkshire 10 mile road race and to throw caution to the wind and go for it but she went too hard too early and blew up a little but the race will have served as a great last blow out and I am not concerned in the slightest.
Confidence is a big thing with Keri so a “normal” week of training is planned before we taper and I keep reminding her that the training group as a whole are flying so there is no reason that she will not add to this come next Sunday”
For my own training analysis I could not have had a better block. I have had a consistent block of mileage. My speedwork has gone well but I have managed to keep my “powder dry” finishing most sessions feeling I could have given a bit more which should never be underestimated. I am totally injury free and completed plenty of strength and conditioning sessions.
All that is required now is to NOT mess up a race plan as I am very good at giving advice to others but can easily get drawn into thinking I am still a decent athlete and throwing caution to the wind where the reality is come Sunday my body cannot do what it could do 20 years ago and I need to respect that.
The fact that so many excellent performances are produced for the team week in and week out gives me confidence that come next Sunday night we will all be celebrating and not just because it is my birthday!
Enjoy the read!
