Marathon Blog Week 5!

Four very different athletes take on a marathon this Autumn all with completely different goals under the guidance of Coach Tune. Each week we will provide you with an athlete summary of their training week and their personal thoughts on how the week went and compare this is to Coach Tune’s account of their week. Both sides of the story are anonymous.

First account of the week is Keri Pearson who is doing the Frankfurt marathon on the 29th October:

Monday - AM 8.3 miles in 69 mins

Super easy and off road on my favourite runs.

Tuesday - AM 4.4 miles in 30 mins

Remit of running the very bottom of zone 1 - hitting last year's marathon pace, 10 beats lower! Although holidays are great, it’s nice to be home and back into a routine.

PM 4 miles in 34 mins

Super easy off road after work

Discussed racing plans with Dave - slight tweaks to races leading up to Frankfurt

Wednesday - PM 5 x 2km (blizard session) After a day at work and not managing to eat any lunch, a Maurten gel had to make do, before we started, my agreed plan was to see how I felt after the first rep. Felt surprisingly good and had a decent session. Hitting paces/ HR quite comfortably that I’ve not hit before.

Thursday - PM 9.8 miles in 80 mins

Recognising that the month of increased elevation has made me stronger and before the dark nights creep, I hit some hills off road for today's easy run.

Friday - AM 4 miles in 34 mins - easy off road, super easy day. Some core and shoulder mobility over lunch

PM - 3.1 miles in 26 mins, really easy to round off a relaxed day before a big weekend of training.

Saturday - AM Blizard session, Daneshill lakes - great place for a session, saves the legs and you are able to run to feel as the GPS is all over.

PM Core and mobility

Sunday - AM 23 miles in 2hours 58 mins

Long, flat run, nice and easy, feels like the weeks are flying by.

Fairly high mileage week, including two really positive sessions. Saw some numbers earlier in the week, that I’ve never seen, which all show signs of everything going in the right direction.

Change of plan with some of the build up races but an exciting plan, and looking forward to them coming around.

Week ahead to involve as many miles off road and different locations before the darker mornings and evenings arrive.

Next we have Berlin bound Matt and is the first of the team to do a marathon in this block:

Abysmal. The only way to describe last week's training. One single 40min recovery run. It is uncomfortable to sit here and write these weekly blogs knowing that training, if you can call it that, has gone so poorly. But I do enjoy the transparency and honesty of it all. And I have to remind myself that there are always more races, and running is just that - it’s just running. Many of you that read this will know of my desire to improve upon my 3:13 marathon time and run under 3 hours. But in my case I have to accept that progress is not linear. This bloc has been dire. But there’s always another bloc. You can rebuild, keep going, and keep improving - even if, like me, you’ve gone back a few steps first.

For now, I look forward to getting back into a rhythm again so that hopefully one week I can talk about some actual training that I’ve done!

After an easier week planned away on a family holiday here we have Lee Milburn’s account of his week as he prepares for the Yorkshire marathon:

Back on it this week after a relaxing week where I just ran. I think my body was ready for a bit of a break from some high mileage weeks. I eased myself over the the weekend, the highlight being a group long run over at Ladybower. A great place to train if you haven’t been. I’ve done two relatively easy sessions with a big weekend incoming. First I did 4 miles worth of continuous hills working hard on the ups and relaxing on the down practicing getting the heart rate up and then controlling it back down. Then the group session was 6x800 followed by 3 miles at marathon pace heart rate. I was delighted with my pace for the 3 miles. Something definitely to chat about and share, with a test with Dave coming before we put the final touches to marathon prep.

Finally we have our very own Jenny Blizard who is doing her first marathon for over 10 years in the Yorkshire event:

This week had some ups and downs and highlighted how the sleep, hydration, nutrition can really play havoc when you are doing lots of miles and juggling these around the rest of life. In addition, being adaptable with a plan pays off.

Tuesday I overcooked it with not fuelling/hydrating properly on a hot day and juggling running around work. Wednesday's session was adapted as I was intending to do a 5K on the Friday night, so did some easy reps to stay fresh and some strides afterwards. Driving home in the car I discussed with Dave the pro's and con's of doing the 5K (already planned prior to even considering a marathon), my thoughts were that 1) didn't want to enter something and not do it 2) there would be a cost to running hard on Friday night (including a long drive there (Cheshire) and late night drive back which would mean I wouldn't sleep that night) 3) My marathon training is going better than expected and enjoying it more than expected, this race could hamper that 4) I had my longest run in 12 years planned on the Sunday 5) Running a hard 5K in marathon training wasn't going to produce a speculator performance but... I know that the overall change in training is suiting me better and delaying a 5K until late in the year/early next year I feel would produce a better performance. We decided I shouldn't go! I had been wanting to get another lactate test done at some point (last one was May 23 when we initially looked at my marathon potential) but the timings were not right, so the Friday then became an opportunity. The results showed that at my target marathon pace my lactate had dropped from 2.6mmols down to 1.8mmols meaning I was clearing the lactate quicker at the same pace 😀. However running at much faster paces my lactate rose much higher than previous tests - so glad i didn't go to the 5K, the hole i was digging would have got much deeper!! Saturday morning the session was a grind and Saturday afternoon i was totally wiped, i even felt like i was getting ill. An emergency "do f..k all" afternoon happened and then after a good night's sleep I felt so much better and the 23 miler on Sunday went amazing for me and my lactate straight after was 1.6mmols.

 This week has shown that I dragged myself into a bit of a hole after the Tuesday run, falling further in on Wednesday, and Thursday felt crap too, then Saturday it hit me. An emergency resting up in the afternoon and good night's sleep was all that was needed but it would have been easy to ignore the signs and carry on with the plan.

This is now my 5th week of averaging around 70mpw. One more week and then my mileage will start to reduce whilst I focus on the last 4 weekly key sessions we have planned. We were discussing the accumulation of miles for a marathon this week with the training group and how many is the right amount. This has to be based on your current and previous history first and foremost. For me I have ran for years with a weekly average preceding this marathon block of around 45-55 mpw. Historically prior to my last marathons (2010-2011) I was averaging around 65mpw and during the marathon blocks topped 105mpw. The latter was clearly too much for me (see previous blog) but currently in this block I feel I could do 80-85mpw adding more easy miles to improve my endurance base, however.... The logistics of getting these miles done around the rest of life (it is just another 100ish mins per week in reality) would definitely tip me over the edge from currently feeling relatively fresh physically and mentally and motivated (beyond my own expectations) to training becoming a real hassle and the enjoyment is lost. An injury would probably occur not from the actual tissue damage it creates in a particular body area but rather the increased tension I would be holding from the stress of trying to time manage. I see this all the time at work 🙄.

MON Strength Session. Rest day from running gives me 48 hrs to recover.

TUES 11.5 miles @8:01 HR ave 135

WED Group Session (adapted) 3x2k at marathon HR 6:11-6:19 min/miles then 6x30 sec strides. Total 9.5ish miles. Strength Session

THUR 12m off road @7:50 HR ave 134 

FRI Lactate test. Strength

SAT Group Session 12.32 miles, 2m/1m/2m/1m/2m at marathon HR off road.

SUN 23m @7:45 min/miles HR 132. Strength session

Weekly Totals 72.77 miles. Another 1 x longest run in 12 years 😀, 2 x shorter marathon HR session. 1 x strides, 45 mins yoga, 150 mins S&C. Double happiness as I managed to get the coffee machine working again (fiddling with some wires!).

Now we have Coach Tune’s view on how the four athletes have trained over the last week:

First up is Keri Pearson who is aiming for a new PB in the Frankfurt marathon late October:

This week saw what I would consider one of the best ever speed sessions from Keri. The group Wednesday night session was 5x2k which she ran her best ever set. With every big effort I am a firm believer than a few easy days after are required to allow the body to recover so plenty of easy running until the weekend where she then nailed not only the Saturday session with ease but more importantly we did a 3hrs long run and practiced taking in the correct amount of fuel which cannot be underestimated. We just now need to be careful after several week’s off work as a teacher that we do not try and keep the same volume and intensity going with the added stress that work brings as she is already in the sort of shape we have never seen before and I am very happy with her training.

Next up is Matt’s training and he is working towards the first athlete to race in the Berlin marathon in September:

This week I have reached out to Matt to see if he wishes to continue writing his blog as I am a little worried that by doing it he is adding more stress to himself but he reassures me that he is finding it helpful and accountable but more importantly it will serve as a motivation when he turns things around. I have no doubts that Matt will be fine in Berlin but are very impressed with his resilience when the easy option is to throw in the towel.

Coach Tune next explains Lee Milburn’s week of training who is looking to be competitive in the Yorkshire marathon:

Lee clearly has benefited from an easier week to allow the 100+ miles per week he has been putting in and allowing the body to adapt and move on. With two marathons behind him and two tough days in the office experienced I think it is really important that we do a full re-test at the clinic with Lee and have a look at the data it throws up to plan these final few weeks as we both believe if we get it right on the day for the Yorkshire marathon he can be very competitive within the field.

Finally onto wife Jenny who is running her first marathon for twelve years:

Initially we had a fast 5k planned during this week but I expressed my thoughts on risk/reward with Jenny knowing that she has been training hard and wanting to keep this momentum going.We decided that the need to nail her long run on Sunday was much more of a priority than what time she may run over 5k and after some gentle persuasion she came to the same conclusion as me! 

It has been a long time since Jen trained for the marathon and in that time I believe my knowledge and experience in coaching has improved massively with the event so it is great to see after all this time that by adapting Jen’s training she once again is rounding up into decent marathon shape again.

I feel however, she is on the edge of over doing things a little and for this reason we are looking to slightly reduce her volume over the next few weeks and introduce a little more specific work

A great week by the team and the real challenge now comes in the next few weeks as Lee and Keri return to work and manage their programs as well as supporting Matt and allowing Jenny to think she is calling all the shots!

Enjoy the read!