Progress wk14 and RACE

This week saw only a couple of easy 5 milers to keep the legs ticking over.

Race day, Dumfries Marathon Sunday 19th March 2006, provisional results 3 hrs 39 mins 13 secs and 75th place out of 180, a bit slower than intended.

1st mile or so at 7:30 pace, a bit quicker than planned, not a good idea, managed to slow it to the planned 7:50 pace from miles 2 to 7, mile 8 pace slowed going up the hill, didn't like that, indication that maybe this pace is a bit too fast. More of that later.

The next 2 or 3 miles are downhill, back to target pace without any noticable effort, but mile 12 too fast at 7:30, caught 4 or 5 people over these miles, too early to start that nonesense!

Next 3 miles at target 7:50 pace.

Miles 16 to 21 pace gradually drifts through 8:00 and on up to 8:30, working too hard, getting stressed, and people passing me now.

Just after the 21 mile marker sudden and severe cramp - had to stop twice within 10 yards and stretch, lost about 3 mins to plan, therafter shuffled in at around 10 min mile pace - couldn't go any faster.

All in a good race, only a minute or so down on the PB run from my last marathon in London 4 years ago.

Will I run another? who knows, but some lessons would need to be learned, even with the more balanced programme used this time the target improvement of 8 to 10 mins is probably too much with the same mileage. Instead of the target pace of 7:50 possibly 8:10 would have brought me home in one piece, remember it is a marathon, hindsight might have been a wonderful thing.

Scenic course, pretty flat, hills at 8 miles and 23 miles plus a few undulations in between, nothing serious.

Race organistation excellent with feed stations, water and orange juice about every 3 or 4 miles. Collected energy drink sent out to mile 12.

Weather was good, cool, no wind, some weak sun and one short light rain shower in the 2nd half.

Hopefully I can carry fitness on to this years real races on the Hills...

Plan Wk14

DATE	EXERCISE	DIST
14/3/06	Easy	5
16/3/06	Easy	4
19/3/06	RACE	26.25

Progress Wk 13

2nd taper week, even less miles, easy or not, switched the plan around to give a run every second day - couldn't miss a run for 2 days in a row! 2 m6 steadies in 48:39 & 48:08 hopefully reflect move towards race pace. Sundays easy 10 miler was made a bit more difficult in the snow but made use of the empty lochside roads to reduce the effort. It's pasta, pasta, pasta from now on. 30 miles completed to a plan of 30.

Plan Wk 13

DATE	EXERCISE	DIST
6/3/06	Easy	5
7/3/06	Steady	8
9/3/06	Steady	7
12/3/06	Endurance	10

Progress Wk 12

1st taper week, drop some of the easy mileage, cut back overall distance. Week starts with an m8 steady run in 65 on Tues, couple of easy runs then another 10 Yasso Friday, Cut down Sunday.
42 miles completed to a plan of 45.

Plan Wk 12

DATE	EXERCISE	DIST
28/2/06	Steady	9
2/3/06	Easy	6
3/3/06	10*800	9
4/4/06	Easy	5
5/4/06	Endurance	16

Progress Wk 11

Max mileage week, 6 runs with the usual mix apart from Tuesday, instead of a steady run took on the 4 hills round the vale. Achieved 10 Yasso on Friday, cold & v windy, slight wobble at 8, no real problems. After late night Friday a bit stiff for Sat 3 parks easy. 24 miler on Sunday am on the road, longest distance but a bit quicker than last week. Bright & Sunny, views of Ben Lomond & the Cobbler all the way, both snow capped. Met Jim McI & Izzy on the way back down the horseshoe. Training for Conemmara I think. Its taper time now, have we put enough work in?
60 miles completed to a plan of 60.

Plan Wk 11

DATE	EXERCISE	DIST
20/2/06	Easy	5
21/2/06	Steady	10
23/2/06	Easy	6
24/2/06	10*800	9
25/2/06	Easy	6
26/2/06	Endurance	24

Progress Wk 10

5 runs this week, easy 4 miler to start followed by a longer steady run, slightly slow due to tiredness and a strong wind on the way back. Easy 5 mile club run Thursday and back to the Yasso routine on Friday, poor concentration causing the only wobble on number 6. Good Sunday 23 miler, Ardgarten plus Cats Crag loops, sunshine most of the way.
50 miles completed to a plan of 50.

Plan Wk 10

DATE	EXERCISE	DIST
13/2/06	Easy	4
14/2/06	Steady	10
16/2/06	Easy	4
17/2/06	9*800	9
19/2/06	Endurance	23

Progress Wk 9

Toughest week so far and with the Carnethy 5 hill race on Saturday the schedule had to be rearranged, so no Yasso this week! The C5 went well in winds around 50 mph on the tops along with some mist and rain. Hopefully a sign the training is working that with only Friday off to "prepare" still managed a 4 min+ PB. New shoes for Sundays long run, another hard one, 21 miles and 3900 feet of climbing, same route as 2 weeks ago but in reverse and 10 mins slower.
55 miles completed to a plan of 55.

Plan Wk 9

DATE	EXERCISE	DIST
6/2/06	Easy	4
7/2/06	Steady	10
9/2/06	Easy	5
10/2/06	9*800	9
11/2/06	Easy	5
12/2/06	Endurance	22

Progress Wk8

Easier week with only 5 runs, started with an easy recovery run on Monday then a 10 Miler on Tuesday including 8 steady in 64 mins. Common sense prevails with Thursday's club run limited to 5 miles despite temptation to go with the crowd for 8, this probably helped to make Friday's speedwork achievable. Slept in on Sunday but still covered the planned 18 miler on the road, need new shoes!
46 Miles completed to a plan of 46.

Plan wk8

DATE	EXERCISE	DIST
30/1/06	Easy	5
31/1/06	Steady	10
2/2/06	Easy	5
3/2/06	8*800	8
5/2/06	Endurance	18

Progress Wk7

Good easy run on the Monday, trouble on Tuesday with the planned 8 mile steady, legs didn't feel right from the start, slight cold/temp so didn't push too hard and took the rest of the week at easy pace, no speedwork on Friday, legs starting to recover, 21 miler in Arrochar on Sunday went ok, beautiful morning, good company.
50 miles completed to a plan of 50.

Plan wk 7

DATE	EXERCISE	DIST
23/1/06	Easy	4
24/1/06	Steady	8
26/1/06	Easy	4
27/1/06	8*800	8
28/1/06	Easy	5
29/1/06	Endurance	21

Progress wK 6

Going forward again this week, started with an easy 5 miler then a steady 8 miler at slightly faster than race pace with 4 good hills thrown in. With a club xc race on Saturday followed by the standard 20 miler from Ardgarten on Sunday (climbing 4000' plus) the Yasso's were set aside this week. xc race went well with a pb by 20 odd seconds in calm/damp conditions.
45 Miles completed to a plan of 46.

Plan Wk 6

DATE	EXERCISE	DIST
16/1/06	Easy	5
17/1/06	Steady	8
19/1/06	Easy	5
20/1/06	7*800	8
22/1/06	Endurance	20

Progress Wk 5

This is an easy week! The aim from now on is to carry out steady runs at target race pace, uneven this time but should sort itself out over the next few weeks. Up to 7 Yasso's now finishing in the dark on a waterlogged Posties track, with flooding on about 20% of each lap. Long run moved to Arrochar to get off road as much as possible. Ran from Succoth to the Rest and B Thankful on forest tracks coming back via the Cats Crag loop, managed to keep the road work down to about a mile. Started slow so felt ok at the end, included 3500 feet of climbing. Welcome breakfast in Tarbet after.
39 miles completed to plan of 38.

Plan Wk 5

DATE	EXERCISE	DIST
10/1/06	Steady	6
12/1/06	Easy	5
13/1/06	7*800	8
15/1/06	Endurance	19