Training Week 42 Recap

Hi folks,

There's only 1 more week to go, and this is the stage where nothing more can be done, where I need to let the body recover in order to be strong on race day. This is the stage where I need to believe in my fitness and the training I have done over the past few months, and beyond that! It is finally coming to an end and right now I should be excited, organised and looking forward to race day. Here's how the week went.

Monday

Type: Recovery

Time and Distance: 40 mins 19 secs, 5.8 km.

Tuesday

Type: Recovery

Time and Distance: 35 mins 52 secs, 5.3 km.

Wednesday

Type: Recovery

Time and Distance: 45 mins 49 secs, 7.7 km.

Thursday

Type: Mixed pace

Time and Distance: 91 mins, 18 km.

Detail: Warm up for 15 mins (approx 2.4 km), then 10 x 3 mins at threshold pace (approx 700m) then 10 mins at steady pace (approx 600m). Cool down for 16 mins (approx 2.6 km).

Saturday

Type: Intervals

Time and Distance: 39 mins 38 secs, 7.5 km.

Detail: Warm up for 5 mins (approx 750m), then 5 x 5 mins at threshold pace (approx 1200m) with 60 secs recovery. Cool down for 5 mins (approx 750 km).

Sunday

Type: Recovery

Time and Distance: 44 mins 47 secs, 7 km.

Total Weekly Distance: 51.3 km

Comments: Another relatively easy week. No long runs, which is great! The final key session on Thursday I managed to get through totally unscathed, and it amounted to 13 km in 60 minutes. This did bump up the mileage slightly from last week, but nothing to worry about.

Improvements: It's marathon week! The final week is going to focus less on running, and more on recovery and staying strong. Being in Oslo on secondment means that I'm eating out a lot for free, but this time I need to be really selective on the food I eat this week, so I'm going to be cooking a lot of carb-rich meals in the apartment. I'm getting a bit more sleep nowadays, but it is difficult getting to sleep on time especially with so much other things going on as well. Finally, I'm a notoriously bad stretcher, so I'll have to maintain the flexibility without tearing a muscle. Now that would really suck!

This week is also going to be an exercise in juggling marathon prep, work deadlines and other obligations and if it wasn't for work deadlines looming I think I would be in a better position. There is a significant work deadline coming up at the end of the week I return from Berlin, and a lot of my tasks are still pending, which means I may have to put in a couple of extra hours in the 3 working days I have this coming week. I leave for Berlin on Thursday afternoon where I'll spend a couple of days relaxing in this great city, before finally letting it out on the course on Sunday. I return back to Oslo on Monday afternoon, and if it wasn't for this significant work deadline in that week I would gladly spend a lot longer in Germany. Work deadlines have to be met of course, but that shouldn't go as far as compromising my preparations for this important race. After all, this race came up first.

I will also need to believe in my fitness and training, and surround myself with positive people. I found a moving video on YouTube featuring American 50k record holder Josh Cox and the magic of the marathon. It featured a runner called Jeff trying to break 3 hours at Boston this year, with Josh acting as his pacesetter and providing encouragement to him along the way. Indeed he broke 3 hours in the end, and I hope that I, too, can replicate that special marathon magic that got Jeff home in under 3 hours. We will see next week!

Starting to believe,

Aaron

Training Week 37 Recap

Evening guys,

This has been a rather lazy week for me. With week after week of hard training, I felt like I needed a break from it all, so to speak, and ended up doing very little mileage this week. I was supposed to run a half marathon today at marathon pace or faster, but "chickened" out in the morning, and ended up doing an easy run instead. I knew I didn't have it in me to do this run, and if I attempted it I would probably be wasting much needed energy for future training runs. Put simply, I felt burnt out this week! Hopefully I can regather the momentum next week.....

Tuesday

Type: Mixed pace

Time and Distance: 57 mins, 12.05 km.

Detail: Warmed up for 15 mins (2.2 km). Did 3 mins at threshold, with 75 secs recovery (approx 700m). Did 3 mins at 10k pace, with 75 secs recovery (approx 750m). Did this 3 more times. Cool down for approx 18 mins (3.3 km).

Wednesday

Type: Recovery

Time and Distance: 44 mins 47 secs, 6.4 km.

Thursday

Type: Progression

Time and Distance: 30 mins 35 secs, 6.4 km.

Detail:

Warmed up for 10 mins (1.6 km). Did 10 mins at marathon pace (approx 2.25 km). Did 10 mins 35 secs at threshold pace (2.55 km).

Saturday

Type: Recovery

Time and Distance: 25 mins 6 secs, 3.9 km.

Sunday

Type: Recovery

Time and Distance: 44 mins 53 secs, 6.8 km.

Total Weekly Distance: 35.55 km

Comments: Another not-so-great week. It was supposed to be an easier week, but I was gutted not to get that half marathon in. Partly because I felt burnt out, partly because of concerns with my left leg (which is getting better I think), I decided to just take it easy this week!

Improvements: Next week is going to be key. I haven't done a long run for a while, so that will be a challenge. There's only six weeks to race day, and the first three weeks will be CRUCIAL. I have to put in the effort, even if I don't feel like it!

I feel like I've done hardly anything this week. Tomorrow, I am hoping to gather some much-needed drive very quickly and put in some quality mileage. My mind may think that I'm feeling burnt out, but somehow my legs are feeling rather strong and fresh, maybe there's still life in this old dog after all.

The time is now,

Aaron

Official Statement - Withdrawal From Helsinki Marathon

Hi all,

After much consideration, and with equally the same amount of reluctance, I have decided to withdraw from the Helsinki marathon in mid-August. The event is six weeks out from my target event and to run Helsinki, even at a very leisurely pace, would put me at risk of not being at my very best for Berlin and reaching the Breaking Three Hours goal.

When I started to map the road to Breaking Three Hours, I initially thought that I would be okay to run Helsinki and be fully fit for Berlin, despite having some minor concerns that Helsinki and Berlin were six weeks apart. So, needing to get in early, I registered for both events.

However, after running two marathons this year, listening to feedback, and having just started the 16 week programme designed by the FP Run Club, these concerns have escalated recently and I was forced to rethink my training strategy for the next 3 months.

Initially I intended these lead-up marathons to be like"glorified long runs", in that I do my weekend long run at marathon distance and in a marathon setting. It sounded like a good idea at the time. However, doing these regularly does put a lot of stress on you physically and mentally, and it does take some time to recover from these efforts.

Case in point, after Rotterdam and Copenhagen I didn't run for a week. After a typical long run, I'd normally take one or two days off and get back into training. Even though I felt like I was able to run and having little soreness in my legs, I was still pretty tired and it took some time for me to get back into quality training. I never struggled at any point in these lead-up marathons and kept them as easy as possible, but the amount of time spent on my feet started to become a game of diminishing returns, which led to a case of a long and slow recovery period. Erring on the side of caution, I tend to recover slower than I would like.

I've also started the 16-week, sub-3 hour training programme designed by the FP Run Club. When I studied the first week of the programme to see what I was getting myself into I got a really big shock. 8 training runs in 6 days! I've never done anything like this before. While the majority of runs have been easy and the hard days prescribed were manageable, the amount of running needed and the tough demands of the programme will only get higher as the weeks progress.

Having not seen the entire programme, I imagine that weeks 9-13, which also coincides with the Helsinki marathon, is the time where the demands placed on me to produce quality mileage and speed will be at the highest. Running the Helsinki marathon, regardless of completing it in under 4:00 or over 5:00, would be highly detrimental and would affect my output in that critical period. Moreover, the subsequent couple of weeks after Helsinki would most likely be spent on the long and slow recovery process, effectively stalling any progress I could make towards Berlin.

Last year, when training for the Berlin marathon, I did my final long run 2 weeks prior to the event. From a naive view, it was a great run - 37 km in 2:57:41. In hindsight I probably made a big mistake. On race day, I finished in 3:22:45, which meant that my marathon pace was just slightly faster than my long run pace. But I felt the difference should've been greater. Two possible reasons were:

• My long run was way too fast.
• Doing the long run two weeks out didn't allow enough time to recover and be at 100% on race day.

This year, I've gained a bit more experience and I believe that withdrawing from Helsinki would give me a much better shot at a faster time at Berlin. Ultimately in order to run a sub-3 hour time, it comes down to being physically and mentally prepared (as well as having many things go your way on the day!). Having Helsinki thrown in the mix isn't really going to help my preparation and may even go as far as hurting it.

The goal of running a sub-3 hour marathon is really important to me, and I've learned that in order to achieve an objective that you've firmly set your sights on for nearly half a year, you must be willing to make a few tough choices along the way. Withdrawing from Helsinki was a tough decision since I was intent on running it, but pulling out of Helsinki is going to allow me to focus on the real goal - to break three hours.

Having already registered, this is my first event where I will get a DNS, a Did Not Start in running parlance. It's a shame that there isn't a shorter alternative race at Helsinki on that day, such as a half marathon or even a 10K, otherwise I'd probably still participate knowing that the demands of running a reasonably fast 10K or a half marathon doesn't really compare to running a marathon, regardless of your time. It does hurt not to have a time next to your name in a race that you have registered and prepared for (a black mark in a runner's long distance career), but in the bigger picture it will pay dividends when it matters the most. For now, rather than viewing the DNS as Did Not Start, I'll look at it as Did Nothing Stupid.

Cheers!

Aaron

A few days later.....

Hi all,

It's been a few days since I've had a run. These few days are to recover from the Reading Half Marathon on Sunday, to get many things done that I've neglected over the past couple of months, and to just put things into perspective. Having trained hard for 16 weeks I've more or less had to neglect a few things which kept building up over time. I've moved into a new house at the start of the month, and have just finished unpacking! And I've managed to complete a bunch of tasks on my never-ending to-do list. It's now more manageable, though when I start running again in a couple of days, it'll probably grow bigger.

I've had some time to think about the Reading Half Marathon and take in comments from many people, most of them being non-runners. I can honestly say that I gave it my best and that I'm happy to have set a new personal best despite not meeting my original goal. Goals are supposed to be ambitious, but also realistic at the same time. If the goal is too easy, then that could hardly be called a goal.

In saying that, my goal is to break three hours. I could reach my goal this year, but on the same token I might not reach it this year. But it is still a goal that I believe is realistic for me. And it is something that I'll continue to work towards whether it will take me one year or 10!

I've received a lot of supportive comments from friends, family, colleagues and others who have helped me look at things differently, and allowed me to refocus. One colleague told me that we only appreciate things that we achieve slowly or not at all. If we are able to do something quickly we lose interest. How very philosophical.

My office manager told me that I shouldn't always try to push so hard, and told me about the mail girl in another office who ran the Reading Half Marathon for charity and a couple of days later is now walking around in crutches! Bizarre! This reminded me of a runner I saw collapsed on the side of the road, just 1 km from the finish line. He needed paramedic assistance. What price for trying to beat 90 minutes? By the way, the mail girl ran for a charity and finished in over 2 hours, however since she's not a runner the stress of completing a half marathon took its toll on her body, so she's just taking things easy with regards to moving around.

I also got a text from my former housemate, who has no interest in running but knows how much I'm passionate about it. She simply asked me if I had a good time and if I was okay. Messages like that can be very uplifting.

And I've had many kind comments from others congratulating me on my new personal best, to learn from the experience and not to get discouraged. Thank you all for that.

I've more or less figured out why I ran how I ran on Sunday. Simply put, I wasn't fast enough (obviously). I got my split times and they are:

• 5 km: 22:29
• 10 km: 44:05
• 15 km: 1:06:54
• 20 km: 1:29:41

My average times over 5 km are nowhere near the pace to be achieving a 90 minute half marathon time. Between the 5-10 km mark, I ran the fastest 5 km with 21:36, but that is still too slow. Having run mostly marathons and halves, I've never really prepared for shorter distances which specialise in speed over endurance. I say this because I haven't really got a 5 km race time, so I don't know if I can run a 5 km race under 21 minutes. This is one area where I feel I really need improvement. Training from now on will need to incorporate a lot more faster running to build speed and maintain that speed over long periods of time. It's amazing to see what my split times can reveal.

Also I've decided that in order to take my running to a whole new level, and hopefully break three hours, I've decided to get myself a running coach and have approached George Anderson, the 1:30 pacesetter from the Reading Half Marathon and the guy I was trying to catch up to last Sunday. George is a running coach and strength conditioning specialist who has a wealth of experience. Before, I was my own coach but sometimes I went about things the wrong way. No doubt this was evident when I spent 16 weeks training for the Reading Half Marathon, and only managed to improve by 2 minutes. Having someone experienced like George to guide me along the way will no doubt improve my running. George is going to call me tomorrow morning (and it's for free too) to discuss training direction, focus and sub-goals I may have. Very excited!

So those have been the few days since the Reading Half Marathon. Just a time for relaxing, reflecting, and refocusing. In a couple of days I'll get back into it. And this time I cannot wait.

Excited about things to come,

Aaron

Bad Day

Hi guys,

I'm travelling back to the UK tomorrow for a few days on urgent business. The good news is that, after creatively rearranging my hand luggage, I can probably bring along my running gear (along with my laptop and other items) and I may be able to fit a few runs over there. Hopefully the roads in the UK won't have any black ice with all the snow and icy cold weather they have been experiencing recently.

On the subject of running, I've had a bad day of running today. Sometimes in my eagerness of wanting to train hard and making every mile count, I can also lose sight of the importance of rest, recovery and taking things just a little bit easier. Unfortunately bad days are part and parcel of training, and they will happen. As a runner, you have to manage these as best you can, accept it, and learn to come up with a response to these bad days.

Before the run I was feeling rather flat for some reason. Perhaps I've been running harder than normal recently, or the stress of my urgent trip to the UK, or the lunch I had that afternoon (yes I'm guilty, I ate out today because I wasn't able to prepare lunch the night before) - I can't really say. When I'm feeling flat, I can still scrape a good run so that I feel like I've worked hard enough. Unfortunately, today was an interval session and to get through an interval session properly you must not be feeling flat beforehand.

The plan was to run 4 x 1000m intervals at 16.0 km/h pace. If all went well, then I'd throw in another one for good measure. After the mandatory warm up, I managed 2 x 1000m intervals at 16.0 km/h pace, with a 2 minute and 4 minute rest after each interval at 8.0 km/h pace. As I went for a third interval, I just had to stop after 300-400m. I felt as if I had no energy to carry on at that pace. To ensure the training wasn't a complete waste, I managed 5 x 200m intervals at 16.0 km/h pace, with a 30 second rest. That was also very difficult for me; it was also a struggle getting through that set of intervals. I left the gym feeling rather disappointed with myself.

The flip side is that bad days are a good indicator that something is not right with your training. Either the session was too hard, or I wasn't in good form for that level of training. I've just reviewed the training runs from last week, and noted that the majority of my runs have been quite fast - less than 5 mins/km, especially my easy runs. At this stage of training, my easy runs are probably on the fast side. The easy runs should get to that pace later on as training builds up.

So what would my response be to this bad day? There are two areas I will need to address. I'm thinking that I may need to cut back on the pace slightly for the longer intervals (shorter intervals are probably manageable for me at that pace). I may also have to put the brake on my easy runs as well so that they are around the 5 - 5.3 mins/km pace effort. Additionally I might devote a week of easy running (no intervals, no tempo runs) to get into a rhythm.

Having a bad day is not the end of the world. At least I'm not injured, yet! To close, here's a music video which shares my sentiment, also titled Bad Day. A great song, it's enough to put a smile on anyone's face. Enjoy!

Take care,

Aaron