I… have a cunning plan
It’s taken a bit of fudgery, a bit of cunning, and a fair amount of ball-ache, but I think my training plan for the Marathon is coming together.
For the 2012 London Marathon I created a similar plan. Similar, but less cunning. Looking back at it now, I managed 2 weeks, after which I seemed to take so long to recover after each long run that I resigned to just doing the long runs. It was enough to see me complete the marathon, but not enough to properly run it.
So what’s different?
- I’m being more sensible about the balance of rest days and non-running training. Basically, I have two rest days (Mondays and Fridays), I have two Core Strength days (Tuesdays and Thursdays), and 3 running days – a medium length one on Wednesday, a short fast 5K on Saturday, and a long run on Sunday.
- By doing the fast 5K runs, I’ll get my legs used to faster paces – in my training last year I just went out and ran, focussing only on distance, not speed. Additionally, I’ll be doing parkruns which are officially timed, so I can see how I’m doing on properly measured courses.
- By doing my long runs the day after a fast 5K, it gets my legs used to running tired… which is what they’ll be doing half way around the marathon
- By doing the Core Strength, I’ll be giving my feed and legs a rest from pounding the streets, whilst building my general strength – something which was really lacking last year
- I’m not completely changing the way my feet and legs operate at the very start of my training! It sounds extreme, but that’s effectively what I did last year. I went to profeet where they monitor you running, video what happens as your feet hit the ground, use pressure pads and other gadgets to look at exactly how the pressure moves through your feet as they hit the ground, and finally take a vacuum form of the soles of your feet to create insoles for your running shoes. The thing is, my legs had been used to running incorrectly for so many years, that right at the start of my training they suddenly had to adjust to the correct motion. And the body isn’t quick to adapt.
So let’s see how it goes. I’m around 2 weeks in, so it’s early days, but at the moment I’m feeling good.
