Brighton Marathon Training: Week 7

​It has been a busy week with a mixture of work commitments and fitting in marathon training; but I have managed it all. Marathon training is a commitment itself, but I guess like anything, the more cycles I go through the easier I find it to fit training into life - it is possible!

MONDAY: a double strength session to start the week, with Strength and Conditioning for Runners followed by a Body Pump class.

TUESDAY: the last (I hope!) of the ice lingered today and it meant I had to remain a little cautious on early morning intervals. I ran the same session as last week; 5.5m with 15 x 200m reps and 200m recoveries, and again managed to keep my pace for the interval efforts hovering just above 7 min/mile for the majority. 

WEDNESDAY: I wanted to run the 'easy' 10 miles I had on my plan 'easy' - recent icy conditions have helped me keep my planned easier miles at a comfortable pace, rather than tending to run everything a bit too quick, and I feel it has been beneficial. Despite there being no ice today it turned out it was actually very easy for me to slow things down - my legs were very lethargic. Tuesday had been a very busy and long day at work for me and I had not eaten properly at all; I do not think I actually had one proper meal all day. An early longish run was therefore a bit of an ask; it felt a slog and I averaged 8.42 min/mile. I know why I struggled at least and it is always good to learn. In the evening I enjoyed marshalling at a charity 'Dark Run' arranged to support the fundraising efforts of our Lincoln parkrun event director who is taking on the London Marathon.

THURSDAY: this morning was very windy - I could hear the wind howling before I even set out the door. The conditions made running tough at times and I knew I needed to adjust my pace expectations. As predicted, at times I did struggle to hit my desired paces against a headwind, so I instead tried to maintain my effort levels instead, logging 7 miles with the middle 5 miles aiming to be quicker/exerting more effort. My middle splits were nearly all sub 8 min/mile still, with one slightly over, which was both uphill and with a headwind so I will let myself off..! Body Pump in the evening.

FRIDAY: Rest Day

SATURDAY: the wind had returned for today's Lincoln parkrun, with an added strength which had actually kept me awake at night. It was very gusty at Boultham Park and obvious that on the slightly more exposed expanses of the park it would play some effect. My sister was visiting for the weekend and I feel she tends to bring extreme conditions with her when she runs at Lincoln - previously it has been a heatwave! Against the wind I faded progressively across the three miles; on each of the three laps the headwind seemed to knock me out of my rhythm a little more. I finished in 21:10, which I was still happy with in the conditions, and with just enough time to catch my breath and go to cheer my sister through her sprint finish!

SUNDAY: a long run with some company - the benefits of having a keen running sibling! I had 17 miles on my plan and wanted these to be steadier after a few weeks of more testing long runs; so having someone to chat to was perfect timing. I was not expecting my sister to run the full 17 with me, but we planned to run 11 miles together, before I finished off with a solo 6 miles. Needless to say, the first 11 miles flew by and I enjoyed showing my sister one of my running routes. The final 6 miles were my own mental test - physically my body felt good with the steadier pace, but now I had to motivate myself to keep going without the support. Miles 11-14 were a bit tough, but I ticked off the final 3 miles more effortlessly, finishing with an average pace of 8.29 min/mile - which was almost exactly to my pre-run plan of 8.30 min/mile. Next week is the half way part of training – it is crazy how quickly the weeks are passing by!