After attempting my second ever Tempo Run this week, and finishing it feeling a little annoyed with myself that I couldn't maintain my usual fast pace on the treadmill, I spent a some time reflecting and came to the (probably blindingly obvious to you) conclusion that I am indeed training for a marathon, not a sprint.
The furthest distance I have ever trained for previously is 10k - a programme which consists of fast paced runs, and interval training. Therefore I am currently approaching my runs with the intention of running my 10k pace, and thus doing interval training at equivalent paces. But, with legs feeling tired from the ever increasing weekly mileage, I am now beginning to learn this is not at all realistic. I need to find my 'marathon pace' and do interval or tempo running sessions to suit this.
My biggest barrier with be overcoming my current approach to running, where I am preoccupied by fast times and getting my 10k runs to be quicker. I now must focus on distance and mileage - I am not aiming to break the marathon World Record after all!
My realistic goal is to finish the marathon - something I will be immensely proud of, and of course to reach my fundraising target for vInspired. I would love to run a time around the 4 hour mark, and if I am honest with you I will be disappointed if it is anything over 4hours 30minutes. But I am not going to focus on times for now and start thinking with a marathon runner’s head – not a sprinter’s!
The furthest distance I have ever trained for previously is 10k - a programme which consists of fast paced runs, and interval training. Therefore I am currently approaching my runs with the intention of running my 10k pace, and thus doing interval training at equivalent paces. But, with legs feeling tired from the ever increasing weekly mileage, I am now beginning to learn this is not at all realistic. I need to find my 'marathon pace' and do interval or tempo running sessions to suit this.
My biggest barrier with be overcoming my current approach to running, where I am preoccupied by fast times and getting my 10k runs to be quicker. I now must focus on distance and mileage - I am not aiming to break the marathon World Record after all!
My realistic goal is to finish the marathon - something I will be immensely proud of, and of course to reach my fundraising target for vInspired. I would love to run a time around the 4 hour mark, and if I am honest with you I will be disappointed if it is anything over 4hours 30minutes. But I am not going to focus on times for now and start thinking with a marathon runner’s head – not a sprinter’s!
