London Marathon Training 2018: Week 14

Week 14 - aka the week that is not quite a taper. The training demands have eased slightly this week, although I have probably pushed myself just as hard. My aim going into the real taper weeks is to be a little more relaxed with my running; I do not want to burn out before race day!

MONDAY: Body Pump class

TUESDAY: this interval run was another tough one - 9 miles with 10 x 800m reps and 200m recoveries. It felt like there were a lot of reps to complete, which at half a mile, were quite a moderate distance still. I dug deep though and my interval splits were predominantly sub 7.20 min/mile pace, which I was pleased with. After the 7th rep I did really have to draw on some mental strength to keep going at the same level of intensity though; I literally just told myself this was the final really hard interval run before London and just to get on with it! 

WEDNESDAY: my plan today was for 8 steady miles, and I went out with the aim of running around 8:20 min/mile pace. However, following a bit of a frustrating day, once I started running I felt almost unleashed and I found myself wanting to push harder - literally running out frustration! I finished with a 7.58 min/mile average - not on plan, but I did feel better for it!

THURSDAY: I am a qualified sports coach but rarely don my tracksuits anymore. However today I was called back into action at work for a full day coaching at an Easter Holiday Club with a lot of energised children. It was a bit of a shock to me, I had forgotten how draining it is! Post work I was therefore shattered, but knew I had to run still. Although I felt tired, determination to complete my run and not let fatigue win spurred me on. As each mile ticked by I actually felt more alive. I ran a 6 mile tempo run, with the 4 middle miles at around half marathon pace. I was so pleased with my splits, virtually on target and also consistent, logging at 7.57, 7.26, 7.21, 7.24, 7.23 and 7.31 min/miles respectively. 

FRIDAY: Rest Day

SATURDAY: this week I managed to remain sub 21 minutes at Lincoln parkrun, finishing in 20:46, which was also a tiny 3 second improvement on last week's time. I was really happy, but it definitely was a lot harder work than the previous week. I could not really pin point the exact reason why it felt so much more effort, but as I stood bent over by the finish funnel, hands on knees, gasping for air, my body was definitely telling me that it had worked hard!

SUNDAY: for me, a sign that I have been marathon training is when a 15 mile run suddenly feels relatively short in comparison to the past month or so of weekly 20 milers! I did not really go into today's run with any goal in mind; I met my friend as usual (see image) and we just ran and chatted as we have done for many a mile before. I actually do no think I looked at my watch at all to see what pace we were running. My left hamstring felt a bit twangy, but aside from that I just ran comfortably next to my friend, winding around familiar paths in and around Lincoln, with only the small distraction of a field of newborn lambs causing us to break stride to stop and swoon over their cuteness. As we hit 15 miles I almost questioned my friend about my Garmin display - 'mine says 8.13 min/mile pace?' Her's showed an 8.14 min/mile average. I was shocked at how we had ran that pace without real focused effort. I kind of loved that fact too though; I loved that we could push a little on a longer run, but the enjoyment of running together had not been lost.

​Now with two weeks to go until race day, the real taper beckons...