London Marathon Training: Week One

Here we go… my journey to the London Marathon has begun. This week’s mileage has not felt too indifferent to some of my recent running weeks, if anything pace demands have been a bit slower than I am used to. In week one this was not really a shock though, although the reappearance of intervals was a bit of a jolt to the system!

MONDAY: a short, easy 3 mile run to kick off training. It was extremely icy underfoot, I nearly slipped numerous times, and the ice patches were very difficult to spot. The conditions helped me dramatically slow my pace down though and keep some discipline.

TUESDAY: hello intervals…you’ve not been missed. This was not a particularly hard interval session with 5 miles including 4 x 800m, but having avoided running intervals for a while I seemed to have forgotten how tough they can be. I pushed hard on the intervals, probably going too quickly, running more like 5k pace than my plan’s suggested 10k pacing. There will be bigger tests to come.

WEDNESDAY: another run completed a bit too quickly with 4 miles logged at roughly 8 minute/mile pace, when I was really aiming for 8.30 minute/miles. It has been hard at times to adapt my pace this week, but I am very confident marathon mind-set, plus undoubted marathon fatigue, will soon help with that. I attended my usual Body Pump class afterwards for the first time since a festive break;  it hurt... a lot! 

THURSDAY: a steadier 4 miles at 8.25 minute/mile pace after a Sports Massage earlier in the day. After being manipulated and prodded I then subjected my legs to the Baltic conditions, donning my shorts to run in despite the minus 2 degree temperatures!

FRIDAY: Rest Day

SATURDAY: the first Lincoln parkrun of 2017. It felt tough today; so much so that I even found myself questioning what lap I was on as I pushed my legs around. Sadly I had only completed lap one at this point and still had two more to go...! I did not finish with a bad time, 22:04, but after a few weeks of running sub 22 mins it is funny how your goalposts shift a little. It was however fabulous to see so many runners attend the Lincoln event in what was a record breaking weekend for parkrun attendances across the whole of the UK.

SUNDAY: on a surprisingly mild morning I enjoyed an 11.5 mile run with my friend tackling a few of our ‘favourite ’hills. The run was further and faster (average 8.48 min/mile) than the 8 miles at 9min/mile pace my plan prescribed, but when you enjoy a run does it really matter? My plan is there as a guide for me; it is an ambitious plan and I know in weeks to come it will test me hugely. The main thing is I want to enjoy my training, so a few tweaks and changes along the way are not something I am going to panic about. Onto week two.  ​