Time To Train?

This week has seen me pass the three month marker of working from home/lockdown life. It is crazy when I think about how different my life has been during this time, and whilst there have been challenges, I continue to be upbeat and have been quite reflective this week about the positive parts of lockdown and the things I have learnt to appreciate and value much more.

Running wise, this week should also be my final week of ‘no training’ with the 16-week countdown to the rearranged London Marathon starting on Monday and consequently the beginning of my usual marathon training plan. Am I starting marathon training on Monday? The short answer is no. We have been promised an update from the London Marathon next Sunday and I am both hoping and expecting that they tell us this year’s race will not take place, which feels quite strange to admit. I do not want to run the race if it will not feel like the London Marathon we all know and love, and, most importantly, I also do not want to put myself or others as risk – sadly I cannot see a way the race can safely go ahead this year. Whilst the announcement is due to be made only one week into training, I do want to exert any level of emotional attachment to training or to psychologically begin to think about the weeks ahead – it feels like wasted energy. If by some miracle the announcement is that the marathon is going ahead, starting training one week later will have no real major impact on me, especially when I am running well at the moment anyway. So, I await next Sunday’s news, as I am sure many thousands of other people are too.  

MONDAY: online exercise classes

TUESDAY: an easy paced 10k to kick off my weekly running

WEDNESDAY: speaking of marathon training, this morning I opted for a 7 mile loop I run often during my marathon training cycles due to its relative flatness and the long straight roads which allow you to build up some rhythm. I aimed to run a bit quicker today, keeping my splits in the low 8 min/mile region.

THURSDAY: this morning I had to get out running earlier than normal as I had scheduled myself a 9am video meeting at work (what was I thinking?!) I wanted to do some speed work as I have skipped speed sessions a little bit of late, and thought some hill reps would be a good way to motivate myself. I ran to a steep hill fairly near to my house and logged 10 x sprints uphill with a slow recovery jog down. It was short, sharp and intense and afterwards as I ran a cool down mile home my legs were knackered!

FRIDAY: Rest Day

​SATURDAY: another Saturday and another week of missing parkrun – after however many weeks, I can safely say a Saturday morning 5k on my own is never going to be the same as going to my much loved Lincoln parkrun! The weather was calmer this week at least, so I reverted back to my flatter 5k course and tried to test my speed. It was hard work, especially on a surprisingly muggy morning when the air felt thick to breathe. I ran 21:35 which is a fairly reasonable time, but I cannot believe I managed 20:40 a few weeks back – my legs felt nowhere near up to that this morning!

SUNDAY: it was muggy again today and I tried to keep my long run steady from the start – I did not fancy struggling in the heat. I had mapped out a half marathon route and wanted to complete it and not feel the need to cut it short if I got too hot and bothered. My sensible approach paid off, and my paces were reasonably consistent in the 8:20 min/mile region. This meant that even when the sun broke out in the final stages of the run, making the heat suddenly soar, I did not suffer too much. If I am to be marathon training this summer a sensible approach is always required on hot long runs – so maybe this was good practice...?!
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Let’s see what next Sunday brings…