I don’t like talking to other marathon trainees at the moment as it stresses me out. I’m not where I’d ideally like to be in my ‘perfect’ marathon training, but in this sensible world I’m currently trying to live in (i.e. avoiding re-injury) it’s just how it has to be.
There are quite a few people in my running club and bloggers training for spring marathons and every weekend they say how far they’ve run for their long run…18, 20, 22miles. It really concerns me. I’m currently at 13. But it just has to be this way as I really need to take my build up slowly. My knee is still delicate. I don’t want to make it angry and flake out on me again And, as I keep berating myself, it’s my training plan and my marathon I’m working towards. It is pointless to compare to others.
But, on a positive note, I do things are going well. Last week I had my highest mileage in ages.
- Monday: off
- Tuesday: recovery 4 miles (ave. 9mins/mile) // leg strength workout in evening
- Wednesday: Core strength workout
- Thursday: Personal trainer session (lots of back and shoulders) // 6 miles (1 mile warm-up, 6x 6min tempo with 1 min recoveries) in evening
- Friday: Leg strength and Pilates
- Saturday: Parkrun (22:30)
- Sunday: Brighton half marathon
I’m loving me some recovery runs at the moment. I never used to do them; every run had to be about proving my speed and I felt I failed if the run was too slow. But it just meant all my runs were ‘sub par’ because I’d never really be recovered to then take on a hard run at 100%. So Tuesday’s run was just perfect after my previous tough long run on the Sunday.
I’ve also been focusing a lot on my strength. I want to do one core session a week (planks, side planks, supermans, etc.) and at least one leg strength session (though ideally two) a week. We’re not talking anything crazy here. Just under an hour focusing on what I know are my weakness (hips, bum, hamstrings).
Thursday tempo run was tough, I’m not gonna lie. I was chuffed to maintain speedy paces throughout the 6minutes but it became increasingly more difficult. Also I chose a rubbish route that I looped around twice: two sets of stairs and a nasty hill!
So I might not be hitting the big miles but I’m consistent with my running at the moment and feeling somewhat happy with how it’s going. My knee is still not 100% and it can niggle the day after a run if I’ve been sat down for too long but it’s manageable and getting increasingly better. Fingers crossed it will eventually just bugger off!!
I’ve got a 15 miler planned for this weekend. It’s a bit of a tough call on what to run as it’s the week before Reading half. But I know for a fact that I won’t be getting a PB, or anywhere close, even if I tapered appropriately. My fitness is just not where it was last year. Ideally I’d love to beat what I got in Reading last year (1:41:19) but anything close would make me happy 🙂 So I will push myself but I won’t kill myself. It will be a faster long run.
If you’re training for a marathon, where are you at with your long runs?
What long runs do you like to get in before a marathon?
What was your favourite workout last week?
I have not been running for over a week and definitely need to get out there but I have been loving some home workouts especially ones including my Vipr feeling rather strong at the mo : )
Vipr sounds very intriguing – and tough!
Sounds like things are going smoothly for you right now! Fingers crossed it remains this way 🙂 Stoked about the strength training. Its such a vital part that I feel way too many people over look. Way to be well rounded!! 🙂
Yep I am such a fan of strength training now. Well I say ‘fan’…I do have to force myself because I know it’s good for me.
I honestly don’t think it’s necessary to run multiple long runs before your marathon, particularly if it’s your first marathon. I know people who have run a 3:15 marathon on a ‘long’ run of 16 miles, and also people who ran a 20, a 22 and a 25 mile long run and ended up finishing in 4:30 because they were burnt out. These were both women, and both on their first marathon – it all depends on your base level of fitness, and your base level is already very high. Stressing out your knee might mean you don’t even make the start line, so please try not to panic about it. I still have a lot of trouble with doing too many long runs because I see certain other bloggers doing them, and most of my faster races (although my marathon PR is an exception, but that was a wild card that just came out of nowhere in an otherwise slow and crappy year) have come following periods of injury where I’ve actually been ‘undertrained.’
xxx
Yeah I think to do too many long runs for me probably wouldn’t be a great idea considering I didn’t do any base building mileage beforehand. It is hard to shutter my eyes to what other people are doing, but I just need to have confidence in my own plan. It’s my first marathon so I can tweak and change things later – and more importantly have a better lead up!
Think you are being really sensible, and doing all the right things to get you to the marathon start line! For my first marathon I never ran over 20 miles during training. My training was going super well until beginning of Feb with a few 16 milers, 18 miles and a 20 miler in the bag and now I’m injured, and have barely run since which has really set me back, with only 6-7 weeks until Manchester, I’m not really sure what position this leaves me in, hope to get to bottom of it soon.
🙁 I’m really sorry about your injury. It’s always hard to really pin down exactly why these things happen. It could be anything – not necessarily you’re mileage as you did gradually build it up. Fingers crossed you sort it soon!
You’re doing great!! I agree that it’s hard not to compare yourself to others but it sounds like you have your head on straight. You’ll do great!!!
Thanks, Chelsea!
You are right to take things easy- like Jess says you don’t want to burn yourself out. I did one 20 mile run before my first marathon, and I found the long runs tough ( because I am so slow they took so long, so I think that made it worse somehow- the 20 miles took 4 hours so it was a long time to be out pounding the streets)- I also had drop down weeks, so I would do say 14, 16, then down to 12, (one long run per weekend) so I had weeks off from the longest runs too. But yes some people run up to 16 miles and then the adrenaline and mental stuff gets them around the last 10 miles.
Well I guess we’ll see how it works out for me! But ideally, even just as a confidence booster, I’d love to have done a 20 miler and an 18… but hey ho, can’t moan now!