So this week I’m starting my full training schedule. I’ve also decided, following my performance at the Paris Marathon, to use the non-linear periodisation system again. Hopefully I’ll be able to smash my marathon PB by running the Dublin Marathon in 4h30m00s – that’s my goal anyway.

Friday’s schedule called for 5 miles easy with 6 x 30 second fartlek intervals. The first time I saw what mileage I had to cover, I thought it sounded like a big ask. I’ve still got memories of how tiring this session used to be, especially with the fartlek intervals, which really knackered me out.

However, once I got out there I discovered I didn’t really need to put in any extra effort into running the five miles (except for running around the headland – the wind was quite strong and was a struggle to run against sometimes). What really pleasantly surprised me though was my peformance during the fartlek intervals.

The last time I regularly did this kind of session, I looked upon intervals with some trepidation because after each interval I was always exhausted. This time though I managed to breeze through them. I was even able to increase my pace in each progressive interval, which was something I definitely couldn’t have done last time. Previously I would start out running each interval really fast and then slow down through tiredness in each following interval.

So after the first week back to “normal” training, I’m generally quite impressed with my state of fitness. As usual, I seem to have underestimated my ability again, as I appear to be fitter than I give myself credit for. Using this training plan to train for Paris seems to have really boosted my general levels of fitness, aerobic endurance and stamina. Not bad!

Unfortunately, whatever helped me fly around last time wasn’t there this time. From the outset my legs felt really heavy and my muscles ached from the start. I had to stop about six minutes after starting to remove a stone from my shoe, so I took the opportunity to do some extra stretches as well. I warmed up after the first three miles, but my muscles never totally stopped aching.

The lap system worked well again. I split the run into two nine-mile laps followed by a third four mile lap to bring me up to 22, around the South and North Bays. Running this kind of distance reminded me of just how demanding distance running is. At the end I was racked with aches and pains, which continued all right through the rest of the day. It took me all Sunday, Monday and Tuesday to recover from the effort.

Finally I must comment on the weather. I’ve been rather lucky this year with the weather, with each long run falling on relatively mild Sundays. After completing my first lap, I took the decision to dump my running coat, hat and gloves at home and the bright, constant sunshine rewarded me. The chilly breeze reminded me it was still technically Winter, but it was what I needed on this long run.

The first session of the week was on Tuesday. This intensive phase of my training plan called for a 9-mile run – on a weekday! I wasn’t sure if I could fit a 9 mile run in before work, so I decided to get up at 4:30am instead of my usual 5:00am start just to make sure I had enough time.

This plan backfired as soon as I woke up. I literally dragged myself out of bed and went through my usual routine. However, I just couldn’t get going and I felt like I was in danger of drifting back to sleep whilst doing my warm-ups.

It didn’t get any better once I started running. I was still tired from getting up so early and my muscles were in open rebellion, aching and painful from the offset. I felt like I was running with a sack of potatoes tied to each leg. I managed to complete it, but I felt shocking afterwards. So now, through that hard lesson, i know that getting up earlier than 5:00am to go training is just not an option.

After over-extending myself on Tuesday, Wednesday was a rest day, followed by my next session on Thursday.

This was a simple easy run of five miles, followed by four ten-second hill repeats. I completed it with no problems – it was probably the highlight of an almost universally bad week.

That highlight was followed by Friday’s session, which turned into something of a disaster. My schedule called for 1 mile easy (no problems there), then 8×1k at 10k pace. However, I didn’t measure the distances beforehand, so I had to estimate how far a kilometre was, which I now know that I can’t really do whilst running. Additionally, I fell for the common mistake of miscalculating how long the repeats would take (because I forgot to take into account the rest kilometres in-between). So I didn’t run as far as I should and I didn’t do as many repeats as I should.

I decided just to cut my losses and cut the in-between rest time from eight minutes to two minutes, which I could just about handle. After I’d finished I still felt like the running I had done was good, even if the session as a whole had been a bit disastrous.

So after a shaky start to the final month of training, I wasn’t looking forward to the twenty-mile long run on Sunday. I split the run into three laps: The first two were eight miles each, then finishing with a four-mile lap of the North Bay. I also tried out my new running belt, for storing my energy gels. For the first eight miles, my legs felt rather light, so the going felt surprisingly easy. By the end of the last mile, I was shattered, but I managed to do it in 4h 25m, which impressed me quite a bit.

The first training session of the week was a four mile easy run. I’ve been getting a bit bored of continually running around the North Bay, so this time I decided to run down to the end of the South Bay then back again.

On Wednesday I strategically matched my music to the training. The schedule called for one mile easy, then three miles at half-marathon pace then another mile at easy pace. That sounds easy, but this combination of distance and pace has tripped me up before, hence the decision to run to music this time.

I chose Bloc Party’s new album Intimacy because it has a fast beat and sounds a bit mental. The result? Well, it worked smashingly. I ploughed through the miles and finished on a bit of a high.

I tried the same trick on Thursday, doing 4m easy then 2m moderate. I listened to the same music again, but it didn’t have quite the same effect as last time. Saying that, I still powered through the moderate section. For the first 4 miles, my legs didn’t feel quite as elastic and springy as I like, but they weren’t stiff, so I just had to work through that. I covered the first four miles aorund the headland and then ran down to end of the Spa again, then did the remaining two miles in the North bay.

The end of the week saw the return of the dreaded cold weather, bringing with it a light frost. Fortunately, that didn’t affect me much.

Last week I think the combination of taking Monday off as a rest day and my other recovery techniques worked rather well. On Monday I didn’t fell creaky and painful like I sometimes do the day after a long run and when training the day after, I didn’t feel like I was still recovering from Sunday. So I’ve decided that Monday is my new rest day. On Tuesday I felt more comfortable today than last week. I felt good all the way round. Afterwards, I didn’t feel totally exhausted like previous times.

Unfortunately, by Wednesday, the weather seemed to be getting a bit chilly again after the “mildness” of last week. Thursday was more like Tuesday in that I just seemed to run the four miles easy and two miles at moderate pace without much fuss. what made it memorable was the beautiful sunrise which rose as I ran around the headland.

Sunday

This week has just flown by. So when it came to this week’s long run, a mammoth eighteen-miler, I didn’t feel totally psyched up for it. In fact, I was even dreading it a little bit. Last weeks’ sixteen-mile run hurt, so adding another two miles onto that wasn’t going to make it any more comfortable.

To make the distance a little more manageable, I split it into two laps, each a nine-mile circuit of the South and North Bays. Basically it covered all the areas where I usually run, but with a few extensions to place I’ve run to in the past.

I decided to try and minimise the pain of this endurance run by taking my first energy gel before I had even set off, unlike my usual system of using them after the first six miles. Then I took one every three miles after that. Just a few hundred yards into my first mile, my leg muscles felt solid, like bricks. There was no elasticity or flexibility in them at all. It was obvious that my warm-up exercises had been somewhat lacklustre today. I had to find a wall and perform a few quick leg stretches in order to get my legs going. I was a little surprised as this was the first time I’ve ever had to do stretches after starting running. Once I set off again, they didn’t feel as stiff, but they ached really badly as they warmed up which was really painful.

By the time I had reached the Spa, they had stopped aching so badly, but the rocky start had shaken my confidence somewhat. I took my second energy gel whilst passing the Ocean Room and made my way to the most southerly point of my route. My muscles weren’t aching any more but they still felt as if they were not performing at their best, which filled me with apprehension about what the next fifteen miles would have in store.

Throughout this run I had a sense of stop-start regarding my energy levels. Each energy gel would come “on stream” about half an hour after I had eaten it, so there was a small lag between the effects of the last one wearing off and the next one kicking in. No matter how many gels I ate though, there was no distracting me from the fact that my feet and legs were all feeling tired and achy even in the early stages of the run. This made it much more uncomfortable than usual and I even contemplated walking at some points.

After I had rounded the headland in the middle of the first lap, about six miles in, the tide in the North Bay had gone so far out that I was able to get onto the beach from the most southerly steps (opposite the Albert Drive Cafe) – I don’t often get the chance to get onto the beach this far south because the tide doesn’t usually go out this far when I’m running. I was then able to run the entire length of the North Bay beach all the way up to the most northerly steps outside the Sea Life Centre.

I had managed to establish a rhythm which carried me through most of the nine miles of the first lap. After switching empty bottles for full ones at my home, I started the second lap. Naturally, it felt harder because I had already completed the first lap, but the energy gels meant I kept on having spurts of energy, which kept things interesting.

Coming back from the most southerly point of my route, I took an early detour into the beach, as the softer snad is more forgiving on my feet. It was the first time I had run outside the southern end of the Spa, which still has that feel of faded, dilapidated glory. Whilst I was running towards the lifeboat station and the end of the beach, I noticed how alone I was in the vast expanse of empty beach. Earlier on it had been quite busy, but now this section of the beach was much quieter. The headland was, as usual at this time of day, very busy with plenty of people around the South Bay end.

Coming around the headland for the second and last time and I was really beginning to feel the exhaustion creep up on me. I ran down onto the beach again, this time having to dodge the tide which was coming in quite fast. By this point I had equalled last weeks distance of sixteen miles, but the thought of doing another two miles was almost too much. I deliberately psyched myself up because I knew if I stopped now, I wouldn’t be able to get going again.

To my surprise, even though my legs were fatigued and I was generally quite exhuasted, I didn’t feel like my legs were going to explode like last week. It was more a case of just trying to run through the tiredness and try not to stop. When I finished, I could only half-believe that I had just completed the longest training run I’ve ever done. These long runs are also beginning to remind me of now much effort is required just to keep moving whilst running a marathon and how just much of a massive commitment it is.

After Sunday’s mammoth effort, I was still feeling the effects of that exhausting fourteen-mile run. My legs are still aching, which isn’t really a good sign, especially as my plan dictates that I should have gone training today. I have no idea how anyone other than an athlete could have done a five-mile run today after yesterday’s effort. I feel like the graduation to epically long runs has come about rather soon, when compared to my training for my last marathon in Dublin.

However, that has probably something to do with the fact that this new “non-linear periodisation” training plan is designed to fit a lot of training into a very short period and that I started this phase of my training much closer to the actual marathon than I have ever done before.

Tuesday

It was quite tough going over the first two miles as my muscles warmed up. The last three miles were easier, though I was still quite tired though by the end of it. The four 10-second hill sprints made me feel better, but I still felt more tired doing them than last time, which is not a good sign.

Wednesday

The plan for today was one mile at easy pace, then three miles at tempo pace (basically as fast as I can go without ), then another easy mile to finish with. This is always a deceptively simple run which hides a quite intensive and tiring three mile run in the middle of it. It always sounds easier than it is. I had a burst of energy between miles two and three, the challenge is sustaining that level of exertion over three miles. By the end of it, I felt very tired but not exhausted.

Thursday

Today I ran two miles at four miles at easy pace with two miles at moderate pace sandwiched in the middle. I was feeling quite good until the end of the moderate miles. The last two miles felt quite difficult, but the I had just run two moderate miles so maybe that’s not too surprising. The major bit of fun on this run was when I ran down onto the southern end of the North Bay beach. Unfortunately, the tide had come in further than I could see from the promenade, and cut off my route. So I had to make a slight diversion by climbing up onto the sea wall and making good my escape. I don’t recommend doing it because it is covered in slippy, slimy algae and sea weed, which didn’t make it easy.

Sunday

Now that my Sunday long runs are getting really long, I decided that I needed a better system to my current one of just running one big xx-miles long circuit. Whilst I did enjoy doing things like running to Filey and back during training for my last marathon, those type of runs are just too inflexible for this time round. What if I got injured, or just burnt out? I would still have the remaining miles to walk home and I also could only take as much fluids as I could carry, which inevitably wasn’t enough.

So this time round I’ve decided to go with a laps system. I start at my usual location, but each lap finishes at my home, where I can switch over empty bottles for full ones (and also make use of the facilities if necessary). This also allows me to break up longer distances into smaller chunks, which makes them easier to swallow (or at least makes it seem like they are).

I split my sixteen mile long run into three laps: One six-mile lap and two five-mile laps. It was unseasonably bright sunshine and quite mild as well – perfect running weather. My lap system was working well, but at the end of the first one, I felt like I was already succumbing to tiredness. After completing the second mile of my second lap, I was so tired I wondered how I would be able to complete the remaining eight miles.

I pressed on. Running past the Sea Life Centre for the third and final time I felt like three laps along the same route was a little excessive, as I was by now quite bored of running the same route for the third time. This didn’t help distract me from the tremendous aching in my legs either. Just a mile later, running through Peasholm Park, I felt as though my leg muscles were ready to explode.

Fortunately, they didn’t and I managed to finish in just under four hours, which surprised me a little, as I didn’t think that I had been running for that long. That time is slower than my hopeful marathon pace, but at the moment, I’m not worried.

The steps outside my front door were still covered in black ice, which made even walking a few steps risky. I managed to make it down to my usual starting point without falling over and was able to continue with my plan of 5 miles at easy pace. The ice did force me to run on the opposite side of the road whilst going around the headland, as there was just too much black ice on the promenade to be able to concentrate on running over it.

Once again I also had to slow down to walking pace at some points as well due to the hazardous conditions. When I was able to run on the beaches of the South and North Bay, this was a welcome relief to scanning the footpaths for patches of ice and frost.

The tide had gone quite far out on Monday, which meant I could run almost the entire length of the North Bay beach. It afforded some fantastic views of the cliffs and the castle and it also reminded me how much I enjoy running close to the sea. I did have to skip my planned 4×10 second hill starts, as the roads were just too icy to do any kind of speed work. Hopefully the weather will thaw out a bit over the week and make training a little easier.

Moving on to Wednesday. It was still treacherous, but not too bad on the sea front, where the crashing of waves onto the promenade appears to have stopped ice from forming. I did my usual Tuesday work-out today instead in the hope that the weather might be thawing out, however, it obviously wasn’t going to improve any time soon.I think the going was made a bit harder by the fact that my MP3 player had developed a fault which meant I couldn’t charge it, which in turn meant that it died just five minutes after I set off.

Whilst running along outside the Sands apartments, I met Nick, who works at the same company as me. This was the first time I believe I’ve met another colleague on a morning ruin, possibly because of how early I usually go running. Anyway, he was walking his dogs and called me over just as I was about to run past him. Now I do have reason to believe that nick went out deliberately to spot me because since he learnt that I’m a runner, he has reacted with a sense of incredulous disbelief and wants to know my route in detail. Or maybe I’m just being paranoid.

Well, the fact I was chatting to him gave me the opportunity to rest from what was a fairly intense 3-mile moderate section of a five mile run. Also, I had planned to do my 4×10 hill starts today, but Nick foiled my plans by stealing my time!

On Friday, once again I looked out the window at about 5:30am and decided that the conditions would be too treacherous. However, as the day progressed, there was a thaw in the freezing conditions, so I decided that I would go out after work.

What surprised me about going for a run in the evening was how certain things were easier – doing my warm-ups, I felt far more flexible and limber and whilst running the first two miles, I didn’t feel the shocking aches and pains in my muscles or feet that I usually get when running in the morning.

It was a bit of a rough night for the sea, and it was breaking over the railings of the North Bay promenade in spectacular fashion. So much so that I decided to run on the opposite side of the road, if only to stay dry and out of the waves. when I hit the section of the North Bay lined with beach huts, past The Sands apartments, I ran along the top of the sea wall for the first time, alongside the beach huts themselves in order to stay out of the water. the sea was regularly crashing over this section of my route, making it otherwise impassable.

Not for the first time, I also had to run through the crazy-golf course near the Sea Life Centre because of the rough seas. This section of my run seemed more like an assault rather than the five miles at easy pace that my schedule dictated. I doubled back on myself after that, all the way back to where I started and completed my run by doing four laps around the headland (about a mile each). This was much more pleasant as there wasn’t too strong a wind and even though the seas were quite rough, they weren’t breaking over these sea walls tonight – not to mention the fact that there was much better lighting around the headland.

I concluded the final lap with 6×30 second fartlek intervals at roughly 5k pace, then a sprint finish. I was feeling quite pleased with myself that I had done this training session, and at night, that I finished by finally doing the 4×10 second hill starts that I had been putting off since Monday.

Then on Thursday there I started my run in a light rain, which I can handle. However, this soon turned into a horrendous freezing cold shower as I tried to run around the headland. The winds are always bad around there because it is so exposed, but this time they beat me and I turned around. I still intended to complete my planned mileage along a different route, but as I got to the Sea Life Centre, about two miles in, the rain was still pounding me and the wind was not giving up.

So, again, I decided to abandon that run as well. By the time I had walked home, I was thoroughly soaked (my jacket not being waterproof enough to survive the onslaught of the rain), my jogging bottoms clinging and chilling my legs and the rest of me absolutely frozen.

I don’t really like training in winter and this week has proved just how difficult (and disappointing) it can be.

When I turned around at the Sea Life Centre, I looked across to where the headland should be, but there was only a white fog. It was a total whiteout! This wasn’t any old snow either; the snowflakes were as big as a two-pence piece and stuck to me as soon as they blew into me. I regularly had to shake off the settled snow so my body heat wouldn’t melt it and soak through my outer layers.

I might as well not have bothered, however, because when I got back home, semi-caked in Scarborough’s finest snow, I was soaked through anyway, my inner layers from sweat and my outer layers from the snow.

Following my new plan, I ran a mile at easy pace, then switched up a gear into my half-marathon pace (about 12 minutes per mile) for two miles, then ran easy for the final mile. Unlike previous pacing sessions where I always ended them totally exhausted, I felt quite comfortable running the up-tempo section. Which means I haven’t lost as much fitness as I thought since the Dublin Marathon. Despite all that, I had a thoroughly fun time. The training session wasn’t bad either.

Then the second mile was just as hard. Usually, it gets a little easier, the aches and pains wear off and I can concentrate on running the distance. Not today. It just got harder and harder. I was running my normal route of going round the headland, around the South Bay, back around the headland and along the North Bay and through the parks. When I reached the Sea Life Centre, I almost stopped as I turned around to head towards Peasholm Park, but I knew that if I stopped it would be twice as hard (and painful) to get going again.

So I struggled on, plodding away trying to ignore my aching leg muscles. By the time I was a short distance into the Peasholm Park leg, on the final mile of my route, I gave in and started walking instead. It wasn’t just my legs that were being tortured – my feet were on fire!

From there I walked the rest of the route. As I emerged from Peasholm Glen, I was started by a tremendous BANG! from the other side of the lake. It took me a few moments to realise that it was a television crew who were filming an episode of The Royal.

The exhaustion of this run has once again made my doubt my ability to run the marathon in my target time of 5h30m and rudely reminded me of just how hard and difficult running a marathon is.