Posted in North Bay, Paris Marathon, Scarborough, South Bay, marathon, non-linear periodisation, training
Tags: carbo-loading, carbs, Music, North Bay, pain, Paris Marathon 2009, Scarborough, Scarborough Spa, South Bay, strides, tapering, tired, training
This is my final week before the big race itself. In less than a week I’ll be joining 37,000 other runners in the largest running event I’ve been involved in.
So this week is about continuing to taper and about carbo-loading until the big day itself.
My training got off to a tiring start on Tuesday when I ran one mile easy, followed by two miles at my fastest pace, another two at moderate pace and then a final mile at easy pace.
The fast miles were tough and very tiring, as my legs felt remarkably stiff and heavy and took a long time to warm up. Then my MP3 player crashed in the middle of one of my favourite running songs, which was helping me push on through the pain. So I had to stop and fix that, which interrupted my rhythm and which really annoyed me.
By the end of that run I was really tired – I had probably over-exerted myself if I’m honest. So I was glad my next two runs are fairly easy runs at a steady pace.
On Wednesday, I did four miles, with five “strides” – which basically means running at a fast pace for thirty seconds at different points during the route. I felt a little bit more flexible, but still heavy and weighed down by all these carbohydrate stores I’m building up.
Even though I’m running fewer miles now than at any time during the last four months, it doesn’t deel easier at all – in fact it feels like a bit of a drag to get going and slip into a steady pace.
It felt just like that again on Thursday when I ran one mile easy followed by one and a half miles at moderate pace, followed by another mile easy. The moderate lap was really tough because, once again, my legs felt like lead.
Still I managed to finish the last training session for this marathon in a respectable time, slightly faster than I predicted.
So that is the end of training. No more sessions before the big day. I can only hope it all pays off on the day. Wish me luck!
Posted April 3rd, 2009 by Simon
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Posted in Scarborough, marathon, training
Tags: apprehension, carbs, confidence, preparation, tapering, training
There’s less than a week to go now until the big day and I’ve just been continuing to taper my training. Yesterday I finished my last long Sunday run, a short 10km route around Scarborough. The next weekend I’ll be starting on a 26.2 mile course! I’m currently facing the challenge with a mixture of confidence and apprehension. I’ve done as much training as I safely can, but it’s the length of the marathon that makes me nervous. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted May 19th, 2008 by Simon
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Posted in Edinburgh Marathon, Scarborough, marathon, training
Tags: 11.5 miles, Edinburgh Marathon, Effort, energy gels, exhaustion, marathon, pain, Scarborough, tapering, training
It’s been a while since I posted but I’m back. I’ve been very busy recently and haven’t had much energy to do anything extra-curricular. The main news is that last sunday I reached the high-watermark of my training. I completed an 11.5 mile run around (and on the outskirts) of Scarborough and it was remarkably tough. It was the longest I’ve ever run so far and was also the hardest training run I’ve ever done as well.
I was supposed to have run a half-marathon by this point, but that cold I had a few weeks back has robbed me of two weeks of my schedule. However, 11 miles is only 1.5 miles away from half-marathon distance, so it’s not like I’m drastically under-prepared. My main concern is that the level of fitness I have attained by now is what I will be starting the marathon with. There are no more longer runs planned in my training schedule; Now the focus is on tapering, gradually winding down and scaling back to build up a reserve of energy.
This has also brought me to a realisation that my initial estimate of completing the marathon within 5h – 5h30m is looking too optimistic. I think a more accurate target would be around 6h – 6h30m and I think a lot of that time will be eaten up by having regular walking breaks. Trying to run an entire marathon non-stop seems to be something I will have to look forward to in the future, my priority in this race will just be to get around.
To try and mitigate the point where I will eventually hit the wall, I plan to take full advantage of the drinks stations along the marathon route and i am working on a plan to see how they fit in with my training at the moment. The only thing I can be sure of at the moment is that running this marathon is going to be a gruelling achievement.
Posted May 8th, 2008 by Simon
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