Marathon Training

Since my last post, I've run 43 miles in 5 outings. The longest was 10.5 miles last night which I took easy at my target Marathon Pace. It felt pretty good running at 20-30secs/mile slower than usual.

I was planning to get in a long run this weekend but that's not going to happen. Too much to do!

I'm averaging about 30miles/wk at the moment so getting up to more than 40 is going to be tough in the New Year. We've bought a new house which needs a fair bit doing to it so that will be another thing to get in the way of training in January. Overall, I'm still reasonably confident of running 3:30 but only if I can get in some long runs.

Today, I ran 8 miles at lunch time. This was my first run since Friday evening and it felt pretty good. I ran the first 4 miles in 30'35" and the return in 29'05".

I ran 15.8 miles on Friday evening in 2hrs 5mins, so just under 8min/mile pace. The conditions were good with only a slight breeze although it was pretty cold. I actually had to turn around on Craigmillar Avenue in Milngavie as it was like a skating rink!

I felt reasonably strong at the end and ran the last 5 miles in under 39mins without pushing too hard. My knee feels OK now on Saturday morning but can sometimes get a little worse a couple of days after a run so it should be interesting to see what happens. My next long run is planned for 22nd/23rd Dec as I'll be taking it easy for a few days over Xmas. I'll try and do at least 18 miles then.

I've just noticed the elevation feature on Gmaps Pedomater which I had never spotted before. It seems pretty good although there are quite a few glitches in it. Anybody know of a better site for tracking elevation?

On Tuesday evening I ran 9 miles around the West End. The weather was the best it's been for a couple of weeks and it was actually quite pleasant. I ran the first 4 miles at an easy pace and then ran intervals for the last 5 miles.

I'm going to run home from work this evening so just need to pick a route which will turn it from 2.5 miles into hopefully 15.

Yesterday, I managed another 8 miles at lunch time. This was my first run since Thursday lunch time as I didn't get out at the weekend. Having 2 very young kids makes it difficult to get time off during the day at weekends and Sunday night was just too miserable.

Overall, the training is going a bit slower than I had hoped. However, I feel that if I manage half a dozen longish runs before the race then I'll be fine.

Just had a look at the New York Marathon website. Excellent coverage of results including multiple split times for all participants. I was a bit surprised to see quite a few negative split times around the 3:30 mark. I was aiming to run about 1:43/1:47 for a 3:30 at FortWilliam which looks reasonable.

Yesterday, I managed 8 miles at lunch time, in 62mins. I ran along the Forth/Clyde Canal from Maryhill Road down to Great Western Road. The weather was pretty miserable; wet and windy. Going down the canal path at this time of year is probably not the best idea as it's covered in puddles.

I was starting to feel a slight twinge in my left-knee which is a recurring niggle I get when running more than about 25 miles in a week. It doesn't really affect my running but I know something is not quite right. This niggling injury is probably my biggest fear for the Winter training ahead. I was hoping to run about 40 miles/week over the winter but may have to curtail this. Whatever I end up doing I will still try and get in some long runs. My aim is to do a 20 mile run just before Xmas and then take it easy for a week or so after that. I just want to get a feel for how my body reacts to that sort of distance as 16 is the furthest I've done so far.

Plan for today is to jog home from work which is around 4 miles.