Newcastle Town Moor Marathon

It's been quite some time since I ran a marathon by itself, probably over 2 years so I spotted this one, the Newcastle Town Moor Marathon, a while back and since it's almost on my doorstep I thought I'd give it a go. 

I haven't really done any marathon training as it's my 'off season' so my longer runs have only been between 10-13miles and only a couple of runs per week, but i am feeling quite fit at the moment so i hoped that would carry me round the 26.2 miles.

Also I didn't bother tapering either as i was going into the race as just a run out and still did my PT session on Thursday and tempo run on Friday ... but i did have a rest day on Saturday with nothing more than a walk on the beach with the dog.

The race was 5 laps of the town moor and ii RAINED ... in fact it rained so much that the paths were quickly turning into streams and the off road sections turned into mud bogs .. i quickly wished i had wore a pair of trail shoes rather than my normal runners

Things got off to a good start and I felt good in myself ... well apart from the DOMS from all the squats on Thursday but I quickly loosed up and into my stride running at about 9mm and maintaining that pace well into the race and to the half marathon.

On the third lap during a half mile off road section i slipped and pulled by right hamstring but i managed to run this off in the next couple of miles but it did slow me down. 

On the last lap, my lack of marathon training showed and I slowed dramatically and had to introduce a 1min walk in each mile.

But I eventually finished in a not to shabby (for me) time of 4:26 getting me thinking that i may have to try and train properly for a marathon some time.

So I went home happy ... and wet and  took Monday as a rest day

WW

Endurance Swim Set

Tonight was another structured swim set with the focus being on endurance. When I talk about endurance swimming the total metres quite high but most of the set is done at an aerobic level.

Today's workout totalled 5600m,

• The warm up and cool downs were alternate kick drills and swims
• The 100m intervals were don easy
• The 400m intervals were down at IM intensity
• All other intervals were steady

The set: =

WARM UP

• 10 x 40m

MAIN SET
2 x (

• 2 x 200m
• 1 x 100m
• 2 x 300m
• 1 x 100m
• 3 x 400m
• 1 x 100m

)
WARM DOWN

• 5 x 40m

WW

W/E 12/11/2010

Another, for me, solid week and quite well balanced. At the moment I am still in my off season / prep period which will continue to the new year when i will star 'official' base training and my campaign towards Regensburg 2010.  After all if i was to try and focus on that race this far out i may burn out ... well that's my thinking

The Numbers:

SAT	AM	02:05	BIKE: MTB ride with my brother
SUN	__	__	REST DAY
MON	__	__	REST DAY (due to a 6hr drive before work)
TUE	AM	00:35	STRENGTH: Weights session basen on PT workouts
TUE	PM	01:45	SWIM: 4.2k structure
WED	AM	00:41	BIKE: Zone 1 spinning session
WED	PM	01:12	RUN: 8mile fartleck session
THU	AM	01:00	STRENGTH: PT session (Pt 1)
THU	AM	00:22	SWIM: Easy 800 to warm down, focusing on smooth (Pt 2)
FRI	AM	00:34	RUN: 3.2 miler in high winds
FRI	PM	01:05	RUN: 7mile trail run

SWIM :	02:07
BIKE :	02:46
RUN :	02:51
OTHER :	01:35
TOTAL :	09:19

Lunch Time Spinning

A number of people ask me how I don’t get bored with sessions on the turbo or spinning bike and my answer is probably the fact that I break it down into short chunks and focus on the current time chunk rather than the whole 2-4 hours that I may be aiming for.

This also goes for when time is limited such as during my lunch break I have a limited time so I have to make the most of the time I have.  I am quite lucky in that the gym is quite close to where I work, so I always have access to a spinning bike, not as good as a turbo but still capable of providing a good indoor training session.

Today’s session took the form of: -

• 5 mins spinning to warm up at the break bighting point
• 10mins of upping the resistance by quarter turn each min
• 10mins steady spinning at the end resistance from last set
• 10min of 1min stand 1min seated at the resistance from last set
• 5 mins of accelerations 20sec fast | 40sec easy
• 5 mins warm down

A short stretch, a quick shower and change then back to work feeling highly invigorated and looking forward to my evening run

WW

 

W/E 05/11/2010 (Recovery Week)

This week, for me, was a recovery week which meant no long hard bike session, no big brick sessions and no long runs. A long run was tempting though as I have a marathon later this month and have not really done any long running, but recovery weeks are there for a reason so I was a good boy and did what I was meant to do.

One plus side of it being a recovery week was the fact that I managed to fit proper swim into my week, which I really enjoyed and I have to ask myself, can I keep sacrificing my swimming and focusing on my weaker disciplines, this is something I am going to have to continue to ponder as base training continues, as i do not want my weekly volume to grow too much too soon ... well not till the new year at least

The Numbers ...

SAT	AM	02:01	BIKE: MTB ride with my brother
SUN	__	__	REST DAY
MON	PM	01:03	BIKE: Recovery session with a few intervals
TUE	PM	00:31	BIKE: Fast spin session to loosen up (Pt 1)
TUE	PM	01:35	SWIM: 3.6k structure (see post) aimed at endurance form (Pt 2)
WED	PM	01:25	RUN: 10miles of hard intervals
THU	AM	01:00	STRENGTH: Session with PT focusing on my back problems and core
FRI	PM	00:50	RUN: Trail Run

SWIM :	01:35
BIKE :	03:35
RUN :	02:15
OTHER :	01:00
TOTAL :	08:25

A Swim at Last

Yes after weeks of not getting in a proper swim, I thought it was time I got in the pool again and as this week is a recovery week a swim instead of a hard brick session was a good option. I did a 30min spin to loosen up first, and then hit the pool.

 

The am was to focus on endurance form, including a few timed 400s for #winterswim and the set looked like: -

 

WARM UP

• 1 x 400m warm up (8:05)

BUILD

• 10 x 40m build (strange sized pool)

MAIN SET

• 1 x 400m hard (7:34)
• 2 x 200m hard
• 1 x 400m hard (7:35)
• 4 x 100m flat out
• Rest

DRILLS

• 2 x 200m fist drills
• 2 x 200m catch up
• 1 x 200m kick
• 1 x 200m easy

 

I felt quite good after the session apart from one of my shoulders started to ache so I cut things short and ended up with 3.6k instead of 4k but considering I have not had a real swim for some time.

 

WW

W/E 29/10/2010

Another solid week close to the 10hr mark, but yet again very little swimming, 10hrs is my aim for early base training for at least 3 weeks out of 4, with the 4th week been an easier recovery week (if needed)

What I need to get out of this period is consistency as all to often at this time of year have a let my training drift which means early new year is spent getting back into it rather than capitalising on what I already have in place … the year hopefully will be different

The numbers: -

SAT	__	__	REST DAY
SUN	AM	00:30	BIKE: Spinning session (Pt1)
SUN	AM	00:30	STRENGTH: Kettlebells (Pt2)
SUN	AM	00:30	RUN: Trails (Pt3)
MON	PM	02:00	BIKE: Hard effort aiming at raising Vo2max (Brick Pt1)
MON	PM	00:40	RUN: Half mara paced run including 8x45sec sprints (Brick Pt2)
TUE	AM	00:45	STRENGTH: weights session based on PT routine
TUE	PM	02:15	BIKE: Focused on drills and spinning - lower HR, below LT
WED	__	__	REST DAY - I was feeling very run down (see previos post)
THU	PM	01:00	STRENGTH: PT session, focusing on helping me sort out my back and core problems - big limiters for me
THU	PM	00:10	SWIM: Just a short swim after PT, including settion my #winterswim base time
FRI	AM	00:51	RUN: Trail Run
FRI	PM	00:32	STRENGTH: Kettlebells

SWIM :	00:10
BIKE :	04:45
RUN :	02:01
OTHER :	02:47
TOTAL :	09:43

WW