Second guessing myself a bit here by changing things up. I did have efforts on Tuesday but it’s short reps and if you tweaked something smashing out 60s intervals right now I’d hate myself. So another chance to do some marathon pace instead. Sunday’s session is the one I’m toying with. I’d quite like to do a bit more, but 3 weeks out, anything bigger than this I think would just be detrimental. So hopefully it will be enough of a confidence boost for Seville. Any problems let me know.

142 Points Achieved

A good week, it was nice to have 2 rest days – they helped.
Some decent miles attained and good workouts, I’m pleased that’s the hardest week for a while of course. Feeling fairly confident for Seville and am hoping maintaining that pace of 4:30 is doable, I’ll try hard to start off easy and build it up if things feel good.

Yeah that was a really strong week, especially Sunday. I think the biggest thing that can go wrong with Sevilla is going off too quick. Even the difference between 4:25 and 4:30 is huge. So really hold yourself back in the first half of the race and I think it will end well. Awesome work Sam!!

MONDAY

15pts | Sam S&C

15 POINTS

Plank With Leg Raise	2 x 70s
Single Leg Deadlift	2 x 12 (8)
Press Up	2 x 20
Goblet Squat	2 x 22 (16)
Russian Twist	2 x 10 (10)
Split Squat	2 x 15 (12)
Single Leg Calf Raises	2 x 12
Pull Ups	2 x 12
Tib Raises	2 x 15 (12)
Crab Walks	2 x 22
Bicycle Crunch	2 x 25
Bent Knee Calf Raises	2 x 15 (12)

15 Points

Leg stuff was mostly OK, always working hard on the single leg deadlifts and the last few split squats always start to burn – the upper body ones were hard work, all manageable. I’m just tired so find myself low on energy and yawning doing these now… Did some yoga stretches after and my hip has calmed down now.

If you’re like me at the moment you’ve got the Winter Blues. I feel knackered all the time at the moment. Makes sense the cold weather and lack of daylight contributes to that, plus perhaps I (we) could do with a little bit more sleep. Hopefully when things brighten up we’ll feel rejuvenated and full of energy again.

TUESDAY

26 Points

Went out after work as I had wet hair still at lunchtime… so I waited for it to dry so I could go out and get it wet again… FFS! It was wetter out than expected (hence no jacket) but not too bad. Headwind for some sections but not soul destroying. A tough session, really feeling it in the last half of the 40 min chunk, and my hip started flaring up slightly 25 mins into it, but didn’t get worse. Working hard maintaining the pace with the puddles and darkness, but averaged probably a bit quicker than target pace overall. It’s getting more comfy staying at that pace now, but still feels like hard work. Maintaining it for over three hours will be a challenge! Sunday will be fun…

Good to see you out. I think with marathon pace, so much of it is mental. The minute we do a longer run, 90 mins plus, compared to say 40 mins, we don’t spend so long focusing on the time, because we accept we are out there for so much longer. So our mind wanders, we settle into the pace and before we know it, boom, half marathon done and we still feel strong. So any doubts about race day, put them to one side for now. The perceived effort of running in a pack of strong runners on a warm day, with the crowd cheering you, on fresh legs, will be so much lower than doing this solo, in the dark, dodging puddles, two days after running up and down (too fast for some) a mountain.

WEDNESDAY

18 Points

Nice to get out in the daylight with actual sunshine. Kept it fairly easy, not pushing hard but not crawling along. 12k, average pace was 5:20, felt comfy. I did an bonus 4 mins, just for you. Wore my 12mm drop Mizuno Waveriders, first time in many months – felt very weird on the heel. Most of my shoes are low drop now. Legs were a bit sore and tired throughout, hip niggle is persisting annoyingly so something to keep an eye on. Soon as I stopped my legs screamed at me. I feel tired and old today.

My outlook on the aches and tiredness is just to say, right I’m in the peak weeks of my marathon block, of course it’s going to hurt and course I’m going to be tired. If I was fresh and feeling great then my coach isn’t working me hard enough right? I appreciate it’s always a fine line to get the balance right, but that’s how I would look at it. And when you have smashed Seville we can ease back a little bit before building for the ultras.

thursday

FRIDAY

22 Points

Bit tired for this but the sun was nice. Easy paced 11k with a few hills (went north, then south, then along to home so missed the wind). Did my strides, 3 @ 17s and 5 @ 16s. Felt OK, just a bit tight.

Those strides are quick!!! Impressive. Nice to get a bit of winter sun. Well done Sam.

SATURDAY

SUNDAY

61pts | 4 x 5km (M)

61 POINTS

2km WU @ Easy Pace (RPE: 2)

5km @ Marathon Pace (RPE:4)
1km @ Easy Pace (RPE: 3)

5km @ Marathon Pace (RPE:5)
1km @ Easy Pace (RPE: 3)

5km @ Marathon Pace (RPE:6)
1km @ Easy Pace (RPE: 3)

5km @ Marathon Pace (RPE:7)

2km CD @ Easy Pace (RPE: 3)

A great marathon sessions to practice goal pace. As the session progresses that RPE will creep up and you’ll have to work hard in the last 5km block.

61 Points

This wasn’t as bad as I thought in truth. Started off with the SLR group for the 2k warmup up then shot off with the wind behind me along to Glyne Gap. First stint was fine, good pace (first km was a bit quick) and was able to maintain just under 4:30 for most of it. The wind wasn’t strong but turning into it made things noticeable harder but I was able to keep the pace up. 3rd stint was very consistent, 4th was a little slower with the only km under target (24th, or 4th of the 4th) but I had a turnaround and was feeling tired. Last km was good again. Saw loads of people out which was nice, felt pretty tired after (cooldown was mostly uphill, but gently) but not wrecked. I had hip niggles on both sides during the run, nothing too serious but pretty sore at points. Right foot cramped up later in the day (to recover from this run I hand-mixed 6 barrow loads of concrete and laid it, then did a 4-hour band practice… what a nitwit!). I was cream crackered! Felt good to get a decent final big exercise in and come away feeling pretty fit and strong. Very tired, but fit and strong too.

Sounds perfect to be honest and we’ve got some really good MP sessions done now. That should have you on point come race day and keep you from going off too fast. And that’s the key with the marathon. The last 10km are going to hell trying to hold that pace, but no worse from an effort point of view than say a quick 10k, just with tired legs at the same time. For me that’s what a marathon is. 32km long run, 10k race. If you get that mindset ready for that last 10k then I reckon you can hit the target time. Great work Sam.