San Francisco Marathon Training: Weeks 2-4

After a good first week of marathon training, which ended with the Silverstone half marathon, the following three weeks have been good too. So far I am keeping all niggles and injuries away (I’m hoping this sentence won’t have tempted fate). I started seeing a chiropractor at the beginning of my training to sort out problems I was getting with my hip and back, and this seems to be paying off, as I feel so much better, both in my running and on a day-to-day basis. He even introduced me to a session of acupuncture in my lower back, which hurt a fair bit at the time but seems to have really helped.

So I’ve been following my Runners World 3:15 marathon plan, which consists of 6 sessions a week (rest day is Friday – I love Fridays!). The sessions are based on a short recovery run on Monday (4miles), a tempo run (Tuesday), a longish mid-week run or hills (Wednesday), a track session (Thursday), a long weekend run and a 5 mile weekend run. I’m in the very lucky position that the Spa Strider sessions seem to complement my training plan very well and I’ve been doing the majority of my runs with the club, which is a real help. I’m also trying to swap the odd session for some cross-training. On the weekends I have been able to do my long runs with Dan, who runs a large part of the distance with me. This is a real help as it breaks the distance up into two, somehow making it feel shorter. As Dan is training for the SF half marathon this works out really well distance wise as we push each other along…and it also means I have a cup of tea waiting for me when I get back…thank you Dan!!!! We’ve had some interesting runs so far, with last weekend being in the snow! Our ‘Dip and Dash’ aquathon which was scheduled for last weekend was cancelled. I have to say, given the conditions, I wasn’t relishing the thought of running 5km around a snowy field having just climbed out of a swimming pool. So perhaps a summer aquathon might be on the cards if we can find one.

So now I’m in the middle of Week 5 and this weekend will be a 16 miler, so I’m still just edging up the miles – still another few weeks until my first 20 miler. Unfortunately this one falls the weekend after London marathon, so I’m guessing I won’t have any takers from Spa Striders to cover the whole distance with me!

Week 1 - marathon training and Silverstone Half

Week 1 of training was all about ‘building a base’. It consisted of lots of steady, regular runs to build up a bit of a base and get used to running most days. In a way it felt easier than a regular week, which normally includes track, hills or other nasty sessions. But with Silverstone Half marathon planned for the end of the week I thought I’d stick with what was on the plan. I did a couple of early morning (7am) runs around St Nicolas Park in Warwick which I really enjoyed. But otherwise, it was a fairly uneventful week.

However, on Sunday, it was the Silverstone Half Marathon which I’d been looking forward to for a while! I had no idea what kind of shape I’d be in for a half marathon, with no structured training as such in the build-up. Dan was also running and was set for a big PB, based on his recent improvements, and there was a handful of other Striders there too – Nick, Caroline, Hartwig and Greg.

I started in the 1:30 pen with Nick, Caroline and Greg. I set off at what felt a comfortable pace, and that seemed to be 6:52/mile. It felt fine, so I decided I would stick with this pace for as long as I could, as if I could keep it going this would bring me close to 1hr30, or even the elusive sub 1:30!? I caught up with the 1:30 pacer and stuck with him for a bit, later overtaking him. I felt good, and even at mile 7-8 where I would expect a dip to start I was still feeling good. At mile 9, I started to think that sub 1:30 might be on the cards!! However, a head wind and uphill section which followed soon shattered such hopes. The remaining 4 miles were tough, and despite my mile times getting slower, I felt strong. I crossed the line in 1hr32.11. Very pleased with this time at this stage in the marathon training schedule as I feel that is a good base to build on.

I saw Hartwig collecting his goody bag, he’d had a great run and had gone sub 1:30 again. Nick and Caroline also had great runs, with a PB for Caroline. It was great to spot Dan sprinting for the line and taking a huge chunk off his PB to finish in 1hr54 – brilliant!