Virgin London Mararthon: Before…

420 miles covered, gallons of energy drinks consumed and several energy gels swallowed all in order to train for the one of the biggest marathons in the world.

This post maybe better suited following the run but I think the huge amount of training that I have done is easily lost in the glory (or not!) of the big day itself. Therefore, after 16 weeks of training unlike anything I have ever done before, and yes I did run the marathon last year, I am going to share my ups and downs since January 1 2010.

I was fortunate to get a place in this years marathon around September time, for the months leading up to the new year I knew I ought to go out for a run but I didn’t. Luckily, I still hadn’t lost fitness and on an initial ‘tester’ run I managed a half marathon distance, it was tough but a good footing for the months to come. At the beginning of the year I had an email from Runners World stating 16 weeks to go, so I decided this year I would take a schedule and stick to it…for 16 weeks!

Ever the optimist I opted for the sub 3:45 thinking that if it were too fast or hard for me as long as I didn’t drop lower than the sub 4:00 pace I would achieve my goal. I purchased a diary which I filled with the full schedule. Those who knew me mocked this paper based mechanism but for some things technology just doesn’t work. This diary has been in my bag for almost every commute and has been my reference point for 111 days…

January: Miles logged on Garmin – 54.27 (not including treadmill runs)

Snow, what more can I say. First week into the plan I was already having to hit the gym treadmills for more than I would have liked. I managed to get in as many runs as I could given the conditions. I then headed to Andorra for a week of skiing. I had pre-contacted the hotel to check for a treadmill which they had, sadly it didn’t really work! Week 3 = very few runs. Not the best start in hindsight!

Week four had the first ‘race’ – a sub 47 10km, I ran this speed before in the summer so thought it would be possible – clearly I was mistaken! It was slow, tough and a little demoralising. 31 Jan marked my initial doubts of a sub 3:45 training schedule.

February: Miles logged on Garmin – 117.67

From this point I don’t really think I could afford to make excuses, I knuckled down to the schedule, fitting in runs before work, during lunch, after work juggling to find a happy balance. I managed to get in one run with the havens lot 16Miles at a good pace. On 28 Feb, my birthday, I was to run the first race of the calendar…

Race 1: Roding Valley Half Marathon

Race report: Wet and hilly.Highlights – Gaps in the hedge to avoid the puddle, avoiding busses and vans going through the big puddles on the course that was not closed to traffic and achieving a PB of 1 hour 48 minutes.  All this following a late night of Birthday celebrations!!

March: Miles logged on Garmin – 157.10

The first week of March saw my first real long distance of the training.  19 miles covered on the saturday and everything went well.

Race 2 – Newham 10km

Race report – Perfect running conditions.  Foolishly I had entered a local 10km race with a friend from Uni that fell the day after my long run.  Ignoring what was sensible I went out too quickly, but managed to keep to the pace and achieve my 2nd PB in a week.

Race 3 – Silverstone Half Marathon

Race Report – 3rd race in 3 weeks!  This was to be my final race in my training before the big day.  My target was 1:45 to keep me on target with the time i wanted to run the full marathon.  Conditions were once again spot on and the course, baring the final windy mile, was perfect.  Once again i broke a PB (only set 2 weeks previously) and came in with a time of 1:41.  This knocked 7 minutes off of my previous time and a whole 20 minutes off my half marathon time of 2009.  I’ll be the first to admit it was not an easy run, but non the less it was very rewarding.

The week after saw me attempt my long 20 miler.  I had arranged to meet a friend, Oliver, in Greenwich to run the last few miles with.  I’m glad i did because I felt at one point i could just turn around and come home.  20 miles in the bag and a free Physio session from one of Laura’s Uni friends who was visiting for the weekend.

Week 12 was probably one of my most eventful weeks in the space of 4 days i had the chance to run with Andy Vernon, a British mid-distance runner with hopes of competing in the 2012 Olympics, at an event run by Adidas Mi Coach and I met Liz Yelling and her Yelling Performance team at a Virgin Marathon Event.  Both very inspirational people who gave me some good advice about my running.

April: Miles logged on Garmin – 91.32

And then April appeared.  With only one long run under my belt because of events the week before i needed to get out and get some more miles done.  The only problem was a twinge in my Knee that had been nagging for a week or so.  On Good Friday I went out for a tentative run to see how it went, with Laura in the car if I needed someone to come and get me.  Luckily I was OK and managed another 20 miles.

Because of my knee and other commitments I only managed to get to 20 miles, not the 22 that my schedule suggested.  The next week saw me entering the taper stage, so I organised an 18 miler that took in the Olympic Park.  I had previously run this route, but i enjoy heading over there to see how it is progressing.  Oliver joined me again for a few miles to help me keep my pace up.

Week 15 was the week for my final ‘long’ run.  9 miles was scheduled so I kept it quite local.  Also fitted in a run with my collegues who are also running the marathon.

Which brings me to this week – a couple of very light runs and carb loading in preparation for tomorrow!

Even though this is a mamouth post I have failed to mention most of the weekday runs which also featured as a massive part of my training – in particular meeting up with Neil Dobson on a couple of weeks which helped push my speed up to the next level with a few threshold sessions, a huge help!

Total Miles Covered: 420.36
Total Time Taken: 62:38:10 h:m:s
Calories Burnt: 49,646 C

Thank you for reading my blog and no doubt on Monday or Tuesday I will give an update of the big day.

Ta

Neil