Week in Review: Marathon Training Week 1

#MarathonTraining, #WeekReview, #WinsAndFailures

TLDR; Well let’s just say this week didn’t exactly go to plan in regards to marathon training. I went out too hard, rushed trying to get my mileage higher and ended up aggravating my right calf worse than it already was. But I successfully had a 10% increase on mileage on previous week and got a new pair of shoes!

How the week was supposed to go…

Let’s have a look at what I had planned for the week.

Day	Training Type	Name	Accumulator (km)
Monday	Resistance	Block 3, Session 1, Upper	–
Monday	Run	Interval 400m/200m x 6 10 cool/warm	7.2km
Tuesday	Conditioning	Circuit Based	–
Tuesday	Run	Easy 10k	17.2km
Wednesday	Resistance	Block 3, Session 2, Lower	–
Wednesday	Run	Easy 10k	27.2km
Thursday	Conditioning	Circuit Based	–
Thursday	Run	Tempo Run 5k @ 5k Pace 2k warm/cool	36.2km
Friday	HIIT	SWEAT	–
Friday	Resistance / Conditioning	Block 3, Session 3, Full	–
Saturday	Run	Easy Long Run – 21km	57.2km
Sunday	Rest	–	–

So basically a total 57.2km (35.4miles). This was probably too aggressive seeing how the previously week I had only done a total of 35km (21miles). So by the general runners rule of 10% increase a week I should be pushing it to a max of 40km for the following week.

Let’s have a look at how it actually went.

And how it actually went…

Day	Training Type	Name	Accumulator (km)	Rating	Notes
Monday	Resistance	Block 3, Session 1, Upper	–	9/10	First EDT session, went well.
Monday	Run	Interval 400m/200m x 6 10 cool/warm	7.2km	8/10	Lots of PB’s but my right ankle was not happy at me
Tuesday	Conditioning	Circuit Based	–	7/10	Poor sleep and the sore ankle/calf from yesterday showed.
Tuesday	Run	Easy 10k	17.2km	10/10	This was my first easy run I’ve kept at a pace of 6min/km, a full 10k under an hour while singing Take That is impressive I say!
Wednesday	Rest		–
Thursday	Conditioning	Circuit Based	–	8/10	Good session but I’m pretty sure this aggravated my calf which then caused my Achilles to be very angry at me.
Thursday	Resistance	Block 3, Session 2, Lower	–	9/10	Another EDT with my first time on Hack Squats… seriously do I just hate my calves squatting this low.
Friday	HIIT	SWEAT	–	9/10	Brandon is great during these session at pointing out when I’m rushing squats. It’s also made me increase my squat weight week on week in these sessions
Friday	Resistance / Conditioning	Block 3, Session 3, Full	–	6/10 on the weights and 10/10 on conditioning	Trying to get on the free weights in Sir Matt Busby so the weight sessions felt s*** Conditioning was brilliant, it’s nice doing it on your own as you push yourself as hard as you can go.
Saturday	Rest		–		Let’s see how my calf and both Achillies feel after a rest day!
Sunday	Run	Easy Long Run – 21km	38.2km

Long run got switched to Sunday as I was feeling pretty rotten on Friday night and my right calf / Achilles wasn’t 100%.

So total meterage came to 39.2km which is pretty much exactly where I should be based on a 10% which on reflection is pretty good but during the week felt like a complete failure.

I don’t want to get hurt

Mostly because I didn’t do the tempo session as I didn’t want to hurt my calves. I’m going to be pretty screwed in training for Hyrox Glasgow and Manchester Marathon if I hurt my Achilles, but here’s the thing, I want to run faster. Can’t run faster if I get hurt though!

Also more importantly I really enjoy running so don’t want to have that taken from me by a stupid mistake.

David Goggins Stay Hard GIFfrom David Goggins GIFs

I do wonder but does David Goggin’s ever worry about getting injured. He ran on bloody broken legs for god sake! Makes me wonder if I should just push through or pull back. Naturally I think pull back but what fun is that!

I hit all my resistance sessions!

Also a second thing is that I hit every resistance session plus three high intensity conditioning sessions. This is brilliant, why have I been beating myself up so much!

Calves, Tendons and the dreaded Bursa’s

So let’s recap what was going on here. My right calf is sore so I run on it…. this makes my achilles sore… which makes the bursas on both feet sore. I can’t win! So Wednesday, Thursday and Friday there was no running. I should maybe have cut down on the conditioning sessions on these days as well, recovery may have been quicker.

Cue Achilles from Troy ha!

Battle Troy GIFfrom Battle GIFs

Lessons Learned But…

Rules exist for a reason even if you think you know better.

Stick to the 10% rule as a mileage increase methodology.
Keep a good recovery internal between running sessions.
Watch out for those high intensity sessions, if something doesn’t feel right give time for recovery.
Hack Squats – a lot harder than I thought!

Wins for the Week

Let’s see….

Learned how to do Hack Squats
Learned about EDT!
Completed all resistance sessions
Kept my diet in check until Friday night (should have just went to bed early)
Yea Saturday didn’t go to plan in regards to diet…
Ran a 10% increase on previous week mileage
Completed interval training session with a few PB’s thrown in
Got a new pair of running shoes
My vo2 Max increased on my watch from 45 to 46! F*** Yas!

My friends Ran a 10k this week!

Phil, Fiona, Sarah and Andrew ran the Edinburgh Men’s 10k this weekend.

They got some stonking times 53, 60, 55 and 57 respectively. That 53 is awesome from Phil, 1 minute pb! Better pull up my socks I’ve got competition coming!

New Shoes!

I got a pair of tempo shoes this week. Saucony Endorphin Speed 3’s. The new version has just released so there’s tons of deals on.

Yes this does bring my count of shoes to 4 which is ridiculous when you consider I’m not even that good a runner yet ha! For those of you who are interested….