Another week, another review. So I’ve just finished week 4 of 24 of Marathon Training. Currently I’m still in what I would class as base building which basically means I’m still setting the foundations in mileage before I concentrate on pure marathon training.
What are the foundations?
In it’s most simple terms mileage (or meterage as I work in metric). The aim is to get up to 100km plus of meters per week or in miles 62ish. This should allow me to have the foundations for tackling a marathon with a goal of not just completion but what I would consider a very good marathon time (sub 3 hours 30 minutes).
That’s what the first 12 weeks are supposed to look like in my plan, increase by 10% mileage every week (with a steady week each 4th week). This should allow me to increase my endurance without getting hurt. I’ve said this many times in my last 3 posts but it’s definitely becoming apparent to me the more I run.
What comes next?
Well the following 12 weeks are all about training for the actual marathon, in my case I’ll be training for Hyrox at the same time because I’m an idiot and like to push myself beyond my own capabilities. What does this entail well all my long runs should be progressive and most of my normal runs should be done at a close to marathon pace as possible while retaining a zone 2 80/20 balance. So basically a lot of what I’m doing just now with a consistent weekly meterage (mileage).
Forget all that how did the week actually go!?!
Well this is how it was supposed to go…
| Day | Training Type | Name | Accumulator (km) |
| Monday | Resistance | Block 3, Session 1, Upper | – |
| Monday | Rest/Walk | Light walk maybe if I have time | – |
| Tuesday | Conditioning | Circuit Based | – |
| Tuesday | Run | Interval 400m/200m work/rest x 8 2km cool/warm | 9.2 km |
| Wednesday | Resistance | Block 3, Session 2, Lower | – |
| Wednesday | Run | 11k Very Easy | 20.2 km |
| Thursday | Conditioning | Circuit Based | – |
| Thursday | Run | Threshold Run (10k) 4k Run Home | 34.2 km |
| Friday | HIIT | SWEAT | – |
| Friday | Resistance / Conditioning | Block 3, Session 3, Full | – |
| Saturday | Run | Easy Long Run – 21km + 3km progressive | 58.2 km |
| Sunday | Rest | – | – |
But it actually went like this….
| Day | Training Type | Name | Accumulator (km) | Rating | Notes |
| Monday | Rest | – | |||
| Tuesday | Resistance | Upper Session | – | I’ve started upping my weights as I get stronger and it feels great | |
| Tuesday | Interval | Interval 400m/200m work/rest x 8 2km cool/warm | 9.6 km | 9/10 | Felt bloody great |
| Wednesday | Run | Easy 10k | 19.6 km | 7/10 | Nice easy run in the morning felt really good but damn cold |
| Wednesday | Resistance | Lower Session | – | 10/10 | Oh my god my Quads! Holy crap the DOMS over the next 3 days were insane after this |
| Thursday | Run | 10k Threshold | 29.2 km | 10/10 | |
| Thursday | HIIT | Circuits | I teamed up with Scott (who is doing hyrox in the relay). Felt really good sticking with someone who could keep up and completely destroy me at certain exercises ha! | ||
| Thursday | Run | 4k Easy | 33.6 km | 6/10 | Absolutely knackered |
| Friday | Rest | I was knackered today so decided to have a rest day. | |||
| Saturday | Run | Park Run | 40.6 km | 10/10 | New PB in the 5k! 22:40! I’m coming for you sub 20! |
| Sunday | Run | Easy Long Run – 24km (21.5km) | 60.7 km | 1/10 | Ugh this was awful, I was slow and it was cold. Just a slob, horrible. But the point is I went out and did it anyway. |
So a considerably uptick from last weeks 43.8 km (but I was sick last week) so feels good to be making some progress again in regards to mileage. I’m also on track for upwards of 80km by Christmas.
God that long run
The long run was just horrible this week. I think I was tired from the 5k park run the day before, plus I had only managed 5.5 hours of sleep. It was bitterly cold when I went out. Whole thing felt horrible but then I started in the morning with a mentality of I really can not be bothered doing this run.
When you go out with the wrong mentality of course the run is going to feel awful. But more importantly I went out and did it anyway. I didn’t do 24k but I did a half marathon in horrible conditions and with dead quads!
New 5k PB!
I got a new 5k PB at the weekend. I specifically choose to do this attempt at Strathclyde Parkrun as it’s flat and fast, now I’ve never done this park run but I did do a 10k here back in 2021 so I knew it was a good route. I went and watched the awesome videos from Scottish Parkruns on Youtube first so I knew the route.
You can see the video of the route below 🙂
Anyway I hit a sub 23min 5k (22:38 minutes) so we have officially started breaking into new territory for me! Very exciting.
Which brings me on to a question my wife asked me….
Why are you trying to get faster if you are running a marathon?
This is a really good question! Two reasons really.
1. It’s not all about endurance
It’s about time on ground. If my overall health and fitness is better my time on ground is less during a marathon. That’s my theory anyway. If I can run a marathon faster I’m overall putting less stress on my system. This is probably a load of crap but it makes sense in my head.
2. Going fast is fun
I feel I could finish a marathon right now, an accomplishment on its own. But do I just want to be a finisher or do I want to push myself to the limits of what I can achieve? It comes down to the question I keep asking myself how fast can I actually go.
I’ve NEVER been into fitness. I just wasn’t interested but as I get older I keep thinking how much did I miss out on sitting in front of the TV? Did I actually have the determination to get better. My family were never into physical sports so therefore neither was I. Now I’ve found something I’m not actually bad at and I’m seeing significant month on month improvements, it makes me dread when I start plateauing.
Pictures of the Week!
