I'm a Marathoner

So after spending the last few weeks wondering what type of runner I am and getting over an Achilles strain (see last post) it turns out 'I'm a Marathoner!' and a 5Ker,10Ker, half marathon runner. Yep I'm all of these, because they are the distances I'll be covering as I train for my fourth marathon: The Robin Hood marathon, Nottingham.

I needed a goal and since signing up with running partner Brian, I've got my running mojo well and truly back. I'm buzzing and now every run I do has focus.

The marathon is 22 weeks away, which gives me plenty of time to train properly, unlike the 7 weeks training I did for my last marathon! Most marathon training schedules are based around 16 or 20 weeks, I've found an intermediate 20 week training schedule on the internet that I'm going to be following this time round which eases me nicely back into training again.

The goal time I've set myself for this race is 3:45, my PB currently stands at 3:58 but I'm confident with the right training I can achieve that.

That makes my marathon pace 8:45 min/miles which I will be basing my training around. It's good to know this as long training runs should normally be run 30 seconds to a minute slower than race pace, so I'll probably be looking at around 9:20 min/miles to do these.

This weeks gone well and getting myself used to running 5 days a week again. The mileage has been low, but the frequency and intensity has been good. I even bagged myself a new 5K PB at the new local Parkrun on Saturday! 

Brian and me, marathon training (I'm the one on the left!)

The other runs of this week have been 3 x 4 miles and a 6 miler. The 4 mile runs have been done at lunchtime at work with Brian. Brian is generally quicker than me (that pains me to write that!) so running with Brian tends to make these runs quicker than intended. They've all been sub 8 min/mile pace, but I've felt fine and it's been good speed work. The trouble is not every workout should be speed work and even my 3 miles on Saturday, where I ran my PB was 7:18 min/mile pace (God that hurt!). At least the 6 miler was on target as a slower than marathon pace run. So that's week one completed, fingers crossed I can stay injury free and healthy for the next few months to achieve my goal.