My previous post here explains about the challenge. You can donate here
It's Friday evening and I'm just sitting down recovering from my final long run of this training campaign. 23 miles running with two friends in Milton Keynes. The company was very welcome indeed. This completes five successive long runs over the last five weekends. I won't lie... this morning's run was a tough one! We set the pace early and ran consistently at between 7 minutes and 7:15 mile pace for the first 17 miles. By 18 miles I was really starting to feel it plus I was running in a fasted state skipping breakfast and only drinking water, and yesterday I also reduced my carbohydrate intake. I think this was a clear lesson to fuel well when running at this pace in the actual race. I'm not a big fan of gels or energy drinks but I'm not going to be fussy come race day. Today showed me that I really need to fuel well. Lesson learned.
So as this is the first update on my training for the 3 in 3 marathon challenge I thought I would highlight how my training has gone so far in terms of the volume of miles covered since November. I consciously took a decision early on to keep a lid on the total miles that
I run per week, so this has certainly been my lowest volume marathon training campaign. Much lower than is normally touted in most marathon training schedules. However I'm confident that for me this is the right approach especially as I'm targeting three marathons
this year so I'm not just training for Brighton, but using this race as a stepping stone to continue training for Warsaw in September and then Snowdonia a month later in October.
Below is my weekly mileage between November 2017 and March 2018.
Training Miles
November
Week 1 ~ 16 (Long run 9 miles)
Week 2 ~ 24 (Long run 7 miles)
Week 3 ~ 20 (Long run 10 miles)
Week 4 ~ 33 (Long run 13 miles ~ 1:30 Half Marathon)
December
Week 5 ~ 13 (Long run N/A)
Week 6 ~ 21 (Long run 10 miles)
Week 7 ~ 0 (Long run N/A)
Week 8 ~ 20 (Long run 14 miles)
Week 9 ~ 11 (Long run N/A)
January
Week 10 ~ 25 (Long run 13 miles)
Week 11 ~ 31 (Long run 13 miles ~ 1:29 Half Marathon)
Week 12 ~ 32 (Long run 12 miles)
Week 13 ~ 42 (Long run 17 and 18 miles)
February
Week 14 ~ 37 (Long run 14 miles)
Week 15 ~ 27 (Long run 12 miles)
Week 16 ~ 21 (Long run 13 miles ~ 1:26 MK Winter Half Marathon)
Week 17 ~ 29 (Long run 22 miles)
March
Week 18 ~ 40 (Long run 17 miles ~ Treadmill)
Week 19 ~ 45 (Long run 20 miles)
Week 20 ~ 40 (Long run 20 miles)
Week 21 ~ 44 (Long run 23 miles)
Total ~ 570 miles
So my average weekly mileage works out at just 27 miles per week since November which has increased to 35 mile per week since February and 40+ miles per week in March. This average mileage will be considered very low for anyone trying to run a marathon let alone someone shooting for a sub 3 marathon.
As far as each
week has looked I have always tried to include 3 core runs ~ a tempo run at 5k pace miles either on the track or focusing on a progressive run out on the road; one double-digit mid-week run at an honest pace; and a long run again at a decent pace with some marathon pace miles thrown in as well.
So I'm 12 weeks into the 2018 campaign and I've certainly seen lots of improvement in my overall running, pace and endurance. With just 3 weeks to go until the first of my 3 in 3 marathons we are now into that classic marathon taper period where I will back off the long runs but keep the focus on speed and intensity. My sub 3 target is a HUGE ask based on the above training mileage but I believe that I have given myself the best chance within the time I have had to train. Balancing marathon training with work and family is not easy and I'm very pleased to be were I am at this stage.
Remember I doing this to raise money for the #goodshepherdcommunitybusproject
My previous post here explains about the project. You can donate here
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