I wanted to provide an update on how training is going for the Warsaw marathon which takes place on the 30th September 2018.
After the Brighton Marathon in April (3:00.05) which was the first of the #3in3marathonchallenge I took a little break before getting straight back into training. Focusing on shorter reps and increasing speed with some key goals to keep me focused and motivated. Goals which included shooting for sub18 in Parkrun (5KM), and I was also looking forward to the London 10,000 which took place in May.
I'm happy to report that things have gone well. In the London 10,000 I ran my first sub 37 minutes 10K and a few weeks after that I ran the Aylesbury Parkrun in a time of 17:35. This was only the second time I ran sub 18 so was very pleased to get in the mid 17s and I'm now looking to see whether I can break 17 minutes before the end of August. That will be tough!
As far as my training volume has been concerned I haven't been running many miles averaging around 20-25 miles per week max. A lot of my harder training has been on my ElliptiGO Arc too over short distances. This allows me to keep the training intensity very high but with the ElliptiGO's Zero Impact nature it's extremely kind on the body. Results on the ElliptiGO have also been very positive. I've managed to set new ElliptiGO PBs at 5 miles, 10 miles and 20 miles distance which are the fastest known times in the world (although we are quite a small community)! There is a online leaderboard for the Global ElliptiGO Riders Club (GERC) and it's on here where I can compete daily with 100s of other riders on all continents. It's a great motivator and I'm not ashamed to admit that I am stupidly competitive when it comes to topping leaderboards :-)
St Albans Half Marathon in June - 1:22
Warsaw marathon is now just 10 weeks away so having focused on the shorter faster stuff and being very pleased with progress, I have set out my training schedule for the next 10 weeks which you can see below.
S = Slow
H = Hard
M = Marathon pace (6.30mpm)
2- 18s / 5m / 5 / 12m / 5h [45]
3- 18s / 8h / 5s / 12m [43]
4- 20s / 5s / 10h / [35]
5- 20s / 5h / 12m / 8s [45]
6- 20s / 5h / 10m / 5s [40]
7- GO Mt.R race / 8s / 8m / 8s [24]
8- 18m / 5s / 15s / 5m [43]
9- 18s / 5s / 10m / 5h [38]
10- 10s / 5m / 3s [18]
11- Warsaw Marathon
My marathon goal is to try and run a 6:30 minute mile pace at Warsaw which is quite ambitious but with how my training is going I believe it to be both realistic and challenging (which is the perfect blend to keep one highly motivated in training). It will all depend of course on how the next six to eight weeks of training goes and whether I can continue to progress especially when I start running 18+ miles.
My very next distance and time goal (hopefully this week) will be to run my first sub 1 hour 10 miles. I think that will be a very good marker and show that I can hold my form and pace over that distance and then gradually work that speed into my longer runs as well. Perhaps with a half marathon planned for mid-late August where I'd like to run a sub1.20 for the first time. Let's just hope it starts to cool down before then! Although I have to admit that I am also enjoying the hot weather training and would never complain about the amazing summer we have been having.
Remember that whilst I'm doing what I love I'm also looking to raise awareness and funds for a local Church project that I'm involved in. Warsaw is part of my #3in3marathonchallenge to run 3 marathons all in 3 hours or under. And all proceeds will raise money for the #goodshepherdcommunitybusproject. More details about the project can be found on my fundraising page
And if you have any questions at all about the #3in3marathonchallenge or the #goodshepherdcommunitybusproject then I'd love to hear from you.
