Training plans

As my original aim for this year was to complete a marathon, I have looked at various different marathon training plans from different online sources such as runners world, the London marathon website etc. Most of these give you an example of a 10-12 week, day to day plan, including various different types of training: fartlek, hill sprints, long slow runs, short fast runs, interval running, core stability and so on. Typically they have you training on 5-6 days a week. The internet also provides a range of ultra marathon training plans which are along the same lines. 

For people working Monday-Friday 9-5 they're  probably a really useful but for many people, myself included that sort of plan just doesn't fit with real life. My normal working week includes three or four 12hr shifts sometimes days, some times nights. I also play rugby on a Saturday and train to attend training in a Tuesday and Thursday night. Along with this my wonderful fiancée and I are planning our wedding for this summer, so all in all not a lot of time left for 6 training runs a week! 

On the flip side to this I found an interesting story about a guy who does ultra marathons but doesn't really do any running. I heard about a guy who does Crossfit and spends more time working on his heavy dead lift or back squat than he does thinking about how many miles he's done this week or what sort of pace he's doing. He ran two 50 mile races months apart and only went for one 7mile run in between!(www.liftheavyrunlong.com)

Ill probably have to do a few more than 7 miles but I like the idea of having strength training as a big part of the build up, I guess the stronger your legs are the less it takes out of you in hilly sections for example. 

So my plan then is to do one long run per week, I think this is important not only for the obvious physical reasons, but mentally be conditioned to spending hours running is going to be important too. Along side this I'll be doing a hill sprints session, fast pace 10k or interval session usually no longer than an hour, Ill also try to keep up with two gym sessions a week which focus on strength and core stability and finally get to rugby training as and when I'm available. 

Im now in my third week of training and so far I've stuck to my plan, I've been working nights and had a couple of days away doing wedding planning, so as well as my gym work this is the running I've got in

 week 1:

- 10 mile

The first run of more than 10k that I'd done in a while, varying terrain some very muddy and plenty of rain. Really enjoyed it though had a full pack on my back as well, nice sense of satisfaction at the end! However I did start to get some pain in my right ankle towards the end which was a bit of concern but I put this down to wearing a cheap pair of trainers I've had for nearly two years... Time to invest in some new ones I reckon!

Week 2:

 - 10k  treadmill run 

- 13.5 miles hilly road route

Running on a treadmill is always an exercise in patience for me, I find it incredibly boring but sometimes due to my schedule it fits best doing treadmill run at gym after a weights session. I'm probably going to mix this up with bike sprints and rowing as well to keep it interesting/varied. 

As I mentioned earlier I needed some new footwear so on a friends recommendation I booked myself a gait analysis session at tri-active sports shop in Chester (www.tri-active.co.uk). They put you on a treadmill and film your feet to see what your feet and joints do when you run and then try shoes with different types of support to see what works best for you. It turns out I had quite marked over-pronation in both sides, left more so than right, and after trying 3 or 4 different shoes ended buying a pair of Mizuno inspire 9s. I've never had 'proper' running shoes before so it will be interesting to see how much if any difference they make. They way it was set up at the store they had a screen in front of you so you could watch yourself running, I was shocked by how much my ankles looked like they just collapsed inwards, but with new shoes they looked much straighter and also felt really comfortable. I'm never sure with these sort of things how much it's is psychological though, so Ill have to wait and see. I didn't have to wait long to try them out as I did my long run the same afternoon, a winding hilly route ending up at the rugby club in time to watch a 20 man brawl in the second team game. I did get a bit of stick for my fetching running leggings but the trainers had felt good, no pain in my ankle, however the arches/soles were a bit painful I guess from having more/different support in the new shoe. I Felt quite worn out by the end but I guess it's no surprise as I was running for nearly two hours and had not taken on any feul.  A couple of beers and some Cheesey chips probably wasn't the optimal post workout nutrition at this point but god they tasted good!

Week 3:

- 10k round local streets

- 15 mile flattish route

A quick warm followed by trying to run a reasonably quick constant pace for 10k, finished in about 44mins (roughly 7min/mile) which is 6mins off my pb but felt like I was working pretty hard all the way round, and enjoyed over taking a couple of other runners on some inclines. It's not really relevant as Its not like we're racing but I find it gives me a little boost passing another runner in any situation.

Next 15/16miles this afternoon - with some energy gels that arrived yesterday, ill let you know how I get on in my next post!