Training Started!

Monday 10th May saw the beginning of my ‘official’ Berlin Marathon training. I’ve been looking forward to getting stuck in for some time now, and was happy for a while that the pre-schedule warm up training was done (e.g I had managed to get myself fit enough to run an hour without stopping, having really laid off the running for some months!)

My schedule is spread over 20 weeks, with this basic pattern:

• Monday: Short, Fast run. 2-3 Miles as fast as possible.
• Tuesday: Cross training, 9.5 mile cycle x 2 at around 60% effort
• Wednesday: Tempo run, 4-6 miles
• Thursday: Cross training, kick boxing (Kick boxing has to be done anyway, so I may as well count it as a X-Training session!)
• Friday: Tempo run, 4-6 miles
• Saturday: Rest + Light upper body weight session
• Sunday: Long slow run, starts at 6 miles, works up to 22 miles

The actual distances vary considerably throughout the schedule with a gradual increase in mileage of around 10% per week, with allowances for recovery time, e.g: Shorter Sunday run on a week between 3-4 heavier weeks, and also drop on the Monday run after longer Sunday sessions.

At the time of writing this I am into the 3rd week of training. I’m already feeling generally fitter and feel like my running is stronger. I’m glad that I opted for a 20 week plan – September still seems a long way off but its a bit of a shock when I think that over 10% of my training is complete already!

Looking forward to tomorrows run and to putting another tick on the schedule!

Back to it – 6mile Sunday Run

I have just completed my longest run since re-starting training – 6miles, near on perfect conditions, loved every minute of it. Timed at 54 minutes which I am pleased with a even though its a slow time compared to my 10km PB. I’m getting more and more confident of a sub 4 hour finish at Berlin in September, although time will tell as I start to push the distances up.

Next run will be Tuesday, kick boxing should be Thursday as X-Training, although I’ll be missing this weeks session due to a late Christmas party. Friday will be hill work, followed by an 8 miler on Sunday…then it all starts again! )

Post-run pasta cooking downstairs as I type…Mmmmm!

Evening Run

Another run under my belt this evening, 3 miles in snow/sleet with a fairly strong wind which was somewhere between exhilarating and painful! Feels really good to be running again, after only 2 runs and 3 sessions on our new excercise bike I feel have more energy, I’m sleeping better and eating more…The marathon training has commenced, just need a plan to make it a bit more formal!

Berlin Marathon 2010 – Target Time

Ok, my target is set – Sub 4 hours. According to both the Riegel and Cameron prediction models, this should be possible, based on my recent(ish) 10km time of 47minutes.

A sub 4 hour marathon means maintaining a pace of 9:09 Min per mile, or 6.6 mile per hour – Approximatley double average human walking speed. Sounds easy enough…perhaps not so after 18-20 miles!

I’m now thinking a training schedule is very much required! Watch this space.

Berlin Marathon 2010 – The Start

I’ve got my place in the Berlin Marathon! Hotel booked, flights booked – All very exciting! We’ll be flying from Gatwick on 24th September arriving early as we’re hoping to squeeze in some sight seeing and shopping! We’ve got 3 nights booked, with the Marathon itself taking place on Sunday 26th September.

I’m going to blog regularly on my training progress, please drop me a comment if you too are running, especially anyone from the UK – In particular, Dorset!

As of today, Sunday 10th January 2010, I have 257 days to train. Although I have a reasonable base to build on, I have not trained much over the last few months. My longest distance to date is a half marathon (13.1 miles/21.08km) so I’ve got some work to do.

I expect I’ll be able to get up to running 10 miles within a few weeks, but getting beyond that will need some hard work.

Training started today with a 2 mile warm up, it felt good, apart from the icy paths which proved to be rather dangerous, hence the short distance.

I’ve not decided as yet if I’m going to stick to a schedule or not – I may just run as and when I feel like it which in the past has proved successful for me, although this might be a risky move for Marathon training. If I do work out a training schedule, it will include a nutrition plan of sorts – I tend to lose weight too fast when I train lots, which also means some form of cross training will be required, probably a light set of weights twice a week plus some cycling and keeping up with kick boxing too.

So – Lots of hard work ahead…I’m very excited to have a place in one of the ‘World Majors’ – Running a race with 39,999 other people will no doubt feel great.

21.08