March update
March
Hello from week 12/17 of my London Marathon training plan! It’s been a busy couple of months since my last training update in January…
I’m (just about) managing to train about 6-7 hours a week in between work and life generally. Weekly training is still split over three runs – a comfortable pace mid-distance, some intervals, and a long-distance, peaking at just over 57km total this week, which means I’m on track with my schedule. The Runna app marathon plan seems to be paying off – would still recommend. My estimated marathon race time has gradually improved, now hovering around 3:45:00 which – if true – I’d be delighted with given my last efforts of 4:35:36 and 4:12:54.
In between regular runs, I recently did the Brighton Half and, despite not feeling 100% that week, came in at 1:48:26, about three minutes off my half marathon PB. Took that happily given the last 5km turned into a bit of a crawl due to over-egging the pace early – hard not to with such great crowds! Otherwise, I’ve been consistently picking up best efforts in my training runs at the 30km mark which is a positive sign that endurance fitness is increasing. The biggest challenge has been finding varied and interesting routes to break the monotony amongst the whole spectrum of weather conditions! As usual, FrontRunners to the rescue, and thanks to Alex – who’s training for the Paris Marathon in April – for a great trail/road mixed run over the Downs.
Despite the very mixed weather lately, having a few hours to myself to focus solely on running is essentially meditation and self-care – at least, that’s how I’m justifying it! That said, meditation doesn’t usually result in an achilles injury, tight calves, hip pain and a very sore toe. Which led me to book a check-in with a physio – Kevin Hall if you’re interested, turns out quite a few FrontRunners have sought his help. Thankfully, my main concern about a stress fracture in the foot proved to be wrong, and I got the all clear from the physio – nothing unexpected as the training load increases.
With that, Kevin got me on the treadmill to analyse how I was running. Given the relatively short time left through to the marathon in late April, the aim was to introduce some drills into each training run to see where there might be efficiency gains for the marathon which might also reduce some overall load to avoid injuries. Kevin’s assessment: I’ve been running like a hippo (not his words exactly), heel striking but following through too quickly on to the forefoot with a loud thump. He showed me a different way to move through each stride – sinking the heel first, relaxing the toes, moving consciously through each push forward – and immediately the difference was obvious; more efficient and less noisy! But the most notable thing has been how my cadence has gone up – once I put the drills into practice almost immediately my average long-run cadence went up from 160 p/m to 170 p/m which meant a faster pace with lower heart rate. Overall, much more efficient and I can feel I’m less exhausted after longer runs – perfect!
Looking ahead, I’m feeling good about the next few weeks with my new running style – a small dip this week as I taper slightly before upping the distance again next week. That may or may not involve me taking up my Brighton Marathon place… we’ll see!
And that’s it for now – I’ll keep you updated as the training progresses 
James