Marathon Training weeks 4 &5

It's been a tough couple of weeks with a very heavy workload and a general feeling of "meh" about the weather and traiin in general, but let's have a look at what I've managed to achieve:

This is what was on the plan for the week...

4 10/02/25

Rest/Cross train

Run Club/60 mins

10 mins easy running 6 x 3 mins at half marathon pace with 90 secs recovery 10 mins easy running

Pilates/Cross Train

Swim/gym/rest

parkrun

Temple Newsam 10

And here is what I actually achieved...

Monday - a rest day for me, the weekend was busy and so was work.

Tuesday - I knew that I wasn't going to make it to run club as Alan had booked for us to see "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" at the cinema and so instead I took my run kit to work and did a threshold run and got to 5.71KM with an average pace of 5.20per KM which I was pleased with.

Wednesday - Work took over as I'd had an early start over to Huddersfield, and a late finish and forgot I'd had to park my car miles away, at least I got my steps in walking to and from Clarence Dock!

Thursday - It's always tricky to try and get runs in on Thursdays as I have Guides and I've also asked Garmin to not suggest any runs on that day as a scheduled rest day and it was indeed a rest day.

Friday - Valentines day! I worked from home as I'd booked a meal at a new local restaurant in Sherburn which is around 2 miles walk, I have a sort of rule that if I work from home, I do my best to either walk before work with my neighbour or go for a run and I ended up running later in the evening, but managed 5.3KM with an average pace of 5.48 per KM

Saturday - parkrun day - a fairly slow effort around Pontefract parkrun mindful of the fact we had Temple Newsame 10 the day after - 5.1KM with an average pace of 8.38 per km

Sunday - Temple Newsam 10 - this was supposted to have been in January, but was iced/snowed off, whilst there wasn't ice on the day, it was really really cold! We got there quite early and picked up numbers with no issue, but I was very cold and so I bought a buff for £1 from Pre Loved Sports - something I definitely want to investigate further! I ran around with Alan and it's very challenging terrain, dare I say it I think it was a little shorter than 10 miles with my watch suggesting 15.6KM,but a wonderful route, muddy, pretty and fun to run under the M1! We got around in an hour 53 and an averagepack of 7.17 per KM

Total week's activity of 31.71KM and so working well towards my 1000 mile goal only 3.3 miles behind where I should be at this point in the year. 

And then onto week 5...this didn't go quite so well and for no real obvious reasons

This is what was on the plan for the week...

5 17/02/25

Rest/Cross train

Run Club/60 mins

10 mins easy running 3 x 8 mins at marathon pace with 2 mins recovery 10 mins easy running

Pilates/Cross Train

Swim/gym/rest

parkrun

Snake Lane 10

And here is what I actually achieved...

Monday - a planned rest day...my legs weren't too bad from the race, but it seemed sensible to rest.

Tuesday - I was supposed to be leading #RunAndTalk, but no one had signed up, I was tired, I had a sore throat and I struggled to get myself out the door, so I cancelled the session and felt bad about not running.

Wednesday - Again I didn't run and I worked far too late and prioritised the wrong thing and felt guilty again about not running.

Thursday - I could have gone for a run on Thursday, or done some exercise as I didn't have Guides as it was half term, but again I didn't and felt bad about it.

Friday - I needed to break the no exercise cycle and so started my day of working from home with a walk and a good chat with my neighbour. I definitely prefer to be in an office for work and enjoy being around people, but I do miss the opportunity to start my day with a run or walk without a ridiculously early start. We walked our favourite loop around Newthorpe through fields and it was 3.91 miles in an houar and 3 minutes - a pretty brisk walk as both my neighbour and I are fast walkers!

Saturday - parkrun day - my friend Kate joined us for parkrun at Pontefract and we stayed local as I'd booked a skiing lesson for 12.30pm at Xscape. We managed to help Kate run a PB and achieved a time of 35.25. I then had 3 hours of skiing and it was hard work on my legs!

Sunday - Another 10 mile race, this time around Snake Lane 10 for my 6th attempt at this race. I have run times as fast as 79 minutes, but this time we had a bit of a stressful delayed journey, a stress getting to the toilet and then to the start and Alan felt a bit injured, but we got around with mostly no walking and just under the 1 hour 50 minute mark which was additionally pleasing as the wind was very strong! It's a fairly "flat" race, and very popular and with great mementoes - loved my mug the first year, and this year it was a baseball cap. 

Total week's activity of 21.4KM and so dropping off a little behind my1000 mile goal, but still only 8.3 miles behind where I should be at this point in the year. 

Leeds Marathon Training Week 3

Into the 3rd week of training and I'm starting to feel the increase in mileage kicking in, my feet are starting to feel like they do after 5 days of walking around Glastonbury...although thankfully I'm managing to get a bit more sleep than I do there!

This is what was on the plan for the week...

3 03/02/25

Rest/Cross train

Run Club/60 mins

10 mins easy running 30 secs fast running; 1 min jogging – 4 reps 10 mins easy running

Pilates/Cross Train

Swim/gym/rest

parkrun

Peco?

And here is what I actually achieved...

Monday - a rare scenario of working from home and I made a promise to myself that I would do my best to always get out for a run if I was working from home. I went out for a "recovery" run at lunchtime and did 4.4KM at a slow and steady pace (6.48 per KM) and enjoyed getting out in the daylight and maintaining my step goal! It was mostly what my Garmin had suggested!

Tuesday - I wasn't sure if I was definitely going to be at run club as I was toying with the idea of going to my online bookclub, but I'd not finished the book and so I joined group 5 for the progression session week and enjoyed running and chatting with people and we covered 8.82KM at a punching 6.17 per KM and it was nice to head out following Dan's route that is quite different to what I plan. I find run club when I'm not leading always gives me new ideas for routes!

Wednesday - I was hoping to run on Wednesday, but I was overly busy with meetings in Barnsley and back home to meet a new potential guide leader and so I didn't run and to be honest, I think I needed the rest! I did at least manage to maintain my step goal streak.

Thursday - It was a bright day and I had a reasonably free lunchtime and so I took my run kit and took advantage of my amazing office as they give us complimentary showers, shampoo, shower gel, conditioner *AND* towels! I went as fast as I could for 30 minutes and covered 5.2KM along the canal with an average pace of 5.21 per KM.

Friday - I had a hectic day with lots of meetings and was working from home, but I had also got an appointment at 3pm for a coil fitting. As a woman it can sometimes be hard to follow a training plan as out of nowhere your hormones can make your life really difficult. For the past few years I've really been struggling with low mood at certain points in my cycle as well as the fact I've had low iron because I've only had around 4 "bleed free" days per month. I'm still struggling to be "heard" by the doctor as I think I probably just need HRT as I have had private tests showing I have low Oestrogen (and the symptoms kicked in after I stopped taking the combined pill), but I did finally decide to try out the suggestions of a mirena coil. They provide good vidoes and I naively thought I'd be able to just get up and log back on at work, but my heart rate dropped down to around 36 BPM and all I was good for was lying on the sofa for the rest of the evening with a hot water bottle and sweets and chocolate that Alan had bought for me. I lost my step goal streak!

Saturday - I wasn't sure if I would be up for running parkrun, but actually like many cramping symptoms, once we set off at Pontefract parkrun I was fine and I stuck with Alan for a reasonable effort of 30.28 and then showered at the gym next to the racecourse and headed down to London on a train to visit my parents.

Sunday - A long run day. I'd hoped to get to Peco, but as my Dad isn't doing so well with his Parkinsons and Dementia, I decided to spend his birthday day with him and we booked to go for a curry. It meant I was organised enough to get out for my long run early in the day and I ran up to Bushy park (past the OG parkrun start!) all the way through the park to Kingston (where I used to go to school) and then back along the river and past Hampton Court. It was pretty muddy, but decent conditions and I covered what my Garmin suggestd of an hour and 11 mins at a goal pace of 6.15 per KM. In realtity it was more like 12.8KM at an average pace of 6.12 per KM.

Total week's activity of 31.9KM and I've chipped away again at my 1000 mile goal and I'm now only 3.3 miles behind where I should be at this point in the year. 

Leeds Marathon Training Week 2

Its's 14 weeks until race day, deceptively long enough to feel like a "long time away", but still only 14 weeks...which will race by! This is what I had planned for this week. 

Week	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
2 27/01/25	Rest/Cross train	Run Club/60 mins	10 mins easy running 5 mins at marathon pace 2 mins recovery 5 mins at marathon pace 2 mins recovery 5 mins at marathon pace 10 mins easy running	Pilates/Cross Train	Swim/gym/rest	parkrun	100 mins easy

And here is what I actually achieved...

Monday - An actual rest day, I did do my 10 minutes of pilates in the evening to keep strengthening to avoid injury, and I maintained my step goal, but it was very much a day of rest otherwise.

Tuesday - I had volunteered to lead group 4 for Hyde Park Harriers and I'd re-used a route from a few years back towards the Cross Green Industrial estate and covering around 9KM aiming for a pace of between 6.00 - 6.25 per KM. I had managed to repress the memory of the 1000s of traffic lights and leading a big group of 20 meant there was an elapsed time of 1hr 1 minute, but only 45mins 48 seconds of moving time. Jane kindly pointed out that it was 7.40pm and I was only at the turnaround point, so I adjusted the return route, managed to avoid as many traffic lights and we were back in good time and covered 7.66KM with an average pace of 6.15 per KM. I then took my Garmin's suggestion and modified a sprint workout and run around the carpark. I skipped the 15 minute "warm up" and mostly focussed on the 15 second "sprint" segements which were different, but fun. I covered a total of 11.06KM across the two runs

Wednesday - You'll see in the plan I had a structured session, but I was quite tired and had slept badly and had a rare WFH day and the sun was shinning, so I listened to my body and went with a Garmin suggested recovery run and did 5.15KM in 33.56 over lunchtime and enjoyed the sunshine.

Thursday - It's always hard to train on Thursdays as I have Guides at the end of the day. The traffic is also awful and I was catching up with my new boss and I'd left for work early...only to be only 10 minutes in before my usual time as the traffic meant it took me more than twice as long as usual. So it was an enforced rest day, but I did my Pilates and maintained my step goal.

Friday - Working in recruitment, you occasionally qualify for things and get to go on exciting lunches so I went to Birmingham and had a lovely meal in a restaurant called "Pasture" very meat orientated! And I had an ale, a glass of fizz, a small glass of red wine and a couple of ale shandies. My Garmin always knows if I've had alcohol and it raised up my stress levels and I had a poor night of sleep, I did maintain my step goal at least wandering to and from train stations!

Saturday - As always it was parkun and we were on the out and back course at Pontefract still, I had a steady run for most of the run and in the last KM had a bit of a sprint finish and finished in 29.14.

Sunday - A long run day. We'd been discussing where to go for our long run and I remembered that at the start of Leg 1 of the Leeds Country Way you run along a section of the "Linesway" which I remember being reasonably flat and importantly free of traffic. Alan plotted a course of around 16KM which would take us around 100 minutes and fit in with both of our plans. We started off well, but ended up taking an accidental detour around very muddy bits of St Aidans and so there was a lot more walking involved as well as a trip to the visitors centre toilet! We parked in Garforth (it's not that far away from the train station if anyone else fancied doing it) and ran out and back, but with a loop at the end. The weather was gorgeous, but the end of the run was somewhat ruined by us crossing a road junction, being over the halfway point to have a man in a car aggressively beep his horn and tell us to look where we were going - an interesting comment given he drove up behind us and entered the road we were already crossing. Alan pointed out that we had right of way...although I'm not sure how well the lesson on the Highway Code had sunk in at that point!

Total week's activity of 38.6KM and I've chipped away at my 1000 mile goal and I'm now only 6.7 miles behind where I should be at this point in the year.