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.