The Week 6th June

This last week has been fun! It was half term for the schools so I had a wonderful week with my son. Three days were spent in the English Lakes with my mum. We had the most perfect weather... I have spent many a day, weekend or week in this magical place with very cold and wet conditions, so, to get three stunning days was a real treat. We stayed in Grasmere. Ideal for getting around, tea shops and basically chilling out. Running was superb. I had some superb runs on trails around Grasmere Lake, Rydal Water and Ambleside. Perfect!

Training for me was my last week of my adaptation phase. After London Marathon I had some rest, tweaked my training and then re targeted towards some new targets. Next week, the 13th, I run the Marne et Gondoire Marathon. This is organized by a friend and it really is a superb race. A tough marathon as it is a mix of terrain, hills, flat and multiple villages.

The weekend after, the 19th & 20th I have a marathon both days. I am covering the second half of the Lakeland 100 route as a 'reccie'. So, Saturday we will start from the 50 mile checkpoint and run to the 75 mile checkpoint. Sunday we will start at 75 and run to the finish in Coniston and the 100mile checkpoint. Both days will be tough as the terrain in this part of the world is very hilly, rough and potentially dangerous.

One key point of the Lakeland 100 and 50 mile events is navigation. I have therefore been learning how to use memory map, plot routes, load waypoints and use a Garmin for navigation. It has been a real test but I am pleased to say that I have worked my way through it all. It has actually been very rewarding. Using this software and learning the functions of GPS navigation is something that I have wanted to do for a while but I have struggled to find the time. Nothing like an 'event' to get ones head in gear. So I now have an Oregon 450 to guide me on my way and Memory Map software on my PC to view, plot and print maps.

On bank holiday Monday James Watkins ran Chester Marathon and ran a superb race to PB with a 3:04. Super motivated, James has already entered for a late season marathon and a crack at that sub 4 target he desperately wants. Also, we are looking at entering and training for an ultra in the build up to a new marathon PB. Maybe Boddington 50 on July 31st.

One person worth a mention is Jennie Muston. Jennie joined our Lanza training camp and has recently been coached by Liz Yelling. Jennie also ran Chester and won the Ladies race outright with a new PB time of a few seconds just over 3 hours. Great run !!

So a short but fulfilled week. Next week I will have a race report and hopefully some interesting pictures from the Marne et Gondoire Marathon. I am also hoping to interview a French ultra runner called 'Didier'. He is a good friend of Niandi's and a real inspiration, not merely because of his running exploits but because he is also blind.

Recovery Time

I am in one of those funny phases of training. In many ways I am not training but recovering. The first 4 months of the year have been pretty hectic in terms of racing, training, travel and accumulated mileage.

I had always planned to build my training to the EcoTrail de Paris on March 20^th. Although I wasn’t going to run this event at full tilt, I wanted to be in good shape for it. You can’t go into 50 mile races not feeling good.... however; my priority was to run well at Paris Marathon some 3 weeks after the EcoTrail. I found in 2009 that all the endurance that is accumulated in training for a 50 transfer’s really well o a fast marathon.

We know that speed work, threshold and race pace running contributes to a good performance. Ironically though for me, I find that running longer gets me in great shape for marathons. Even to the point that I run marathons regularly at a slower pace to contribute to this level endurance.

The week after EcoTrail I recovered and then ran a hard 18 miler 7 days later. This was actually a speed session for me as the middle 12 miles were at 6:40 pace. I then recovered again and started to add very specific mile repeats at faster than target marathon pace. I know, I know... you can’t expect to pull out speed work in just two weeks and hope that it works in a marathon. However, for me, this does work and certainly running Paris in 2:53 confirmed this. However secretly I wanted 2:49.

So taking an objective look I had to decide why I missed the pace. One mistake I made was relying on my Garmin for pace. I love my gadgets and I find the ‘on the go’ information of modern devices superb. During Paris I ran almost perfectly at 6:28 pace so I couldn’t understand how with approx 3 miles to go I was going to miss my objective. Ironically this information also coincided with my legs fading over the last two miles. Hence the 2:53 and not a 2:49.

Paris really did blast my legs and with London just two weeks later I had 4 days down time followed with some easy running and then some short pacier sessions. London in my ‘plan’ was going to be ‘just’ a marathon in prep for ‘Comrades’ in South Africa at the end of May. However, best laid plans needed to be changed and due to a whole series of events, my participation at Comrades was over 90% certainly not going to happen. I therefore decided to give London ‘a go’. I knew deep down that the chances of running at the required pace so soon after Paris was unlikely, but what did I have to lose.

AS my London blog tells you, I ran hard, ‘on pace’ until basically I faded. Crossing the line in 2:58 though was really pleasing. Yes I didn’t get 2:49 but I had run two sub 3’s within 14 days and I was only 4 mins apart between the two.

What did I learn? Two really key things... no, three things:

1: A sub 2:49 is in me, no problem.

2: My Garmin was out by about 10 secs per mile – crucial

3: I need to be specific if I want to PB the marathon.

With the above info I have spent the last week or so recovering and planning ahead. Running has been short and very easy. I have run slower than 8 min miles and kept my HR below 75% at all times. I have also been a little worried re my abductor/ groin. The pain that slowed me in London was from this area and not the legs... worryingly this was the same pain I had in 2009 before my hernia Op. Now of course it may just be fatigue and/or a strain but I am worried that I may have re irritated the hernia!? Running since London has caused some pain in this area despite the easy pace; mmmm.

On a plus side I went to my local running track and ran a load of tests with my Garmin or should I say ‘Garmins’. I have pretty much exclusively used the new 310xt for the last 6 months however this calibration problem really bugged me. I uploaded all the new software updates, reset the GPS and then went the track and ran a mile at 7:30 pace. It was about 80 meters out (10 secs). So I felt a little smug that my suspicion from Paris was confirmed.

I then ran a mile using the Garmin F60 with foot pod. This was out by about 100m BUT importantly I could re calibrate it. This I did and then I ran 3 miles – on at 7:30’s, one at 7’s and one at 6:30’s. It was spot on give or take a meter; perfect!

I then re ran the above with the 310xt. Every single time it was 80 meters short of a mile; annoying.

So, looks like I will now use both Garmins. The F60 will hopefully give me a more accurate pace, the 310 will give me all the lovely GPS data, maps etc that come with this great device. I know it all sounds anal but if data is what makes you tick, you will understand exactly the angle i am coming from. To be honest it is no problem as I used the F6o as a watch anyway. The Garmin foot pod is tiny and unlike the Polar S1 footpod is just not noticeable when on a shoe.

So, with all these issues solved I can now start to get on with training next week in a proper fashion. I have several objectives ahead. I need to re look at May with Comrades removed from the plan but I am looking forward to the Marne et Gondoire on June 13^th.

Finally, with an accurate Garmin I am going to start preparing for a new PB at Venice on October 24^th. To be honest, I am excited!