Taper Madness!

Today is officially the start of my taper for the Milton Keynes Marathon (on 6th May).

Having run 23.5 miles yesterday, all of my longs runs are now done and I will be gradually reducing my training volume as I approach race day. Albeit, I am going to include a few more faster sessions this year, with a view to keeping some sharpness and tuning my legs into race pace (target 8:00 m/m).

The trouble with this stage of your training is that you know there is nothing you can do to improve your chances of achieving your marathon goal and that any attempts to squeeze in 'one last long run', will probably do more harm than good.

It is also inevitable that you will look back on the runs or sessions that you might have missed. For me, I missed out on a 20 miler due to getting the date for the MK Half wrong and I also miscalculated my total weeks when devising my training plan, so I won't be doing the 24 miler I had scheduled for next Sunday. Now, they are two fairly key sessions right there and I am currently in panic mode, thinking, have I done enough? So much so, I have been comparing my training with the latter stages of my Brighton Marathon training in 2011!

The fact is, marathon training very rarely goes 100% to plan. Home life, work, social occasions, injuries and in my case, the inability to use a calender(!) can all cause us to deviate from our marathon training plans. In looking back at my Brighton Marathon training from last year, I noticed that I had to skip a couple of key sessions/long runs late on, due to shin splints. I had completely forgotten about this injury and the minor lay off it caused. Clearly, it didn't affect my preparation too much because I PB'd at Brighton by over 15 mins (3:44:49).

So, I am writhing this post just to remind me to look at the key sessions I DID complete and not to panic during the 'Taper Madness', which will no doubt increase as I edge closer to race day. Instead, I should enjoy the fact that my Sunday runs are not going to consume the whole day and that I am giving my body a chance to recover before race day!

How are you/have you coped with 'Taper Madness'?

Is this harder than I remember?

I am now into the 3rd week of my 14 week training schedule for the Milton Keynes marathon and do you know what? I feel absolutely knackered!

The last time I trained for a marathon was a year ago, when I was in training for the Brighton Marathon and I really don't remember it feeling this hard. Particularly this early on in my training. Now, I'm not sure if I just remember it as being easier or if the fact I am pushing for a quicker time (sub 3:30) just means that I am having to push myself to go that much harder?

Thinking about it logically, my first three marathons were run at a pace closer to what I would deem to be a much more comfortable pace. VLM and The Robin Hood Marathon were both run at 9:00 m/m and Brighton at 8:30 m/m. I would say that my 'natural' easy pace is around 8:30 to 8:45 m/m. In order to go under 3 hrs 30 mins at Milton Keynes, I will need to be running at 8:00 m/m for 26.2 miles. Something which still scares me!

The University of Nottingham

I know it's really early days and I even blogged recently about it getting harder before it gets easier but my I found my 14 mile long run this weekend really tough. I switched my LR day to Saturday (as I was due to be going to a party Saturday night and wanted to avoid a #hangoverrun). This meant I wasn't as well recovered, from having run 8 x 400m at 5k pace on Friday. The conditions were quite tough and wearing shorts probably wasn't the best move. I ended up getting really cold and it took me ages to warm up afterwards. I also didn't deal with my post-run fuelling very well, so ended up feeling pretty grotty afterwards! The session itself went well though. I did just under 15 miles with the last 5 at marathon pace and took in the sights of Nottingham Uni and Wollaton Hall as part of the 'old' Robin Hood Half course. It is quite a challenging/hilly route but one I enjoy for the sights.

Bruce Wayne Manor. Also known at Wollaton Hall

I ended up falling asleep on Saturday afternoon (something I rarely do) and rested completely yesterday, apart from some stretching and foam rolling. This morning I went for a 4.5 mile recovery run but my legs still feel pretty battered and I feel like I could sleep for a day!

I have stepped up to running 5 times a week (from 4 times) and this is the only thing I can really point to as being different from how I have trained in the past. I would be really interested in hearing from people who have been/or or are currently at a similar stage in their marathon training. Is this something I should expect as part of the extra training load and increased pace of the MP efforts?

Thanks!

Milton Keynes Marathon - Training plan reveal

Those of you that follow me on Twitter may have already caught a glimpse of my training plan for the Milton Keynes Marathon (on 6th May). I am hoping to go under 3 hrs 30 mins, which will be a significant PB, given my current best is 3:44 (at Brighton in 2012).

This will be my 3rd marathon and although I have learnt a great deal from training for and running those 3 races, I am far from being an expert. I thought it would be useful to post the details here, so that others running a Spring marathon can compare it with what they are doing, so those considering a marathon can see what training is involved and hopefully, so I can receive some useful feedback.

My training plan has evolved from taking a simple training plan from Runners World and adding to it sessions that I have read or heard about and by learning what has worked (or not!) for me in the past. The only real change that I have made from my Brighton Marathon training is the introduction of more 'race paced' running and I have stepped up from running 4 days per week to running 5 days per week, just because conventional wisdom suggests I should be doing more miles. Although it is not detailed on the plan, I also do one day of simple strength/core work and some stretching.



Milton Keynes Marathon training plan




This plan is an an evolved version (albeit a significant one) of the training plan I used for my first half marathon in 2007, so I am conscious that I could be reaching a plateau. If I don't hit sub 3:30 at Milton Keynes, I will be looking for ideas to make some significant changes to my training for the Berlin Marathon in September.

Thanks for looking and I welcome any comments!