Stepping outside my comfort zone.....

....a review of my Berlin Marathon training, so far.

Following the disappointment at the Milton Keynes Marathon in May I concluded that, among other things, I needed to step outside my comfort zone. MK was my 4th marathon and although I had improved over those 4 marathons, it was clear that I had reached a plateau and needed to alter my approach if I was going to achieve my goal of running sub 3:30 at Berlin.

I first looked at the Daniels running formula after a recommendation from Twitter pal Dave (@dav3c) but I found the workouts too complex and also didn't feel it would offer me enough recovery time. In the end, I settled on the sub 3:30 marathon plan on the Runkeeper app, which is devised by a trainer called Jeff Gaudette. It looked to have the right combination of intervals, tempo and marathon paced running and uses a run on Saturday to tire your legs out for the Sunday run (sounds great, eh?!). The theory being, that you don't have to run quite so far on your Sunday long runs. Including a 2 week taper, the training plan would be a total of 16 weeks.

The first couple of weeks were fairly comfortable with midweek runs of 4 or 5 miles and the longest run being 10 miles. I then had 2 weeks in the US, ate a lot, drank a fair bit and only ran twice. The net outcome being I had a fantastic holiday but put on the best part of half a stone!

One of my rare runs in the US along Santa Monica / Venice Beach...
 

The combination of over indulgence and missing the progression of those 2 weeks of training meant that on return from my holiday, I was really struggling with the training plan. By now some of the midweek runs were close to 10 miles and aside from one slower run per week, every session was at, or faster than marathon pace. The long runs had crept up to 13 or 14 miles and these were run at MP with a 3 or 4 mile section at the end that is run at slightly faster than MP (circa 7:45m/m). I'd been used to doing most of my long runs (and some of my midweek runs) much slower than this. It was fair to say that this training plan was taking me out of my comfort zone. In fact, it was kicking my ass!

                                        ......and one of the reasons I put on so much weight
                                                                      in the US!

I took some encouragement that although I was finding it hard, I was managing to stick with the planned sessions*. I was really pleased when Nick (@nick_runs) suggested we run together for our planned Sunday run of 14 miles (@8:00m/m). He ran strongly and was clearly in better shape than me and on nearing home at about 12.5 miles, he encouraged me to push on for the full 14 miles, when I probably would have wimped out had I been on my own!

During this period of training I have also run 2 races. The Notts 5 mile Road Race (36:39) and the Jagermeister 10k this past Friday, which is a hilly race (44:40). The 5 miler was a bit of a social tempo run with Mike (@mikew30) and his son James but the Jagermeister in particular was good for sharpness.

On Sunday I completed 4 really solid weeks of training (week 9 of 16), with a 16 miler at MP. Although it was tough, I started to feel that I was running into some form and that the benefit of that 4 week training block was finally paying off. Don't get me wrong, the sessions are still really tough but I feel like I am getting some fitness back. I never felt like this at any point during my MK Marathon training, so I hope it is a good sign.

                                           Summer running through the woods & trails

Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, I have got a week in Spain coming up in a week or so. I am determined to take my diet a bit more seriously in the hope that I can keep my weight down and although I won't be sticking to my training plan (it's too hilly where we are going) I do plan to run every other day (as a minimum), and swim lots.

I am particularly keen to hear from other runners training for the Berlin Marathon and those that have any tips for balancing holidays with training.

(*I did have to have a little lay down at about 11 miles on my first post-holiday long run!)

Tech review - Garmin Sync

I will say right from the start that I am not particularly technically minded. I can get by when it comes to computers but I am far from being an expert. So anything that is going to make my life easier has got to be worth a look.

There are so many websites available that will allow you to log your runs/rides/walks these days that it can be a bit of a mission to upload your activities to them all if (like me) you are using multiple sites. Some, such as Fetcheveryone rely on you adding your activities manually or by uploading your Garmin files. Others, such as Strava and Runkeeper have apps that use the GPS in your smartphone to record your runs (in fact Strava also allows you to upload runs from your Garmin device).

I use my Garmin 405 watch to record the majority of my runs and I use Fetcheveryone as my principle training log. However, I will sometimes use Runkeeper on my iPhone if my Garmin is not around/out of charge. I have also recently started to use Strava because a number of my friends use it and I enjoy the social elements, the challenges and the fact you can bag CR's/KOM's for particular segments of your runs or rides.



I have looked in the past for a tool that would allow me to interact with these various sites but not have to use up half of my day manually uploading them! I recently (after running a Google search) came across Garmin Sync which allows you to set the site to automatically upload your Garmin Connect activities to both Strava and Runkeeper. It also (and this was something I particularly liked) allows to upload all of your historic activities. This meant that although I was late to the party with Strava, I was able to very easily and quickly upload all of my old runs, thereby giving me a chance to compete with my friends on the various challenges!

My only initial gripe with Garmin Sync is that it did not copy across the name of the activity if you had given the activity a name in Garmin Connect but this has been fixed in a recent update.

So, if like me, you want to be able to automatically upload your Garmin activities to Runkeeper and/or Strava quickly and efficiently, give Garmin Sync a try!