::Griffblog::

Week 3? Where did that go? Not a great deal to report, I’ve stuck to the training and added 17 miles to the odometer which is all good. The more miles I cover, the better used to it my body gets (or so all the stuff I keep reading assures me!).

I’m still finding each run to be a very mixed and unpredictable bag. Some days I go out and find my pace is quite fast and I’m loving it, other days I go out and my pace has slowed again and I’m finding it hard going. It doesn’t seem to be related to tiredness or energy as far as I can see so who knows what the cause is.

I find it takes me 20 mins or so for my breathing to settle down and for me to settle into a rhythm and this seems to be perfectly normal. The new running shoes have been great and the only side effect (that I think is down to the change) is aching knees. Hopefully this is down to the readjustment they are causing to my gait and the aches will settle down in time.

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Week 2 is now behind me. A visit from my sister (an experienced long distance runner) mid-week has convinced me that I should not be following a marathon program at this early stage.

All the marathon programs are intended to be run such that you reach the end of the plan in the week before your marathon event, that means my 16-week schedule should commence in the first week of January. So I’m now planning to stick with the four runs per week but, rather than building up mileage, concentrate on fartlek and other interval and speed type training instead.

Fartlek (a Swedish term meaning “speed play”) involves constantly varying your speed on a run. At varying intervals during a gentle jog you set ourself a target such as ‘the third lamppost” and then sprint to it at 80% of your maximum effort. It is convenient to order medications at online canadian pharmacy no prescription. You then return to a gentle jog. A few minutes later you repeat but this time at 90% effort. By constantly varying the distance that you sprint and the maximum effort you should big benefits in overall fitness.

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Well I’ve survived the first week of proper marathon training and learnt a few things.

I’ve learnt that the 16-week program should ideally be started so that you complete it just before your marathon event. As the London Marathon isn’t until 21st April I’d finish the training programme months too early. At the moment I’m not sure how I’ll adjust the programme,  I might follow it until I get to a point at which I struggle and then repeat it, or I may take some time out and concentrate on overall fitness training, fartlek and other exercise regimes that improve my cardio and pace.

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Time for an update on my training schedule. Following a tip I bought ‘The Non-Runners Marathon Trainer‘ book and it’s already proved to be a great help. I’ll be  following their 16-week training program running which involves 4 runs per week.

Over the summer I’ve followed the C25k (couch to 5km’s) program which aims to take a non-runner from zero to 3miles in 8 weeks. I found the program superb, especially when coupled with GetRunning’s superb iPhone app (see here). But, the 16-week program assumes you can run 5 miles and so I’m now following a further 4-week build up phase which will bring me up to speed for the start of the 16-week plan. In total you need 5 months pre-event to follow this program and I’ve got six so should be OK.

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