Week 1- The importance of checking your calendar

Week 1
Miles this week: 20
TOTAL MILES: 20

Right, an update on this week’s training.

First, it’s worth mentioning that I am following this plan for the training.  This guy won the London Marathon, whereas the last time I came second in a foot race, it was against my brother and the loser got to be nabbed for shoplifting.  All things considered, it is better if I listen to the eminently qualified marathon runner when it comes to advice on training schedules.  For sprints, I can recommend my brother.

Next, it turns out that I am actually on week 2.  This is partly because I didn’t get the calendar calculations right and… well, that’s actually about it, really.

So, let’s take a look at how week 1 – or week 2, to give it its correct name – went:

Weds 5^th Jan – 5 miles total at steady pace (8m30 per mile)

The plan actually started on Monday, but I missed that.

At any rate, this was a good run.  It was the first time in a while I’d actually gone 5 miles, so the last mile was a little painful at this speed.  But for all that, it was a good introduction back into a training regime.

Thurs 6^th Jan – 4 miles total (1 mile 9m30, 2 miles 8m10, 1 mile 9m30)
Show me the map! 

Now the one thing I am no good at is interval training.  Luckily, a 4 mile stretch is not a problem.  I’ve looked down the schedule at later weeks, though, and life will get tougher than this.

To be honest, this was easy on the lungs and heart, but tough on the calves, having already been subjected to 5 miles the day before.

Sat 8^th Jan – Parkrun (5km, which was covered in 24m24)
Show me the map! 

Let’s be honest, 5km is to be treated as a sprint, hence the quicker pace.  Since we’re being honest, I am honour-bound to mention that the legs were heavy today after the previous 2 sessions, even with a rest day in between.

My PB for Parkrun stands at a lowly 23m39, so with heavy legs, I was 40 seconds off.   This is quicker than I was expecting, so I’ll take it for now.  I expect my PB to fall over the coming weeks, though.

Sun 9^th Jan – 11 miles easy pace (Scheduled finish was 1hr44.  I completed in 1hr39)
Show me the map! 

A good time to get out of the house is when your beautiful girlfriend is dealing with 2 screaming children.  It’s the schedule, see?  Can’t be adjusted.  Not my fault.

The last (publically repeatable) thing the beautiful girlfriend said to me before I left the house was that it was icy and I should probably watch out.

Heroically ignoring all advice from someone who, at that point in time, wished me harm, I leapt out into a beautiful, sunny Basingstoke morning while listening to Steel Panther on the (girlfriend’s) iPod.

20 minutes later, after the 2^nd spectacular fall on the icy tarmac, I considered returning.  However, perseverance is the watchword of the idiot and so I cracked on.  The beautiful girlfriend has some specific running music on the iPod, of a sort that allows you to measure your footsteps to the beat, in order to maintain pace.  I eschewed all such nonsense in favour of a Pearl Jam marathon.  Screw pace music, I have a Garmin.   

More on that in a later post.

9 miles in, cruising through Basingstoke town centre feeling pretty damned proud of myself, I suddenly realised that getting out towards the train station (and on to Popley) is pretty damned steep.  Seriously, it was like someone had decided to put some hill training in after a 9 mile warm up.  The final 2 miles to get home were an experience that I enjoyed approximately as much as the time my brother outran me and I had to go home to my father (and the inevitable slippering) with one of Her Majesty’s finest in tow.

The knees are sore – and in the case of one of them, lacerated – but the run was completed ahead of schedule.  Ultimately, that’s the aim – always finish ahead of the scheduled time and the marathon will hopefully go that much easier.

Monday is a rest day, so unless I put the post about equipment up before that, I’ll see you on 11^th Jan.

Incidentally, I’ll try to put the Google Earth files up for viewing the actual distances and courses taken.