When I started Gary O'Hanlon's marathon training plan, I felt it was a bit tame, and didn't count on the cumulative effect of the mileage building, but then, I suppose that is the idea. This week I did 58 miles, which is more than required by the schedule, but not by much. The workload has increased significantly this week, with a 9 mile tempo, 15 miles long run at 30 seconds slower than marathon pace and the short runs are 7 miles approx. Its the long runs at the end of the week that I find difficult at the moment. Yesterday I did 18 instead of 15, but the last 3 miles were very slow and up some pretty steep hills on the way home. I am hoping the slow miles at the end will slightly increase my endurance and teach my body to start to burn fat as well as carbs for energy. This should help with energy requirements as I am not planning on using gels on marathon day. Since I stopped using the gels on the long runs, I don't have any of the sickness I was feeling after using them.
Obviously Gary knows his stuff, that was never in doubt, maybe I felt the plan was easier at the start as I was already doing 40 miles a week when we started. My mileage for the month was 216, which was a new record for me, and it shows me that while I thought I was doing alot of mileage for other marathons, obviously I wasn't!
My weight is still dropping a bit, I am now 10st 2lbs, before runs, and I am happy with that. A few more pounds should see me at my ideal race weight, just in time to start increasing my carb intake for the marathon. I do look a bit different than I did when I was 12 st 8lbs, and it is getting slightly tedious with all the comments about my weight loss. I am probably fitter and eating healthier than at any other time in my life.
Its my 40th this weekend, so I will probably be well carb loaded for my long run this week, I might even hydrate on Saturday night, although I don't think bulmers is the prefered fuel of many runners!
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