It’s the end of June and I’m now into the third week of my preparation for October’s BMW Frankfurt Marathon. Being honest there’s nothing exciting to report from my training to date, just a lot of steady miles and a couple of quicker tempo runs each week. I do however feel as though I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been in at the start of a marathon training plan which can only be a good thing as my training starts to gain momentum.
Normally the first few weeks of training for a marathon are 100% pure suffering as the body tries to come to terms with doing long runs and high mileage once again. The mind and body are rarely in sync during the first 5 - 6 weeks and you crave the day when everything clicks into place and you get back to running smoothly. For whatever reason I don`t seem to be experiencing the usual pain and suffering this time around. As I said in my previous blog, I’m conscious of carrying forward a certain amount of residual fitness from earlier in the year when I spent the best part of six months preparing for the Manchester Marathon, and this seems to have allowed me to hit the ground running right from the start of my training for Frankfurt. My legs feel good, my breathing is relaxed, my body and mind seem to be working relatively well together, and the six weeks of taking things quite easy after Manchester doesn`t seem to have adversely affected my fitness levels too much.
Of course I’ll only be able to really assess what kind of shape I’m in once I’ve got a couple of races under my belt, and to this end I’ll be running the Tyne Bridges 5 Mile Race on 10th July, and the BUPA Great North 10k on 22nd July, to see where I’m at during these early stages of my marathon training. I’m really looking forward to getting out racing because it seems a long time since I last ran properly hard in Manchester. If nothing else it’ll be good to blow away a few cobwebs. After that I’ll be deep in training until the Great North Run on 16th September, before a final pre-Frankfurt blow out at the BUPA Edinburgh 10k on 7th October.
So only 4 races in the next 4 months means i’ll be going to Frankfurt quite lightly raced compared to previous marathons that I’ve ran. I’ve grown to appreciate however that there is no substitute for training hard when preparing for a marathon, and this plan I feel will achieve a good balance between allowing me to train hard over long periods of time whilst still being able to regularly test my form and fitness in a few races. Race too much and it is inevitable that you sacrifice quality training miles; race too little and you risk arriving on the marathon start line feeling rusty and unprepared. It’s a delicate balance, as are so many things in life, but hopefully I’ve got things right to ensure that I arrive in Frankfurt in the best shape I possibly can.
Hope to see you at a race soon!
Of course I’ll only be able to really assess what kind of shape I’m in once I’ve got a couple of races under my belt, and to this end I’ll be running the Tyne Bridges 5 Mile Race on 10th July, and the BUPA Great North 10k on 22nd July, to see where I’m at during these early stages of my marathon training. I’m really looking forward to getting out racing because it seems a long time since I last ran properly hard in Manchester. If nothing else it’ll be good to blow away a few cobwebs. After that I’ll be deep in training until the Great North Run on 16th September, before a final pre-Frankfurt blow out at the BUPA Edinburgh 10k on 7th October.
So only 4 races in the next 4 months means i’ll be going to Frankfurt quite lightly raced compared to previous marathons that I’ve ran. I’ve grown to appreciate however that there is no substitute for training hard when preparing for a marathon, and this plan I feel will achieve a good balance between allowing me to train hard over long periods of time whilst still being able to regularly test my form and fitness in a few races. Race too much and it is inevitable that you sacrifice quality training miles; race too little and you risk arriving on the marathon start line feeling rusty and unprepared. It’s a delicate balance, as are so many things in life, but hopefully I’ve got things right to ensure that I arrive in Frankfurt in the best shape I possibly can.
Hope to see you at a race soon!