And so the four weeks of pre marathon-training training get left behind, and I enter the Restricted Zone. The brief had been simple – to run just 20 miles in each of the last four weeks, yet this final week is the only one in which I actually managed it. It has to be said that Christmas hasn’t been a roaring success in terms of food, alcohol and running. Well, there’s been plenty of roaring, particularly after a few bevies in the pub next door, but not so much of the success.
It could have been much worse, however. I’ve picked up a couple of pounds during the period when I was scheduled to lose about 4, but the two races were moderately successful and I’m feeling upbeat about the coming 16 weeks.
The training plan I’m hoping to follow comes from Bob Glover’s Competitive Runner’s Handbook. It’s not hugely different from the Hal Higdon except that the mid-week runs are a bit more consistent in length, and a short weekend run is added in. And at 16 weeks, it’s two weeks shorter than usual. This might make it a shade less daunting.
Let me say yet again that I find detailed discussion of other people’s training schedules horribly dull, and so I apologise for dragging out this tedious crap, but a couple of people have asked what I’m aiming for, so here it is (including a few minor adjustments for races or other commitments):-
| Mon | Tues | Wed | Thurs | Fri | Sat | Sun | |
| – | 3 | 4 | 4 | – | 8 | 3 | |
| – | 4 | 4 | 4 | – | 10 | 3 | |
| – | 4 | 4 | 3 | – | 13 | 3 | |
| – | 5 | 4 | 5 | 3 | – | 13 | Almeria Half Marathon |
| – | 4 | 5 | 5 | – | 3 | 15 | |
| – | 6 | 6 | 6 | – | 5 | 13 | |
| – | 6 | 4 | 4 | 3 | – | 20 | Bramley 20 |
| – | 6 | 6 | 6 | – | 12 | 5 | |
| – | 5 | 6 | 6 | 3 | – | 13 | Reading Half Marathon |
| – | 5 | 4 | 5 | 3 | – | 13 | Silverstone Half Marathon |
| – | 5 | 6 | 6 | – | 20 | 3 | |
| – | 6 | 6 | 6 | – | 13 | 4 | |
| – | 5 | 6 | 6 | – | 20 | 3 | |
| – | 6 | 6 | 5 | – | 15 | 3 | |
| – | 5 | 6 | 5 | – | 5 | 5 | |
| – | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | – | 26 | Hamburg Marathon |
Plans – doncha just love ’em? I had to go hunting on the web for some quotations about planning. Here are a few of the less cynical:
Let your plans be dark and as impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt. (Sun Tzu, ca. 500 BC)
Dreams, ideas, and plans not only are an escape, they give me purpose, a reason to hang on. (Anon)
In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable. (Dwight Eisenhower)
There’s resonance in all of these. It’s not defeatism to say that I know this plan won’t work out. It’s realism, not negativity. The purpose of plans is not to look into the future to see how things are going to work out. They are there to offer some kind of emotional structure to half cling to, and that makes them vital. So you can be dismissive of them but still understand that they have a value. More than having a value, they are a necessity. They serve to cajole and to inspire, but I’ve learned not to feel too distraught when they start to crack and splinter, as this one surely will.
Today was the first day, and in a sense, I’ve already failed. It was supposed to be a rest day but, being a public holiday it seemed like too good a running chance to waste. So before lunch I set off on a cheeky little 4.5 miler. It wasn’t fast but I didn’t feel that it was a struggle. I’ve noticed that over the past few weeks I’ve not felt the slightest temptation to stop for a walk break. First time in a while. It’s another thing that I like about the Bob Glover approach. Unlike most other published coaches, he’s rather dismissive about factoring walk breaks into the marathon. He doesn’t quite forbid it but he encourages you not to stop unless you really have to. Here’s an extract from the book about marathon strategy.
