We are now nearly a week post marathon. I have managed to get out for three runs, my body is letting me know that I am still getting over that big effort. The half hour of walking over the final 10 miles at London has saved my legs somewhat but I still need to be cautious over the next couple of weeks. Having said that I am provisionally booked for the Chester Marathon on the 11th October. Lauren and I are still in negotiations, but I am confident I can get that one over the line.
I have got myself a 24 week plan on Runna to get me through to the Chester Marathon in tip top shape, with the Basildon HM on the 13th September being a B race for me. Before I look at what that plan looks like I first want to explore what is required to run a four hour marathon all the way through to a three hour marathon. For this I have taken a look at some of the great analysis tools from www.fetcheveryone.com based on the 16 weeks prior to the marathon.
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | Total | Avg |
| Time | Runs/Wk | Miles/Wk | Avg Pace | LR 1 | LR 2 | LR 3 | LR 4 | LR 5 | LR 6 | | LR Miles | LR |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| Me | 4.2 | 29.4 | 8:41 | 20.2 | 15.5 | 15.5 | 15.1 | 13.3 | 13.2 | | 92.8 | 15.47 |
| 4:00 | 3.7 | 30 | 9:23 | 22.1 | 20 | 19.3 | 17.1 | 15.1 | 14 | | 107.6 | 17.93 |
| 3:45 | 4.1 | 35.4 | 8:49 | 21 | 20 | 20 | 18.1 | 17 | 15.3 | | 111.4 | 18.57 |
| 3:30 | 4.6 | 38.8 | 8:37 | 22.1 | 20.4 | 20 | 18.9 | 18 | 16.1 | | 115.5 | 19.25 |
| 3:15 | 4.6 | 42 | 8:11 | 22.3 | 21.1 | 20.1 | 20 | 18.6 | 17.3 | | 119.4 | 19.90 |
| 3:00 | 5.3 | 51.4 | 7:43 | 23 | 21.7 | 20.5 | 20.1 | 20 | 19 | | 124.3
| 20.72 |
I hope that table displays correctly. It shows my 4:04 London Marathon having been run after I trained for an average of 30 miles a week over 4 runs a week. The average pace wasn't a target but I thought made for some interesting comparisons. The stand out that was lacking for me were those long runs. The 20 miles at the Essex 20 being my only really long run. 3 runs of 15 miles or so and a couple of half marathon distance runs.
The 84 matches for those running 4 hours had them achieving a similar weekly mileage to me but with half a run a week less. Illustrating that those other 84 runners went further when they went out then I did. My average pace was also over 40 seconds a mile quicker than them, I think that is a sign I can go much faster than the 4:04 I achieved. The big difference being those long runs. The variance between me and the 4 hour runners isn't quite as large as I was expecting but it was interesting to see that they got as far as 22 miles on their longest run. Then it is a 19 miler and a 17 miler that I was lacking.
Where I want to be is in the 3:30 - 3:45 club. 4 to 4.5 runs and 35-40 miles a week both look achievable. The bigger numbers required of 5 runs and 50 miles a week for those stretch targets down the track can wait for 2027 and beyond.
As I said the Runna plan is for 24 weeks rather than the 16 weeks we are looking at here. It has me averaging 58km or 36 miles a week over the 24 weeks, and with the first 8 weeks easing you in somewhat those averages will likely be higher for the 16 weeks. When I put together my plan with Runna I tasked them with four runs a week, and just one harder session rather than the two I had for London. In terms of those key long runs it has given me a longest run of 34km (21 miles), 2 x 32km (20 miles), 30km (19 miles), 28km (17.5 miles) and 26km (16 miles).
I have 21 weeks of 4 runs, 3 runs for this week beginning on Thursday, 3 runs the week of the Basildon Half Marathon and 3 runs in race week including the marathon itself for a total of 93 runs. I think I might find 7 other opportunities for some short (5-8km) easy runs to make it to a nice even 100 but I won't lose sleep if those bonus runs aren't met.
If I can apply myself to all 93 of those runs a marathon PB will be achieved and ideally a sub 3:30 marathon. Wouldn't that be a story to tell. 24 weeks of hard graft starts here.
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