Spring Marathon Training – Week 5

After last week’s drop back week I really wanted to get a good long run in, to test whether I would do any better at it. I’m aware that I’m running more miles than Ben would advocate at this stage, but a) I haven’t been able to do any strength or cycling these past two weeks and I haven’t chosen to do any yoga either until this afternoon, and my calves really felt it; and b) I have accidentally booked a place on another half marathon next week, so this is kind of swapping things around a bit.

Do I think this long run felt stronger? I think so, although everything did feel like jelly in the end and I deliberately gave myself a mile or so extra to walk back after I hit the 16 in order to wind down gently. ‘Are you okay?’, asked a lady as I walked up the hill by raising my knees and twirling my ankles and the same time. ‘Yes’, I replied, grinning inanely, ‘I’ve just run 16 miles.’ She looked impressed but as I continued to give her a breakdown of my run I could see her eyes glaze over.

I did describe the run in a little blog yesterday but I didn’t mention the woods. Storeton Woods is a lovely route, and great if you want to keep your pace down as there are an abundance of tree roots and occasional narrow paths edged with holly bushes and the many dog walkers who spread themselves around. I had to laugh when this toddler standing between two trees told her dad that she was hiding – one’s perception of space is very different at that age. I did three loops there before wending my way to do laps around the River Park via Port Sunlight. I suppose I do need to find a new place to go at some point as the runs get longer but having this nice mix of road and trail so close to my house is very handy. This is the first run I took water with me, and I was starting to need it by the end. Next time, I’ll pop a salt sachet or tablet into it as I did nearly begin to get a headache.

Looking back at my log, I haven’t run this far since 2017, either for a single run or the cumulative total. Despite my jelly legs yesterday, I was able to have a gentle canter today which felt surprisingly nice. This coming week I need to bring back the bike and return to my strength class so the total might go down a bit but that’s okay as I think mixing up the exercise is key to keeping injury free.

Day	What I Did	What Ben Wanted Me To Do
Monday	5.18 miles easy [8.34 km] (avg: 12.04 min/mile [7.48 min/km])	4 miles easy pace
Tuesday	Babysitting Club run – 4.48 miles [7.20 km] (avg: 11.23 min/mile [6.98 min/km]) This average was slow but I mixed up the speed as it was a club run and there were four good Heswall hills.	4 miles progression
Wednesday	Drank wine, watched a play	Strength (30 mins)
Thursday	3.60 miles [5.80 km] (avg: 11.38 min/mile [7.07 min/km]) Met our new grandson born yesterday – Anne’s youngest son’s firstborn.
Friday	Babysitting
Saturday	16 miles [25.75 km] (avg: 12.16 min/mile [7.54 min/km]) Did miles 10, 11 and 12 at faster than marathon pace. Total time also included a couple of wild comfort breaks and the time it took to try and find a reasonably secluded spot.	14 miles    10 miles easy      3 miles marathon   1 mile easy
Sunday	3.5 miles [5.63 km] (avg: 11.55 min/mile [7.18 min/km]) twenty minutes yoga.