The Qwer Old Fella's Marathon Method

08:00 - 8 miles easy. Ran without my watch but was probably sauntering along at about 7.30 pace - nice and gentle - followed by a hardcore core workout.

17:00 - 6 miles relaxed. Nothing special - just ran relaxed - probably 6:45 pace.

This rounds off  'another' 100 mile week. Since I've been away I've been building. I'm now up to 100-102 mpw in 13 sessions plus core and strength work. Tomorrow I start training for the inaugral Tralee International Marathon, which kicks-off on St Patrick's weekend 2013 - the race is on the 16th March 2013.

I've been keeping an eye on the site and have been inspired by many of the performances and improvements. Jakers, I could feel the Boston heat through the computer screen as I watched the race.

My goals have changed and I'll fill you in on how I've built up and how I intend to attack those goals. The weight's great - 133lbs (all solid muscle; now, the kids call me muscularites rather than lardyboy). I haven't done any workouts yet nor have I raced. My long run is 14 and I do drop in the odd progression, where I'm getting up to 5-5:10 pace - only for the last mile or so.

Anyway, I'm back and looking forward to catching up...

13 easy miles (1hr 36 mins) in the morning rain. Felt strong and relaxed. No structural problems or twinges, in fact, when I finished, I felt like I could've done the run again - slight gilding of the lily there; maybe I could have run another few miles before feeling tired.

That's the first 'session' of my first microcycle out of the way. Next session is a workout on Wednesday (10x300m hill reps with jog back rec) and then a 10 miler on Saturday in the mountains, including 3 miles savage climbing at threshold effort. The first macrocycle will last four weeks, so that I can accommodate a two week holiday in Portugal. Subsequent macrocycles will last three weeks. The whole foundation period is 25 weeks - 8 macrocycles. Then I'll get serious with 12 weeks specific marathon training and a 2 week taper. Everything's geared towards the Tralee International Marathon on March 16th 2013. My first marathon. Haven't got a clue how I'll do. I am certain that I will not be running sub 2:23:). The course is tough. The wind will be giving it some welly and the rain will tumble down, for sure. Even on a pancake flat course, with perfect weather I realise now, that breaking 2:35 would be a serious achievement, especially given my age and that I only started 'running' 9 months back. But we'll see...

5:30 a.m. - 8 miles easy (7:30 ish pace). What a glorious morning in The Kingdom (County Kerry). The sun gave it root-toot this morning: shafts of light seared through the morning mountain mist and glinted off the placid Atlantic. Blebs of dew on blades of grass bubbled and blistered and burst. In the early morning heat, the soft lap of the shore sighed and simpered as it swished over pebbles and shells and stones that lay insouciant to the water's frotting affections. The whispers of distant mountain streams sluicing silted beds carried through the still air. Like a mother's hushed shushes in a once upon a time lullaby. Beasts ferretted in gorse and thicket for vittles. A crystal pool fringed with silver birch saplings and weeping willows shimmered in the sunlight. The ends of a willow's branches tickled the pool’s surface. About the water’s edge, canopied by a willow's far reaching branches, a fuss of gnats skirred. Birdsong trilled. Bam jogged. What a load of waffle. Basically, I had a nice run this morning and I'm looking forward to an easy 6 miles tonight.

5:30 p.m. - 6 miles relaxed (started at about 7:45ish and ended up around 6ish). Legs wanted to go much faster but the sight of the mountains looming across the river made it easy to hold back: tomorrow I hit the hills for my first 'speed' workout - 10x300m hill reps. I'm a tad nervous. I'm hoping I don't go off too fast and wreck the session. I keep thinking about Jake's bank deposit analogy. I need to deposit this workout and not go overdrawn. I need to lay down a marker to build the confidence. I feel like a teenager waiting to go out on a date with a girl he's had his eye on for 9 months. Hopefully I will not mess up tomorrow: no injuries; no wasted session. That said, I've gradually built up to 100 miles a week and coped with it without too many problems. I feel strong. I have, in the last three weeks, been doing 8x8 sec hill sprints - more for form and strength than anything else. They've gone well but tomorrow's another cliche...

09:30 a.m. 10 miles all told - give or take a few metres, including 4.75 mile warm up (7:35 pace on the Garmin) 6x100m strides and 6x300m hill reps with a jog back rec and a 3.3 mile warm down (7.50 pace). Not quite what I planned. But I'm pleased with the workout; I revised it last night, based on a re-reading of Pete Magill's Running Times article on hill reps. It seemed to make more sense to have something left in the tank to build on and as it turned out, I doubt I would have managed 7 reps never mind 10; I also have the rest of the week to go...

The session was hard. Very hard. I cried for my mummy on the last 50m of the last rep. She didn't help. It was great to have that lung bursting feeling and all that fire rushing through every fibre of my body. I suppose I can stop calling myself a guy who jacked the smokes and drink and lost weight; now I can call myself a runner.

I noticed that for the first 250 metres or so of each rep that I felt good and that my form held but in the last 50 metres I struggled - the incline does get steeper over the last 50 metres. I feel like I have gained something from the session and although I wasn't bleeding out of my eyes, I worked hard. Next week I'll aim for 8 reps: I'm repeating this week's cycle because of my holiday in Portugal. The splits were: 1:10, 1.09, 1.08, 1.09, 1.10, 1.10.

I feel tired now and tonight's 6 mile recovery run may be a tad slow...

5:30p.m. - 6 miles recovery run. Could feel this morning's session in the old legs but wasn't as bad as I thought it might be.

6:30 a.m. 8 miles easy. Legs felt a bit heavy and tired for first 2 miles but then things began to improve. Should have fully recovered for Saturday's 10 miler in the hills, with 3 miles climbing at threshold effort.

On the training front, for the next 24 weeks I'm doing base/foundation training. The miles will range between 100 and 115 per week. Each block is three weeks. A long run on Mondays (14 at the moment building to 20; there will be some jiggery-pokery in the second half of 2 out of 3 of the runs: progression to marathon effort/ sustained effort). Tuesday is an easy day (8 miles + 6 miles, building the morning runs to 12???  - help/suggestions required - + core work after morning run). Wednesday is speed day: efforts in the 3k - 10k range, including strides for form. Thursday and Friday are easy days: (8+6 and building + 8x8sec hill sprints on one of the days, supplemented with core on one day and strength on the next). Saturday is Threshold day. Week 1 - hill climb at threshold effort - starting with 10 miles with a 3 mile climb at threshold effort, building to a 6 mile climb). Week 2 - Threshold run, starting at 24 mins, building 2 mins each time. Week 3 - Aerobic threshold/Marathon Tempo effort, starting at 45 mins and building. Sunday is an easy day (8 + 6).  I think this touches all/most bases. All runs are preceeded by 20 mins A.I.S. and 5 mins gentle dynamic stretching. All runs are finished off with some gentle short hold static stretching to align fibres. My nutrition is pretty hot. I'm also lucky that I can drop in lunch-time naps - don't be jealous.

The above is to get me in shape for 12 weeks of marathon training plus a two week taper. The marathon is in March 2013. It wil be my first marathon. I intend to start racing around Sept/Oct. In an ideal world I wouldn't do a marathon until I had 3/4 years aerobic work under my belt. But the kids want me to run the Tralee marathon next year so I have no choice. Any comments would be appreciated. I've built from nothing to 100 miles per week over the last 9/10 months - mostly easy running and the odd progression. I've now done 6 weeks of 100 mpw and seem to be ok on it. Prior to the 100mpw I did a 4 week block: 2 wks x 90, 1wk x 84, 1 wk x 90. Then going backwards, a similar picture with 80 and 70 and 60 and so on.

2:30 p.m. - 6 easy miles.  

6:00 a.m. 8 miles easy. I was 5 miles into the run when I suddenly thought - how did I get here? I don't mean here on earth or anything profound like that. I mean, I think I was sleep running. I'd done all my stretching stuff and remembered going out the door etc but it was kind of spooky. When I was awake and aware of it, rather than in some sort of Cartesian false awakening syndrome, I thought about my quads. They hurt. Nothing like Russ's birthing quads problem, just DOMS from the hill reps. Then I thought about Jake's big picture thingymajig and the best laid schemes of mice and men and all that stuff, and decided to tweak the remainder of this week's training...

I dropped this morning's post run strength work and did a cheeky little core work-out, which included my quotidian 20 x Jaycorns - a little name I coined for push ups in reverence to the push up kings: Jake and Acorn. No point hammering the legs with squats and one legged dead lifts etc on sore legs. I've decided to drop tonight's 8x8 sec hill sprints. Instead, I will do some strides tomorrow, prior to doing the planned 3 mile threshold climb.

The County newspaper, Kerry's Eye, has a spread on the Kerry's Eye Tralee International Marathon. Interesting read, for locals. The race will include the Kerry County Champioships, so the race should attract some half-decent runners. I'll have to join a club at some point, if I'm going to enter the County Champ's, as well as the overall race. The organizers are making the race into a whole St Patrick's Weekend shindig and it's part of 'The Gathering' - where the Irish return home; they'd be better off staying away: the country's banjaxed. On that positive note, I'll leave you, for now...

11 miles - 3 miles warm up, 6x100m strides, 2.53 miles climbing (1053 ft in 22:14, Avg Pace 8:48, threshold effort), 4.5 miles easy/steady and 1 mile shuffle.

Enjoyed this. Managed to work hard on the climb without tipping over the threshold. I was blowing from the off but never got the full-on burn and I recovered within a minute or so after the climb and was able to finish the remaining 5.5ish miles without struggling. The climb was shorter than I anticipated but I ran out of hill. I'll start a bit earlier on the climb next time. After the workout, I kept the running honest (7ish pace).

What I liked about this was the 22 mins of constant effort - felt a bit like a race without killing myself.

6 miles tonight will take me over the 100 for the week. Pleased with the week as it was a bit of a trial week with the workouts and I've got through it without feeling completely wrecked. Better not speak/write too soon as I've a 6 to get through...

6:30 p.m. Easy 6 miles. Legs didn't feel too bad but I did feel a bit wibbly-wobbly towards the end of the run - probably needed more carbs. Suffice to say, after I got home and showered I pigged out on a feast of wholegrain rice with tumeric and raisins and apple mixed with tuna and chillies with a cheeky watercress, rocket and baby leaf salad. Washed it down with coconut milk. Prior to scoffing the aforementioned, I had a shot of beetroot juice. Yucky. Now, beetroot juice is recommended before runs because of vasodialation or something like that. But Gramps takes it after training, before a meal. The nutrients get around the body and aid recovery - don't tell anybody. Try it, it works and you will notice a huge difference. I promise.

7:30 a.m. - 8 recovery miles. Plodded along thinking about nothing in particular. Felt tired and needed a recovery run. I'm hoping that I'll recover in time for tomorrow's long run.

When I was out doing a sluggish 6 last night I spotted a couple of runners warming up for the Tralee Summer Solstice 10k. Got the juices flowing and I had this urge to race - not there and then, but soon. I can't wait to get fit enough to give it a lash in a race. It'll be interesting to see how things go. I suspect the first race will end up being slower than what I aim for (deluded about age not mattering a jot and that my body's recovered from the years/decades of abuse).

Anyway, whatever happens I think my times will improve. 

10:00 a.m. 13 mile progression run - of sorts. I'm not a happy bunny. In fact, I'm hopping mad. I took the Garmin out for a twirl today and discovered that my 14 mile run was a paltry 13 miles. Furthermore, or I should say, shorterless, I''m not as fit as I thought I might be. Here's the mile splits:

1. 7:37  2. 7:27  3. 7:29(incl stop for jimmy riddle)  4. 7:13  5. 7:00  6. 7:02  7. 6:49  8. 6:55(brutal 84 foot climb)   9. 6:43(long pull)  10. 6:28  11. 6:12  12. 6:14  13. 8:39(cool down).

Although miles 7 through 9 were climbing, I thought miles 10 through 12 would have dipped under 6 pace; not so. And I have to admit, mile 12 was hard work - I wasn't bleeding out of my eyes but I felt like a rabbit being chased by Glenn Close. Mile 11 was downhill.

As I was building up to 100mpw I often did 5/6 mile progressions where I'd be touching 5:10ish pace towards the end of runs (probably, if I'm honest, the last half mile or so), so I'm a tad disappointed with today, even though it's a longer run. Ho hum.

So, I now have a better idea of where I am and what I have to do. First off, I've got to read my Garmin correctly when I measure runs. I must eat more carrots and I need to take 1 mile off my weekly mileage totals for the last few weeks - that hurts. Secondly, getting fit isn't about writing schedules and giving it the big chat and plodding out miles (although plodding out miles is part of it). I've got to make sure that I work hard in the workouts - I don't mean mam-be-pam-be breathing hard, I mean working gut-wrenching hard and staying focussed.

Is it possible for a 48 year-old man who abused his body for years with bad food, booze and smokes to run a 'decent' marathon off 18 months training? Time will tell... so long as some spiteful rabbit doesn't bite me and give me some rare form of human myxomatosis - because then I'd really be bleeding out of my eyes...,

6:00p.m. - 6 miles easy. First two were very sluggish but then came the strangest metamorphosis (no, I didn't suddenly turn into a fly - with apologies to Kafka). Over the final four miles I felt strong and as though I were running more economically or more efficiently. Bizarre. I thought I would have been trudging along feeling wibbly wobbly, but no. Anyway, I'll see how I go tomorrow on the back of my highest mileage day so far. An 8 and a 6 tomorrow and for Russ, I'll keep the write ups short and sweet:) but I'll be running with carrots to throw at crazy leg biting bunnies.

5:30 a.m. 8 miles easy (1:04:08; AP 8:01). Legs felt fine but I seemed to be putting in a bit too much for a recovery run - should have eased off by 10 secs a mile. Think I'll be taking a cheeky little nap today to help the recovery process:)

6:00 p.m. 6 miles easy. AP 7:20.  Took the Garmin with me on both runs today to make sure the runs were accurate. The morning 8 miler is bang on the button and the 6 is in fact 6.27 but I tend to round down the runs. Phew, at least my two main runs are not a mile short.

The kids are sick today - some sort of throat infection with a temp. Have been dishing out loads of TLC and medicine but most importantly making sure they stay in bed. I was going to do a session of 8x300m hills tomorrow but the kids being off school has scuppered that idea. So I'm going to knock out a 6 in the morning and then in the evening I'll do a decent warm up, some strides, 4x1mile off a 1 min jog recovery on a measured stretch of the marathon route and a warm down. Haven't got the foggiest how it'll go but I'm aiming at keeping all reps under 6 mins. If I do them all in 5:59 I'll be happy with that as a benchmark.

7:30 a.m. - 6 miles easy. Feel like I’ve recovered from Monday’s 19 miles and looking forward to tonight’s workout.

6:30 p.m. - 10 miles: 3 mile warm up including 6x100m strides, 4x1 mile off 90 sec jog rec, 3 mile warm down.

Gotta say, I'm a happy bunny. I'm hopping with excitement. This morning, during my 6 miler I measured out a mile (using my Garmin) on the canal towpath. I re-measured it to make sure it was accurate and then tonight, during my warm up and cool down, I measured it 4 more times. I decided to do the workout on the towpath because I realised the road would be busy with traffic. The towpath isn't ideal: it's gravel and bumpy and plagued with dog walkers but flat.

So the session. Mile 1 - 5:33 (slight breeze behind me) too fast. 2. 5:42 (back into the breeze - oh no, Ithought, the session'sgoing downhill - I can't hold this pace). 3. 5:38 (with the breeze - hold on this is starting to look decent. Felt sick at the 0.75 mark but held on). 4. 5:42 (back into the breeze - worked like a Trojan from 0.25 onwards, but held form).Average mile rep = 5:39 on a slow track equates to a sub 17 5k = 35 mins 10k. Not too bad at all. I know I haven't run these times, but this session, in the past, always worked as a yardstick for predictions for me.

I know it's not earth shattering but I'm really pleased. I know soon enough these will be down around the 5:00 mark and, if I stay healthy, I'll be back in the game...

8:00 a.m. 8 mile recovery run. Could feel last night's workout in the the legs, but after 3 miles or so, everything felt tickety-boo.

After the euphoria of last night I have to tell you that I feel a complete plonker. Of course 4x1 mile in 5:39 off 90 secs doesn't equate to a sub 17 5k and, by extension, a sub 35 10k. The session suggests a sub 17:30 5k and a sub 36 10k. Gutted. But, if I'm honest, still pleased.

I'm re-visiting the training schedules now that I have a better idea of where I'm at etc. I might focus more on VO2 Max sessions (2 per week) and move the threshold stuff into the second half of my long runs. This way I'll have the necessary marathon speed by the end of the summer and then can work on extending marathon race pace over the winter months. But We'll see.

5:30 a.m. - 8 miles easy. Just pootled along, like a somnambulant in high heels.

Going on holiday on Monday (two weeks in Portugal) and I'm dreading running in the heat. I'm dreading traipsing around shops. I'm dreading sitting in restaurants late at night, working out how many hours sleep I'll be missing. I'm dreading the food: having to eat junk. I'm dreading the search for an internet cafe so that I can keep y'all up to date with the things I'm dreading and how I'm suffering in the heat from the things I dread.

On a lighter note - I'm looking forward to whipping off  my top (apologies to aleph and allie and Fiddy) and getting a year's dosage of Vitamin D in two weeks. Must remember the sun cream. I suppose I'll come back looking like a skinny, bronzed Adonis - albeit, a rather decrpit God.

I'm hoping to find a running shop with decent priced trainers. 145 Euros (that's like a thousand U.S. Buck-a-rooneys:)) they want in Tralee for a pair of Asics Nimbus 13. 160 Euros for the Nimbus 14. On yer bike. They only last me four - five weeks. Granted the Nimbus is a cracking shoe for the neutral machine of perfection that I am, but they're having a giraffe at thoses prices. I bought two pair of Nimbus 13's from the same place, about 9 weeks back, and paid 200 Euros for the pair of them -100 Euros each pair; expensive, but they are so comfortable and there's only one way to get injured in the Nimbus: you'd have to trip over a dead cow festering in a field. The manager of the shop said that it's the cost of materials and other nonsense. Materials smearials. I'll wear my wife's high heels before I pay those prices - better go try them on:)

6:00 p.m. 6 miles including 8x8 sec hill sprints off 2 min rec. Great little session. Favourite of the week. Gets the C.P. juices fizzing, recruits fibres, improves economy and best of all, it’s over quickly and is relatively painless. But I wouldn’t recommend doing it in your old lady’s high heels.

7:30 a.m. 6 miles easy in the rain. Beautiful. What a joy to run in soft rain. The scent of wet grass. Through the mist, the pulchritudinous mosaic of Tralee’s majestic landscape. The splish and splosh of puddles as the sprightly Bam zings along sodden paths in stilettos with the zeal of a teenager. Now there’s a secret you’d like to know all about: Bam’s teenage zeal. But sure as cows in the far corner of any given field mean rain’s coming in, you’d only mock me if I were to share my little thing with yee. Perhaps ‘tis better I keep it to myself until I know yee a little bit better.

To round the week off, I’ve a nasty session of 300m hill reps, at mile effort with a jog back rec. Looking forward to doing those tonight. Deep joy. Last time I did this session – the first time – I managed 6 reps averaging about 1.09-1.10. I am hoping that tonight I’ll manage 8 in about 1.10…