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.