Week Starting 28th April 2025

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As I write this on Saturday, I’m thinking about our marathoners. I’d probably not be wrong if I said they were feeling nervous — maybe even sore and tired. Totally natural to be all of those things. It’s a strange old distance. It’s a hard block of training just to get yourself to the start line, and it's more than fair to say that it’s one of the hardest start lines to reach.

So, my advice would be to set some goals. This isn’t my idea, by the way — Meb Keflezighi, in his brilliant book documenting his marathon training, says this is exactly what he used to do.

Here’s what I think would make great goals:

A: Win
B: PB
C: Race the whole thing
D: Get round with some stops
E: Just finish and get that medal
F: Drop out and go again another day
G: Drop out, don't go again — and use the wonderful base you’ve developed, combine it with some shorter sessions over the summer evenings, and aim to smash some 5K and 10K races.

I guess what I’m getting at is: be kind to yourself. Don’t go into this only valuing the big wins. The journey you’ve been through is immense. Respect that journey and make sure you get something from it.

I dare say, like me, we’ll all be tracking our teammates on the various apps. Go do yourselves proud, people.

Training:

Tuesday:
Can all our marathon runners bring their medals, tees, stories — and achy legs — to the club? We’ll meet from 6:30 PM and catch up on your runs, good, bad, or indifferent!

For those training, we start about 6:50 PM on the track: 5 minutes tempo, followed by 10 x 600m at 5K race pace, off 75 seconds.

Saturday:

For those old farts not doing the Masters Road Relays: warmed up and ready to go for 9:30 AM at Compton Park — 8 minutes tempo, followed by Mona Fartlek. 

Mona Fartlek is:

a structured speed session popularized by Australian distance running legend Steve Moneghetti. It’s designed to build speed and endurance and is often used by runners from 5K to marathon distance.

Structure:

Total time: 20 minutes.

Alternates between hard efforts and float recoveries (not a full jog — a strong, steady pace).

Session breakdown:


2 × 90 seconds hard / 90 seconds float


4 × 60 seconds hard / 60 seconds float


4 × 30 seconds hard / 30 seconds float


4 × 15 seconds hard / 15 seconds float


Key points:


Hard efforts are fast but controlled (around 5K race pace or slightly faster).


Floats are steady but not slow (around marathon pace or slightly slower).


No stopping or walking — continuous running for 20 minutes.






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