Week Starting 7th April

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Hi all,

With the National Road Relays coming up this Saturday, and many of you racing elsewhere too, we're going to step off the track this week.

I’ve already chatted to many of you one-on-one about marathon training, but I wanted to say a few things here for everyone…

You’ve worked incredibly hard – and it’s all in the bag now. There’s not much more you can do in terms of volume. This phase is about fine-tuning. So, start cutting back the long runs and bring in some quality instead. A fast 5K or a sharper session will do wonders for your legs – and your head.

Keep practicing marathon race pace. Drill it in until it feels natural. But don’t stress if you can’t always hit it perfectly. On race day, the buzz of the crowd and other runners will lift you. Trust that.

This next phase is about adaptation – physically and mentally. Come to sessions, but do not blast them.

 

For those of you focusing on 5Ks and above

Use the next few weeks to assess where you're at. Make small, smart tweaks. Some of you are running red-hot times in training – now give yourself the chance to show that in races. Be kind to yourselves and train clever.

 

One thing we’re all bad at? Cutting back.

We run for both our competitive goals and our mental health – and sometimes the latter makes us afraid to ease off. We don’t like missing runs or sitting at the back of the pack. But sometimes, you need to.

Back in the day, when I was running in groups full of top athletes [not me of course!], we never did a full session on a Tuesday before a weekend race – and definitely nothing big on the Thursday. Don't throw away weeks of training by arriving on race day with tired legs. Be strategic. Be kind to yourself. If you're racing – make it count. Tempoing races is for suckers.

 

Race Week Strategy:

Use the next few months to develop your race-week routine. Figure out what works for you. Everyone’s different – but here’s what worked for me (and the group I trained with):

• Monday: Easy 10 (split into 2 x 5 miles)

• Tuesday: Light session – same format but ¾ effort. (If I overcooked this, the race was wrecked.)

• Wednesday: Easy longer run with 1 fast mile

• Thursday or Friday: One day off, the other day 3 miles easy with strides

• Saturday: Easy 4 miles

• Sunday (Race Day):

Warm-up: 1 mile super easy, 1 mile building up to race pace over the last 2 mins, then strides. Toe the line.

 

This Week’s Plan

• Tuesday – 6:50pm at Compton Park, warmed up and ready:

Session: 1, 2, 3, 3, 2, 1, 1, 2, 3 off a min float

Then: 20-second strides and some stretching

• Thursday: See above – take it easy or rest!

• Saturday: Either a Parkrun or the National Relays. See you there.

Lastly if you have made it this far I still need marshals for the fordhouses 5k. If you can spare an hour Thursday 17th August from 6.30pm that would be wonderful,


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