Marathon Mondays – Week one training Review
So I’ve made it to the end of week one !!
I have nearly stuck to the plan for the marathon training runs and my 10k steps a day Goal, all of this weeks runs should have been at my Easy Pace, the Plan suggests that this pace is between 9:53 – 10:53 minutes per mile.
I started off planning a sub 4:15 marathon as I think that this feels an achievable time, but should you ever need a good laugh, buy yourself a Garmin watch and flick though the Menu to find the ‘Race Predictor’
Now I don’t mind the 5k time as its only a few seconds faster than I can run, but I think a sub 3:30 marathon would never be on the cards – well at least I’ve got something to live up to……
why 10k steps ?
So you might think that the 10k is born out of years of scientific research, but sadly not. I had a quick look around the internet and an interesting story emerges.
The magic number “10,000” dates back to a marketing campaign conducted shortly before the start of the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games. A company began selling a pedometer called the Manpo-kei: “man” meaning 10,000, “po” meaning steps and “kei” meaning meter. It was hugely successful and the number seems to have stuck.
But hey My Garmin watch uses 10k as the default daily steps so that what I am aiming for for each and every day
here is my week in review:-
Monday| Week 1 | Rest Day
Distance: Plan – 0 | Actual – Nil – Nada – Nothing
Steps Walked: 20999
What a way to start a Training Plan, A Rest day thankfully it suits the fact that we had a 10.5 hour shift at work.
But we did use the time a little wisely to come up with our ground zero point
Now I may not be massively overweight but I certainly have a Flat stomach but with a silent “L”
so on day 1 I weigh in at :- 72kg
with a BMI of :- 24.11
so officially at the top end of the BMI scale for someone of my height
Tuesday| Week 1 | Rest Day
Distance: Plan – 0 | Actual – Nil – Nada – Nothing
Steps Walked: 14,351
Another 10.5 hour shift, I would love to say that this campsite warden lifestyle is all hard work, but its not, a lot of my time is spent with happy go lucky campers, so although we have had a couple of long days, they don’t overly tire me out
Wednesday| Week 1 | 3 Miles Easy pace
Distance: Plan – 3 | Actual – 4.5 miles at 9:34 per mile
Steps Walked: 17,162
Back to it! I haven’t run regularly for over 2 months, I think that I had lost my drive without a Race in Mind and have only gone out once or twice a week. Plan was do 3 mile, which led to 4.5 as it made a nice loop down the lane and around the block
So I exceeded my target but this easy run wasn’t easy!
I must learn to slow down !
Thursday| Week 1 | 4 Miles Easy pace
Distance: Plan – 4 | Actual – 5.5 miles at 9:18 per mile
Steps Walked: 15,775
My favourite time of this week, a club run with our local running club the Street Striders, for anyone who thinks that they cant belong to a club, have a look around. The Striders have only been up and running for about 6 months but its an inclusive club with people who range from run walking to the super fast- all of our runs are at a social chatty pace, so even in the dark this is good fun
Friday| Week 1 | 6 Miles Easy pace
Distance: Plan – 6 | Actual – 5.06 at 12:27 per mile
Steps Walked: 19,103
Run walk with Mrs K-F, so Michele is on her own fitness journey, she is slowly trying to work her way up to the 6.2 miles or 10k mark, so each week we are going out and extending her distance runs
last week we took the same route around Glastonbury, Running for 10 minutes and then walking for the next 2 to recover – But this week she smashed it by running for 15 minutes followed by a 2 minute walking break
Way To Go Girl !
Saturday| Week 1 | 3 Miles Easy pace
Distance: Plan – 3 | Actual – 3 at 10:14 per mile
Steps Walked: 21,362
Normally Saturday is ParkRun day in our’Van’,
what is ParkRun ?
ParkRun started back in 2004 when 13 runners got together on a blustery day in Bushy Park, Teddington, UK.
now its an international family of six million registered participants and counting….
Held in pleasant parkland on Saturday mornings, The free volunteer timed 5k events are open to all. Anybody and everybody, of all ages and running abilities can take part in our runs – you can run, jog or walk the course.
These events are fun and friendly, but they are hard. Somehow, because there are so many people and your time is being recorded, it is impossible to jog slowly through them.
remember its a run not a race –
You just feel compelled to catch that old bugger ahead of you, or to show that youngster a clean pair of heels.
It is slightly humiliating to be overtaken by people pushing buggies, even though they are 15 years younger than you.
I pretty much love every darn minute of it.
But there is an unwritten rule in ParkRun land that if everyone Volunteered to help 1 in every 10 runs then it would always be over subscribed with volunteers
so this week both Michele and I braved the biting cold winds and pouring rain to marshal at the Street ParkRun, I actually enjoy being the other side and cheering the folks on as they make their way around the 5k course by walking, running or a combination of Both.
This did leave a bit of a gap in my training, so after the afternoon shift at the campsite I donned my head torch and headed off into the dark dark night, down the dark dark drive and along the dark dark lane, thankfully every now and then the sky was light up with vivid colours of firework displays
Sunday| Week 1 | 8 Miles Easy pace
Distance: Plan – 10 | Actual – 10.5 at 11:47 per mile
Steps Walked: 21,269
Sunday Morning out with a few other Runners and a really nice easy paced trot around the nature reserve on Glastonbury Heath, it does amaze me that I’ve taken to running so much, but what else could you do at 8am on a damp Sunday morning.
Fundraising
Donations for the Orchard Vale Trust are coming along nicely, the Virgin Giving Page is hovering at around the 20% mark, so huge heartfelt thanks to each and everyone of you that has clicked on the link and left a little something
Once again thanks for letting me bore you all to tears and just think only a few months to go
Paul.
