March 2010

Wednesday note . Today you will take the given block of time and break it down for a little Speed Play also know as “Fartlek”. You might like to jog from home or work to a track, playing field or nice stretch along the river. This is the day that you can practice what you will wear in the marathon, shoes and Gear and you may even want to practice what you will eat the night before to find what gives you most energy and no problems. Things that you can do here are pick a distance 400m, 800m even a mile and run at a pace faster than your normal everyday runs, then take a few mins walk jog recovery and try again, it is good if you can maintain the same pace on each effort and really good if your last effort is faster than the rest.

Week 1 you could jog 15mins , stop and stretch pick where you will run maybe take off your jacket to mark how far you go. Try 6-8 x 1min or 400m, maybe a lap of your local field, take few mins between efforts then go again, when finished jog slowly home.

Week 2 similar jog before and after with 5X 2mins or 800m efforts.

Week 3 similar jog before and after with 2X 3mins, 2X 2mins, 2X1min.

Week 4 similar jog before and after with 1X5mins, 1X4mins,1X3mins,1X2mins 1X1min.

On Saturday when I mention marathon pace, this is the pace whether walking fast jogging or running at good pace that you would like to be able to maintain for the complete marathon. This is one of the most important training days as here we are training your body to relax at a pace that you would like to continue running at for 26.2miles. So even though you will be concentrating to run, walk fast or whatever you are planning to do it shouldn’t really stress you too much, just something extra to think about rather than a normal everyday run.

Going for a swim or gym or even walk on the recovery days will give your body a chance to rest and recover from all the pounding . It is a good idea to do some of your running on grass or in a park as you will find a lot more wear and tear, aches and pains if you constanly run on the Road. The Farm is a great place to run in Cork out behind CIT running track.

If you are not finishing your run at home it is a good idea to bring at lleast a dry warm top and a drink and snack to help re-fuel after your efforts especially on the long run days or harder session days.