5 Weeks To Go!

The abbreviated training plan is going well thus far – I’ve completed 2 weeks of it – and I have to say that I’m enjoying my renewed focus. Without the luxury of a full 16-18 weeks for training, I sought advice from the group at LHR Running Community, a Facebook group focusing on training the Hanson way. Luke Humphrey (author of the book, Hanson Marathon Method) was kind enough to reply directly to my question of how to proceed with training, suggesting that realistically the aim would be to finish – it’s not going to be a PB run – and I should aim to increase my mileage to 45 miles per week.

Final Surge Training Plan

Next thing to do was find a plan to support this. Since running a successful London Marathon in 2019 off an LHR plan, I decided this was as good a place as any to start. A little more digging online and I came across an 8 week plan on Final Surge.

Not quite sure that at 30 miles per week I’d have described myself as near my peak mileage, but the other bits resonated with me in that I’d been doing regular workouts over a month. Overall, it looked like following this plan would be achievable, completion the goal, and time largely irrelevant. If I am able to walk the day following the marathon that will be an added bonus!

Progress To Date

Last week saw me run a fraction off 39 miles, this week just short of 42. I plan to add a mile onto my easy run tomorrow and make the warm up on my workouts 2 miles, rather than the planned 1, in order to hit 45 miles next week. I’m also continuing to work on strength training with a running focus so hope that this will also help overall.

It’s been suggested that running a virtual marathon will be hard due to the solitary element. I’m hoping it won’t be any worse than the virtual 5k I did back at the end of June where I ended up walking! While I’m sure there will be ups and downs, aside from last weekend when I ran with two friends, I’ve been training alone since lockdown began in March. I won’t have the support to keep pushing through the tough times, but I have developed the mental strength to be in my own head for a prolonged period of time.

Running Solo

One of the main joys I’ve found in solo running is doing it at a time that suits. Today I allowed myself the luxury of a lie in, starting out at the leisurely time of 10:30 am. While this meant I’d missed the opportunity of company it allowed me additional rest and recovery time, vitally important in the throes of solid training.

I ran a steady 14 miles on the local trails. I had contemplated running somewhere flat but couldn’t think of anywhere inspiring to do this, so the usual stomping ground it was. When you stop to look around it’s easy to understand why this is a favourite.

Looking Ahead

This week holds easy miles, a session of short reps, a tempo run and a 16 mile long run to round it all off. That’s as far ahead as I’m going. One week at a time!