Chester Marathon - Week 5 of 10

Chester Marathon - Week 5 of 10

Week 5 (Mon 27/08 - Sun 02/09)

Mon: Rest Day
Tues: 10.0 Miles Easy @ 9:15/mile
Weds: 10.0 Miles Easy @ 8:59/mile
Thurs: 10.0 Miles Easy @  7:59/mile
Fri: 10K Easy @ 8:41/mile
Sat am: 9.0 Miles incl. Hull parkrun 17:25 (5:36/mile)  [Comeback PB]
Sat pm: 10K Easy @ 8:18/mile
Sun: 22.0 Miles Progressive @ 7:44/mile

Total Mileage: 73.4


This week was mainly about cautiously recovering from last weekend.

There was every chance that the recovery would be of the same order as the recovery after a marathon so the plan for midweek was to do nothing but easy running and let the legs come back to strength at their own pace.

Hull parkrun
At the end of last week I mentioned that if I felt up to it I might have a crack at an overall parkrun PB but I didnt seriously expect to be recovered enough to get too close to it.

The mark to beat was 17:25. As we got underway I was surprised at just how lively the legs were feeling and it soon became apparent that it might be possible to get pretty close. Well, after a good old battle with my good friend, Dan Holdsworth, (which he won) I did get close, very close. In fact I couldnt have got closer as the old mark was equalled with another 17:25.

The legs did feel the effects of some of the residual tiredness in the last mile, so that gives hope that something much closer to 17 minutes is just around the corner :)


22 Mile Progressive Run
The main aim with this run was to try to feel strong towards the end of the run if possible.

Run in the warmest part of the day on a hilly course, resulting in 9lbs weight loss from start to finish, it went very well. Roughly broken down:
First 8 miles @ 8:12/mile
9-18 miles @ approx 7:30/mile
Last 4 miles @ 6:40/mile

This run in conjuction with the 15 miles yesterday, which included a bit of speediness, show that things are coming along reasonably well at this stage.

National Stardom

Thanks to Helen Durrant's efforts at getting some excellent publicity for York parkrun, and parkrun in general, a few of us, notably John Robson, Darren Naughton, Luke Bryant and myself were pictured in a feature in today's Sunday Telegraph. Will we be able to walk down the street again without being mobbed.........?



Next Week.......

Next week is going to be interesting involving a 5 minute target and a 10 minute target.

Firstly, on Tuesday I'm thinking of having another go at a 3,000m. The only other effort at this distance, 6 weeks ago, resulted in a 10:25 clocking. That was run on pretty tired legs so there is a chance that something around the 10 minute mark could be possible.

Then, on Saturday, is the big Magic Mile event in Leeds. This is the culmination of Tom Williams's summer training to try to land a sub 5 minute mile. It is going to be close but I have every confidence that the mission will be accomplished. To add a bit of spice to proceedings, both Dan Holdsworth (recent 2:20 800m/5:04 mile) and John Broom will also be predicting  4:59 finishing times....so that will make four of us all potentially battling to the line. Should be a whole lot of fun :)