Owwwwww…. or
Week One of the Berlin Marathon training plan complete…
Now those who know me will know that for the past 3 years running I have been coasting, soft peddling it, idling, never training really other than a weekend saunter before I joined a Park Run. The reason? Well, I was racing a lot. When 33 weekends out of 52 are races, and you are running home too in the week, there is no real need to train. Or so I thought.
Berlin marathon, my nemesis in running given it was my original BIG goal, and first BIG fail, and the most meaningful DNS of the lot, is coming. And I want to do it justice. I want to smash it. I want to run the course, not run a half and then walk the rest. I want a sub 4. And so I need to train. But I am a lazy, easily distracted so-and-so… oh, something shiny!
Where was I? Oh yes, training. And therefore I needed help. Call in the A-team. And I did, I got a trainer and she is giving me a 4 week at a time plan and this was week one. Let’s recap.
Day One – Monday, the day AFTER the Liverpool Rock n Roll Half – Rest
Day Two – 10K Easy – Not as easy as you would think given how comfy Liverpool felt. I was actually in bits and it was incredibly hard and painful. Oh, I did use new shoes though. That probably didn’t help. In the end I was walking like the rusted Tin Man and felt the same.
Day Three – Rest – and oddly my legs felt much better than the day before. The run stretched them out. You know that feeling, right Leo, Daniel, Mr Mittens, Mungo?
Day Four – 10K Easy and 5/6 100M sprints – Oh, the A-list celeb and pet strutting was over before it started as this was a real killer. I know my trainer told me to only run the 100M at 10K race pace, but I wanted to sprint. That was a mistake, heat, running after work, acid reflux, no recovery from before, oh, all these ingredients added up to a baked disaster, a totally fucked all over cake.
Day Five – Rest – Oh thank fuck. Although, wait a cotton picking minute, are my legs feeling better again? Especially after a 3 mile walk home? Could it be magic? I think so.
Day Six – 5K– aka Hampstead Heath Park Run. Was I ready? No. Not really. I should have had breakfast, I should have had water, but instead, and like a big pink eejyit, I just went. My aim, not exactly in the lofty realms of the 4 minute mile or the marathon des sables, was to get around in one bit. I normally don’t walk but was resigned to the idea that I will, probably on the hills, and I wanted, if I was going over 30 mins, to not go by much. I therefore was in the comfortable surroundings of my local parkrun, but there was a giant beast of disappointment waiting to get me.
Fortunately I did not succumb to the Godzilla of dread and instead ran ok, only walking the second hill and only a tiny bit at the end, finishing only 20 seconds slower than my ParkRun PB, my PR PR.
And so to today.
Day Seven – 22K Easy
Not too sure what is meant by easy here. This was a painful, although not as painful as the previous 10Ks, run around and around the area. I walked, I stopped, I took on water thrice. I ate a banana. And somehow added an extra kilometre. I was not out to break any land speed records, just get around. And I did that. I am sore, I am moving like the Tin Man from Wizard of Oz, but I am quite proud that I managed to survive week 1 of 16. At the end of it I am going to be royally badass, that I think I may make that my new twitter handle.
Right, now off to bed. Where is my snoozing puppy?
Runners Knees 