Goal: First Marathon (Sundown Singapore 25 March 2017)
After missing the last two sessions from the training plan due to illness, I decided to try this 17.7km Marathon Pace run on the treadmill (as I would have hydration on hand for the entire run). I was a little worried as I wasn't sure how I would perform after missing back to back sessions, but wanted to give it a crack. I had nothing to lose, and wanted to see where my fitness and legs were at.
My training buddy was away for the weekend, so moving this session to Monday worked well for both of us. After a short warm up, and a quick recap of our nutrition plan (one gel every 25mins), we started; the treadmill was set to 14.5km/hr and at a gradient of 1%. The first 30mins was comfortable. The legs felt great after a week off, and my breathing was normal. Unfortunately, the treadmills were pre-programmed to stop every 30mins, so we used the breaks to taken on more water before restarting the machines. The second 30mins block was exponentially harder; 40mins after starting, my legs started to feel heavy, and I was started to breathe a lot harder. I made an effort to keep my high cadence but a slight pain in my right knee and calf had started. For the remaining 33mins, I just sucked it up and pushed on. After a hard fought mental battle, I managed to finish the 73mins session, and so did my training buddy. One more difficult session checked off, and hopefully back on track with the rest of the training plan.
During the 17.7km run:
Average Heart Rate: 164bpm
Max Heart Rate: 179bpm
Average Cadence: 188
Success Criteria Checkpoints:
(22/42 sessions completed): 52%, (3/42 sessions missed): 7%, Total Plan (25/42): 59%
1. Did I hold the pace over the prescribed distance: Yes, at 14.5km/hr and 1% gradient on the treadmill. However, the treadmill stops every 30minutes, so a mandatory break is required to restart the machine and reset to the desired speed. This would mimic walking through the drinks stations.
2. Did my heart rate stay in Zone 3: No, but after a week off with illness, the average is higher so definitely lost some fitness over that period. Still managed to get 35% in Zone 3 or less.
3. How well am I recovering: The week off was good for my muscles, although the dehydration aspect probably negated that. And writing this post a few days after the session, my legs (quads and calves on both legs) are very sore. Lots of foam rolling required before Thursday's long run.
4. On restarting the plan: My advice for anyone attempting this plan and missing out sessions due to injury or illness would be to take a few days to ramp back into the training plan. That is, perform a few easy short runs to get the legs moving again. Increase the distance of the short easy runs over the few days. Note, I would recommend this only for short bouts of illness or injuries. Missing more than 2 weeks in this plan would require re-planning.
During the 17.7km run:
Average Heart Rate: 164bpm
Max Heart Rate: 179bpm
Average Cadence: 188
Session Analysis / Review:
Going into this session, I was treating the week off like a "taper", to give myself positive reinforcement that my body had a good rest leading into this long hard session. That was true for the first 30mins where I felt like gold, but that feeling rapidly faded and possibly be due to the dehydration element of the week's rest. This is also congruent with the heart rate data. This session recorded the highest Average and Maximum heart rate so far of this training plan. Maybe due to a loss in fitness, or maybe due to the illness, but whatever it was, my heart was working overtime to get this session done. Mentally and physically tough session. Will be keen to see how next week session compares.Success Criteria Checkpoints:
(22/42 sessions completed): 52%, (3/42 sessions missed): 7%, Total Plan (25/42): 59%
1. Did I hold the pace over the prescribed distance: Yes, at 14.5km/hr and 1% gradient on the treadmill. However, the treadmill stops every 30minutes, so a mandatory break is required to restart the machine and reset to the desired speed. This would mimic walking through the drinks stations.
2. Did my heart rate stay in Zone 3: No, but after a week off with illness, the average is higher so definitely lost some fitness over that period. Still managed to get 35% in Zone 3 or less.
3. How well am I recovering: The week off was good for my muscles, although the dehydration aspect probably negated that. And writing this post a few days after the session, my legs (quads and calves on both legs) are very sore. Lots of foam rolling required before Thursday's long run.
4. On restarting the plan: My advice for anyone attempting this plan and missing out sessions due to injury or illness would be to take a few days to ramp back into the training plan. That is, perform a few easy short runs to get the legs moving again. Increase the distance of the short easy runs over the few days. Note, I would recommend this only for short bouts of illness or injuries. Missing more than 2 weeks in this plan would require re-planning.
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