Post Flagstaff Update
I’m now back home and continuing my build up to this year’s Virgin Money London Marathon after a successful 4-week training camp in Flagstaff, Arizona.
Read about the trip here.
Upon coming back home to the UK I ran the Armagh 5k in Ireland, a race I’ve not done since 2012 but certainly one of my favourite races out there. I’ve not been back as it’s always clashed with indoors and my marathon build ups in previous years but this time fitted perfectly and was a great opportunity to test the legs post altitude.
It’s great to see the race continue to go from strength to strength with an incredible 117 runners running inside the 15-minute barrier! I was very pleased with my run, finishing fourth in 13:46 a new road 5k PB for me. I ran 13:50 as an unofficial split within a 4-mile race in 2016 so I was delighted to run inside the 13:50 mark. I knew going into the race I had a chance of breaking the course record of 13:52 but I didn’t think that I’d finish fourth in 13:46!! It was just one of those nights, perfect weather, great atmosphere and a group of lads that all wanted to work together to push hard and keep the pace honest. It came down to a sprint finish in the end and I just didn’t have the extra gear to go again but despite that I am happy as it’s a good marker post altitude and shows things are moving along nicely.
It’s back to more specific marathon work now, with a 21 mile marathon run the Sunday following that with 12 miles at 5:20 pace, which for me works out at low end threshold and around 15-20-secs slower than marathon pace.
The following week I ran one of my favourite sessions of 10×1-mile alternating pace between 5:15-20 and 4:40-45 and I felt really good doing this session having felt a bit ‘meh’ on Sunday during the long run. This can often be the case coming down from altitude and why it’s always recommended that you either ace 1-4-days down or after 10-days as this is the phase when your body is re-adjusting to being at sea level and can leave you feeling a bit flat.
I was back in the labs on Friday testing at Liverpool John Moores University. It was great to go back to where I studied and see some familiar faces. We were using the testing to get a more accurate indication of how much I need to drink during the marathon in London. I’m really looking forward to getting these test results back so we can have a clear plan ahead of London. For those who are interested my plan in the last couple of marathons has been to drink 200ml at every 5km with gels as a back up in case I miss a bottle and a planned caffeine gel at 30k.
In New York I struggled with a stitch so couldn’t get my gel down at 30k and made a poor attempt at 36k to have a couple of swigs of my drink. New York is slightly different as they don’t have a 40k bottle so 30k and 36k are your last opportunities to get some fuel on. I’m not sure if a tough final 5km was down to the course (and marathon itself of course!) or not getting enough on but I’m determined to do everything I can this time to get my nutrition nailed down.
London last April was a whole different experience given the heat so I was drinking as much as I could every 5km followed by water at every mile pretty much! The year before the less said about that the better but it involved a hospital visit for dehydration… What is it they say about learning from your failures….
Thanks for reading.
