250 Squat to a Sub 2:50 Marathon - A Change of Plans

Amsterdam Marathon: 2 Weeks Out

Last week finished with 71 miles (my highest mileage week ever). My 20 easy miles on Sunday saw a slight drop in HR, which was great, but nothing to write home about. At this point I was still very much of the opinion that Amsterdam would probably be a write off, or, a productive training run. 

On Monday morning my HRV peaked out at 54 and my RHR had plummeted. For the first of my 2 easy runs, I ran 10km at 5:38 per k with an avg 125bpm HR. 11bpm lower than when I last ran this route. The second run was exactly the same pace, but, HR came out at 132bpm. So good progress, but not a return to normal.

Tuesday morning my RHR dropped back into the 40’s for the first time. I hoped this would pay off in the session that I had been set. 

4 x 10 minutes off 2 mins jog recovery on the treadmill. The first and third sets were to be run 5-10bpm higher than marathon pulse and the second and fourth at marathon pulse. I completely miscalculated the first. My intended marathon pace to go under 2:50 is 4 mins per k, so, I figured 3:55 per k would be enough to push me at least 5 beats higher than marathon pulse. Turns out it got to between 158-160bpm - very slightly under marathon pulse. I decided to stick with 3:55 per k for the second rep. HR remained unchanged. On the third rep, I pushed to 3:50 per k. This brought my HR to between 164-166bpm. My threshold is 165bpm. Honestly, I was blown away. I assumed running my marathon pace would send my HR to at least 165bpm. 

Who knows what this means for Amsterdam. The only way to tell would have been to do the session outside. 

The following day I headed out for 12 recovery miles. Avg HR of 128bpm at a 5:23 per k pace. This run has a couple of hundred metres of elevation which always knocks my pace back a little, but compared to the exact same run just one week ago where my pace was 7 seconds slower and my HR 8bpm higher, this was another confidence booster for sure.

Thursday was 10 miles easy followed by a day off on Friday… to carb load for my final long run session.

According to the latest research, a carb load should be 1-2 days at most, shooting for (in my case) 800-1000g of carbs. Minimal fibre and fat, which is not as fun as it sounds.

My breakfast was 2 bagels with honey - no butter - plus 2 bananas and a carb drink. Snacks were rice cakes with jam (gross) and meals were more bagels and high carb, low fat cereal with skimmed milk. Carbs without fat are rarely fun and I detested every meal on this day, but, hoped it would pay off the next day.

Turns out that it didn’t feel like it made any difference whatsoever. 

Saturday Long Run Session

This was literally the only long run with MRP of the block. I missed two long runs due to Covid, so, this was to let me know whether there was any hope for Amsterdam Marathon. 

The session was: 4 miles easy followed by 3 x 4 miles at marathon race pace, finishing with a final 4 miles. 

Right from the get-go my HR was high, possibly due to nervous excitement. Even though I felt fresh and springy, I was into the 140bpm’s far too quickly. The MRP was done on an undulating industrial estate in Frome and each loop was 2 miles. As soon as I started, MRP felt fast…

“There’s no way I can hold this for 26.2.”

Reassuringly, my HR dropped a little over each loop. I think I’d dropped the nervous energy and managed to settle in. The first 4 miles was an average HR of 163bpm, but the second was 161bpm. The third was 160bpm, the lowest of the lot, by which point I felt like I was finally flowing. The final 4 miles back home had me running at sub 3 pace and lower with an aerobic HR. 

My splits for each 4 mile block were: 3:56/3:57/3:58 - three to five seconds per k quicker than MP. Should have run them slightly slower but when the line is that fine, if I slow even slightly, my pace drops to 4:03 or more. Running at 3:57 feels like a safe place to be… inexperience, I suppose. 

What does this mean for Amsterdam in two weeks? Honestly, I don’t think I have sub 2:50 in me. My HR still hasn’t returned to normal since Covid. 

Instead, we’re going to run the HM at Amsterdam and then I’m going to run Pisa Marathon on Dec 15th. 10 weeks of training will, I’m sure, see me going under 2:50.

Sunday finished with an easy run, clocking 5:30 per k and an average HR of 122bpm. Finally!!

70 miles for the week.

250 Squat to a Sub 2:50 Marathon - Covid 💀

3 Weeks Out

Our final week in France was spent in Chamonix. Our training volume was purposely reduced after a few weeks of really going for it, and it was nice to see my HR finally come down (even though we were only a few hundred metres lower). I performed a session on the track which was, if I recall correctly, 4 x (4 x 300m off 90 sec). My pace for the reps was between 2:50-2:59. I made the mistake of programming the workout on my watch, but because it believes the track is 400m, it told me I was running Kipchoge pace… and I believed it. Stupid.

The rest of the week was spent doing all the well earned recovery things. We ate Ribs, drank good coffee, demolished cinnamon buns and Cham Ice 3 Boule cups. Runs were super relaxed. We congratulated ourselves on making the decision to come to the Alps before heading home and looked forward to returning to the Uk, fitter than ever.

The one thing we hadn’t considered, post UTMB, was that Covid would be hanging like a dark cloud over Chamonix. 

On the day before we left to catch our shuttle home, we woke up next a beautiful turquoise lake and went for our final run. A chilled, flat 10k run at 5 minutes per k. 

I felt like I was going to pass out. 

That night the fever started and I suspected that we might be in trouble. For all those who think that Covid is just a mild cold, I’m sure (for some) it is. Annoyingly for us, it’s been completely debilitating. 

We took a full week off, dealing with symptoms that seemed to change on an almost daily basis. I had a fever for 5 nights straight. Holly had headaches and painful joints. Finally, I tested negative on the Friday, making the decision to run 3 miles the next day, since I was feeling much better. As I stood setting my watch to ‘Run’, my HR flashed up at 110bpm. Ok, that’s not ideal. I decided to walk up the incline at the end of our road and start running when it flattened out. A slow walk pushed me to 124bpm. A week earlier I had run 10k at an avg of 121bpm. Was it sensible to start running at this point? Based on how I felt, I decided to give it a go. Honestly, I felt nearly 100% recovered, but my HR disagreed. 

Since then we have continued to train, both feeling well enough to do so. Annoyingly, Holly has struggled to produce any power. She repeated a workout a couple of days ago that she had hit on the track in Font (at 1800m). Her pace then was 5:20 per mile. This time she couldn’t push past 6:30 per mile.

It’s now the following Friday. I’m currently set to complete 70 miles this week. I’ve had 2 sessions. 6x1 mile at MRP and 10x1k at 10k pace. Both felt great. Both times my HR skyrocketed. 

So what do we do?

After chatting to Alan, we made the decision to do Amsterdam in 3 weeks. Holly will pace me to halfway and we’ll shoot for a (hopefully) comfortable 90 minutes. At that point we decide. Do we go for it or do we call it quits. If we call it quits, it means that I can return to training fairly quickly in order to prepare for… Pisa Marathon on December 15th! This will be exactly 8 weeks post-Amsterdam. Plenty of time to build to a Sub 2:50 before the year is out!

Fingers crossed for heart rates to come down over the next 2 weeks and for Hollys oomph to return. 

It ain’t over til it’s over.

250kg Squat to a Sub 2:50 Marathon - 70 Mile Training Week

Seven weeks out from attempting to run under two hours and fifty minutes at Amsterdam Marathon. Everything is going as it should. Sessions are getting longer, mileage is creeping up and I have no injuries to speak of. But running 15 miles at a 5:18km pace this morning with an avg HR of 138bpm is still hard to wrap my head around. Back home this kind of pace would be closer to 120bpm, but (as I keep reminding myself) this is altitude and this is summer. Ignore paces, train according to HR. 

It’s still weird though.

We decided to park up in the van on Monday night at Lake Matemale, so that we could jump out of the van and onto to our easy run trails in the morning, rather than having to drive 15 minutes from the Chalet. Undoubedtly the worst nights sleep of the trip. Lemmy is such a bloody fidget. I told Holly that I was going to run alone the next morning. Her easy pace is not my easy pace. Today I just wanted to plod along at 6 min k’s. 7 miles went by but I finished the run in a grump. Holly told me I wasn’t to do a second run and this made me even more grumpy. I knew she was right. I did, however, go to the gym. Lower body push/hold isometrics and heavy upper body lifting. 100kg for reps on the bench felt about as hard as 150kg for reps used to. We’re just tired. Home for sausages, couscous and a white chocolate almond Magnum. And a square of chocolate… it is session day tomorrow after all.

Wednesday Session: Absolutely pissing it down this morning. And freezing. At altitude, the seasons change overnight. We had our toasted baguettes and headed for the track (after walking Lemmy of course). 

The workout:  20 minutes at marathon pulse. Jog 3 minutes. 5x3 minutes off 90 sec recovery. Jog 3 minutes. 20 minutes at marathon pulse. Using the altitude conversion feature for 1800m on Jack Daniels Vdot, the 20 minutes came out at 3:59 per k. Reps were between 3:34 per k to 3:39 per k. The last 20 minutes saw splits of 4:09 dropping each k all the way down to 3:51 on the final k) Average HR for the whole workout was 154bpm. 99% of my runs, according to Coros have been poor to fair since being here. Today I was rewarded with an ‘excellent’ effort. Thanks Coros, you’ve made my day.

Thursday consisted of an easy 7 miler around Little Canada, which isn’t easy because it’s all undulating trails, however, the afternoon gym session was good and a further 3 miles easy on the treadmill. I like this phase of a marathon block when I can start incorporating more isometric lifting into training. I enjoy the change of stimulus and the fatigue reduction it brings. 

We knew we had another session the following day so we hit the evening meal hard. I can’t quite remember what we ate, but I do know I had a magnum and a chocolate pot for desert. And then some more chocolate. I’m telling you, fuelling is the key to surviving marathon training- altitude or not. I see some quasi-celeb runners on SM who actually cut weight during a marathon block. How? IMO this is the single best way to get ill or injured. 

Friday: Session 2: 5 miles at 5-10bpm lower than marathon pulse followed by 5 miles at marathon pulse. We found an excellent 3.5km loop around the lake and, whilst not flat, was all tarmac. Average pace was 4:09 and avg HR was 157. Good session.

Saturday: Rest Day. We lay in bed until 07:20. The mornings are much darker and colder now. Three weeks ago I’d be up and wandering around in shorts and a tee. This morning it’s walking trousers, a down jacket and a hat as I take Lemmy out whilst Holly runs. I feel as though I could run, but with a 16 miler lined up tomorrow, I’m already headed for a 71 mile week - my longest ever!

Sunday: 16 miles around the lake. HR still very high for the pace I’m running but I kept it in the upper end of my aerobic threshold and finished with an avg pace of 5:05. I guess I have to remember that I’ve never had a training week with this much volume and it’s coming after consecutive weeks north of 60 miles, again, something I’ve never done before. Honestly, I feel surprisingly good. 

Tomorrow we head to Chamonix for our final week. Finally a chance to drink good coffee again and eat Ribs at the Micro Brasserie. We’ll drive 8 hours in one stretch tomorrow after our run, park up near the sports centre and do a session on the famous 300m track the following morning, before wandering into town.

70.712 miles logged for the week. Goodbye Font, you’ve been a 3 out of 5 on TripAdvisor.

250kg Squat to a Sub 2:50 Marathon

Font Romeu - 9 Weeks Out

This week didn’t start out as well as the last.

We woke at 4am to Lemmy having a very violent, 5 min plus, seizure. If you’ve never observed a full blown seizure before, let me assure you that it’s quite traumatising to witness. I’ve dealt with both animal fits and multiple human fits (that have ended with a few days hospitalisation). Lemmy’s seizures seem to be getting longer and the recovery stage - where he’s stopped fitting but is totally rigid, unable to move and with eyes wide open whilst he draws large breaths, feels like an eternity. The following stage is an hour plus of manic behaviour. Temporarily blind, he finds us by scent and sniffs our faces to know that he’s safe. This is followed by ravenous hunger and thirst. He paces back and forth, banging into tables and doors until finally, he settles. 

It’s hard. For those who think ‘It’s just a bloody animal’, imagine this happening to one of your kids and then listen when I tell you that I’ve had it happen to both, and neither is easier to witness than the other.

We decided to train separately so that Lem wouldn’t be left alone. I went out early to the lake and ran just over 10 recovery miles. HR 130, pace 5:18. I think I’m slowly starting to acclimatise. A good start to the training week at the very least.

Tuesday: Here’s a turn up for the books… we’re out of here…

I’ll be totally honest, Font Romeu hasn’t been great for a few reasons, although training definitely isn’t one of them. 

Yes, I’ve had a blast to be training at altitude - it’s something I’ve imagined doing for a long time and, for me, I don’t really care where I am as long as I’m able to train effectively. But this 4 week stint in the Pyrenees has been largely about me and my goals. Holly has done her time with fast road running and the place we’re in doesn’t play to both our needs. Construction work taking place, people in very close proximity and random dogs walking into the garden to drive Lemmy mad have made what looked to be a quiet, chilled time in amongst the pines, more akin to being back home. And frankly, the chalet isn’t a patch on the van for being able to relax. 

The final nail in the coffin is the fact that Font Romeu itself just isn’t our jam. We miss being in the van and we miss the Alps. So we’re leaving. Life is too short to stay somewhere we’re not happy when we can simply pack up and go to a place we love.

We made the decision during an 8 mile run this morning. We’re going to do our last HIDEOUS looking session around the lake tomorrow and then pack up and leave after Thursday mornings run. It’ll take 7 hours to arrive in Chamonix and then we’ll head 5 minutes up and out of town to our favourite park up in Argentiere, Le Planet. 

Sure, we won’t get the altitude benefits that were basically the entire point of this trip, but I will feel better knowing Holly is happier and also that we get to visit Moody’s coffee on a daily basis and watch UTMB live - how spoilt are we? 

**CHANGE OF PLANS**

Just as we were confirming routes for our long run on Sunday from Valorcine to Chamonix, Holly looked up at me..

“I’ve got an idea”  She said with a smile.

We both love UTMB but we don’t love being surrounded by crowds of influencers or the people who are solely interested in jogging around town in full trail gear, vibing, but have absolutely no intention of going for an actual trail run. It’s weird but it’s definitely a thing. And we both agreed last year that we wanted to come to Chamonix after UTMB, when it’s quieter. So, let’s stay one more week and spend a few nights camping by the lake. That way we step right out onto the trail and we get to sleep in the van in the pine forest. We can then travel to the Alps for our final 8 days before returning to the Uk. Sound good?”

“Now you’re talking” was my reply. The perfect compromise.

This idea has us both feeling much better about the next couple of weeks.

Melodrama aside, let’s move on to 

Wednesdays session

This was a big one. 

2 miles at Marathon pulse (not pace) 3 mins recovery. 12x1 min fast/1 min easy. 3 mins recovery. 8 miles at 10 beats lower than marathon heart rate. 

The weather was heating up rapidly and, stupidly, I decided to perform my 2 miles and reps on the barrage, totally exposed to the baking sun and a flat, but concrete, surface to run on.

The 2 miles at marathon pulse yielded a 4:11 average pace. This would have been very depressing at sea level, but at altitude and in heat, I was pretty happy. The reps were better, ranging from 3:18 to 3:25. The 8 miles at 150bpm resulted in a 4:42 split. At home, my HR would have been around 132-133 on the flat. I really hope that when we do return to sea level things return to normal! It doesn’t bother me massively tbh. At altitude you run to HR, not pace. You accept that you’re going to be slower.

15 miles done. We finished with a dip in the lake, which feels like a total reset for aching muscles. I enjoy it so much I might have to get one of those ice bins for the back garden, although having already bought a pair of Pulse Recovery Boots, this might be one step too far for Holly.

We spent the rest of the day feeling incredibly tired and lazy. We had pizza for dinner followed by some birthday cake.

Thursday was a double day. 7 miles in the morning followed by a gym session and a 5k run in the afternoon. We took a rest day on Friday, opting instead to work all day. Online coaching is becoming a real passion for me - something I never thought I’d say. Most endurance athletes who come to us just need to get stronger in the gym environment, which takes time to build. But once we’re satisfied they’re strong enough for their purposes, we can start becoming more specific with things like hold/push isometrics and appropriate plyo’s outside of drills and strides and I simply love programming more advanced training.

Saturday was session number two. 8 x 5 mins at MRP off 3 mins jog recovery.

We took our first trip to the track in Font, situated a couple of hundred meters higher than the lake. It’s a beautiful place. The rugby guys were training in the middle, but we had the track pretty much to ourselves. We began with a mile warm up. It’s a concern when your respiration is audible jogging 6 min k’s and I mentioned to Holly that holding anything close to 4 mins per k was going to push my heart rate to its max. Neither of us felt good about what was to come. It was hot and we really felt the additional 200m of elevation. My goal was to hit 4 minutes per k and Hollys was, well, faster.

It turns out this was the first session to let us know training at altitude might just be working. The reps became more and more comfortable. My first was 3:55 but I completed my eighth in 3:51. HR went as high as 165 but averaged out at 154bpm. This was a great result considering the altitude conversion makes these reps quite a bit faster at sea level. Holly absolutely nailed her reps. Based off the times she did today, the Vdot calculator predicts a 2:35 marathon… which is unlikely but still, not bad considering we’d had no sleep. We made the decision to kip in the van on the driveway of our airbnb last night (yes, we’re clearly out of our minds) and Lemmy was a total fidget, making sleep impossible. He spooned up against me the other night and pressed his nose into my neck, breathing loudly and making funny sighs (a sign he’s happy apparently), which is lovely but damn it, we need to get some decent shut eye.

Our long run isn’t until Monday since we’re not on a seven day schedule and so the 70 mile week I was hoping to hit will become 62 miles after our easy 10 miler tomorrow. I know I shouldn’t get hung up on mileage, but I am and I want to do my first 70 mile week whilst not at work!

Sunday 10 miles sucked. HR was fine (125 avg) but it just felt hard. To be expected I guess but it felt as though it took forever - boo hoo, right?

Altitude Training - Font Romeu

Font Romeu - 9 Weeks Out

It took a couple of days to reach Font. We found two great park ups along the way; one outside a church in a tiny village that seemed to be almost entirely deserted. The kind of quiet we experienced is like nothing you will ever find in the UK, and we slept like rocks. Lemmy spent half the night next to Holly and then came to spoon with me for the second half, which I’m slowly getting used to. It was a slightly chilly night and he made a perfect little furry hot water bottle. At home, I can lie in as late as 5:30 before rising. In the van, I sleep until 7 (sometimes later).

 The next park up was in Rocamadour, a tiny village nestled on the side of a hill. After finding a restaurant for a humungous portion of omelette and chips, we took a steep, slow climb back up to our home on wheels for an early night, our back doors opening out across the treetops of a forest. I took a shower outside (our shower head attaches to the back door and, under normal circumstances, we would put up a shower curtain, but since there was no-one around it felt good to let it ‘all hang out’ on a warm evening in rural France). Rather than settling down to watch some kind of murder-related series on Netflix, we lounged on the bed, eating almond cookies and drinking tea, staring out over the forest canopy and up at the stars until the time came to turn in. 

The calm before the storm I guess…

The next morning (Monday 19th August) we ran 9 miles of stunning trails around Roc, before making the final drive to Font Romeu. 

I’ll be honest, Font ain’t Chamonix. The town itself is a bit of a ‘nothing’ place, but you don’t come here for the shopping or the terrible coffee, you come here to train, and the roads and trails, gym and track are booming. 

We rented an airbnb a couple of minutes up from Font. This would be my recommendation for anyone coming here for altitude training. It’s slightly higher than Font and a much better place to be. For starters, the Boulangerie is next level. Where we’re situated amongst the pines, the drive to the track is less than 5 minutes. The gym is a minute further down the road. The lake is a 15 minute drive and this is where everyone performs their longer runs, threshold, reps - you can do it all. 

On our first day we ran an easy 10 miles around the lake. This consisted of trail, smooth tarmac through the woods and the barrage; a 1km long bridge which is perfectly flat but also quite exposed. The altitude makes everything a little harder for the first week or so. A 5:30 kilometre pace had my heart rate at 130bpm - nearly 10bpm higher than it normally would be. The temperature was between 18-20 degrees celsius. The great thing about altitude is that, although the days can be quite warm, the temperature drops rapidly in the evening. It’s been as low as 11 degrees when we’ve woken up and it takes 3-4 hours to start hitting any kind of noticeable heat. 

After lunch we found the gym. I absolutely loved it. It was sprawling and full of good equipment, but it wasn’t a commercial gym, just one where the owner - an ex olympian - had clearly thought hard about which pieces of kit to furnish the place with. I haven’t had an upper body session like that for years. Every machine felt like it targeted the working muscles perfectly.

I have also been eating like a maniac. Toasted baguettes for breakfast, pre-run, with Myrtle jam, honey and peanut butter. Post-training coffee and some form of French pastry is a daily staple. So far, my favourite has been a Swiss something or other, with custard and chocolate chips. Home for a recovery shake followed by lunch which is always a baguette with ham, cheese and tomato, followed by protein powder with yoghurt and granola. Mid afternoon muesli with more protein and an apple before pre-dinner 0% beers with peanuts and crisps. Dinner is usually a big bowl full of pasta or couscous with vegetables and some form of protein. The day is then finished with a slice of homemade fruitcake gifted to us by my mum. We weighed the beast before leaving and it came in at just over 3.3kg, which begs the question, which can I push higher over the next month, my haematocrit or my cholesterol?

The following day was a double. 7 miles around trails from our front door followed by a 3 miler in the afternoon. Stupidly I went out at 3pm in 27 degree heat and suffered my way around.

Everything is harder at altitude. There is a constant burden on the heart. The ability to sleep and recover is reduced in comparison to living and training at sea level. Adding in heat is another stressor. Recovery has to be taken extremely seriously, which is exactly what we’re doing. More food, relaxation, time in bed, and less work. I kinda like pretending to be an athlete!

After a call with Hollys coach, Alan, we were instructed to perform our first session on Thursday. After warming up for a couple of miles along the lake, we found a flat tarmac section in the forest and performed 4 x (3x2 mins at 170bpm off 1 min rec) off 3 mins recovery. We went out way too hard. I looked down at my watch to see 3:08 flash up at me - way too fast for a first faster run at altitude. I paid for it for during the remaining 2 reps and even in to the second set. The final 2 sets I found myself settling in. We hit 3:38 per rep, but adjusting for altitude, we came out at roughly 3:34 per rep. After this we cooled down for 2 miles and then jumped into the lake for swim.

After eating tofu, couscous and veg the prior night, we knew we had to reclaim our carnivore cards, so opted for a Tartiflette Burger and fries in Font. This thing was oozing with raclette cheese, ham and onions. It took me all of 5 minutes to eat but it left Holly feeling like she had a brick in her stomach and without room for desert - a crack in her veneer of toughness for sure. We also spotted a potentially decent coffee shop called ‘Fika’ which we’ll try out next week. If you’ve been, let us know.

Friday was another ‘easy’ double. Completed on trails at 1750m, it was hard to keep HR consistently in the 130’s. We went for our second gym session of the week later that afternoon and I finished with an easy 5k on the treadmill.

Saturday: A rest day for me and a climb for Holly since she’s desperate to climb and run trails. She reported back with pictures of some incredible park ups looking out over the mountains. We’re going to drive up and stay on Sunday night. Sleep high, train low… Tbh, if we like it we might just stay up there. Both of us prefer living in the van than an airbnb, which I think is how you can tell if you’re a real van-lifer - you’d rather stay in a Citroen Relay than a chalet in the woods that you’ve already paid for! The only reason we rented a place was for Lemmy, since we didn’t want to leave him in the van when it’s hot outside. We needn’t have worried. The max air fan in our van is incredible and over 2000m there’s little humidity and the temps aren’t that high.The mornings and nights can actually be quite chilly.

Sunday: Long Run Day.

2 hours around the lake with the final 30 minutes at marathon pulse.

We crawled out of bed at 7:20am. Back in 2018 I would have already completed a 40-50k trail run by this time in the morning and it just goes to show how my brain operates during a typical week; which is to say that, I am punctual to a fault. My first client, Jane, would come in for 6am on three days of the week back then. I would be out of bed at 3:30 at the very latest. I simply cannot fall out of bed and start work. 

Why do I have to be so absurdly early for everything? I don’t know, but when we’re away in the van my brain can switch off, and I can sleep.

After a toasted baguette with apricot jam and 2 large coffees, we gathered our long run essentials and headed out of the door. I personally took a handheld water bottle and two Precision Hydration 90g Gels. I love these because you can sip away at them as you need and they taste SO MUCH BETTER than Maurten gels.

On parking up by the barrage at Lac de Matemale, Holly and I went our separate ways. It was a cooler morning and, whilst I still managed to pack in around 200m of elevation, it was nice to have 50% of the run on tarmac.

I really enjoyed this run. The fact is that Hollys easy pace is still a little too quick for me and running alone meant I could do what I always do - start really slowly! It takes a couple of miles for me to warm up, and if I go out too fast it sets the tone for my heart rate for the remainder of the run. It is crazy how much of an impact the altitude has on HR. I was averaging around 5:05 per k and my HR was 144-146. Back home it wouldn’t have climbed out of the 120’s. The faster 30 mins, when adjusting for altitude via the Vdot app, had me running at 4:13 per k at a HR between 155-160, although during the final k or so it climbed as high as 164 due to trying to run hard on quite technical trail.

I was happy with this. Some people feel like they’re losing fitness if their pace drops and HR increases, but this is just par for the course when training at elevation. 

Week one complete. 64 miles in the bag and still in one piece. Win.  

250kg Squat to a Sub 2:50 Marathon: 10 Weeks Out

Amsterdam Marathon Build: 10 Weeks Out

We head for Font Romeu on August 17th. Holly, Puffin and I will jump in the van to Folkestone where we’ll get the shuttle over to Calais and then take 2 days to drive to Font, stopping in a couple of scenic park ups along the way. At 2000m elevation, with a lake, trails and a track to run around, it’s the ideal location for marathon prep. The luxury of being able to travel for extended periods time (and earn a living), is something I aspired to do for more years than I can remember. 

Training here is going well. we had two pretty brutal sessions last week, and today - August 14th - we had our first real transition to marathon specific training. 

The sessions went as follows…

Wednesday: 10/8/6/4 minutes off 2 mins recovery @ 3:53/3:46/3:36/3:29

Friday: 3 x (5 mins @ 4:00/5 mins @ 3:53/5 mins @ 3:46) off 3 mins recovery. 

Wednesday: A continuous 70 minute run comprising 10 mins at 4:39 per k and 10 mins at 4:00 per k.

These were performed on the treadmill in high humidity and we were absolutely dripping after all of these sessions. Luckily, last week was a volume deload, cutting back from 3 weeks of 60+ miles to 53 miles. (If you’re increasing mileage to previously unseen heights as part of a marathon build, do yourself a favour and make every 4th week a back-down week, to allow the adaptations from the bumped up stimulus to take). 

Easy running was thrown in on non-session days. Last week culminated with an 18 mile run with 300m of elevation gain on the hottest day of the year. Avg pace was 4:50 per k and avg HR was 141. Not bad considering the terrain and the humidity.

Eating has been intuitive, which is not something I could have legitimately done 5+ years ago, since even without weighing and measuring, I knew pretty well the breakdown of each and every meal I ate. And I always ate the exact same meals, day in day out. No ‘bad’ foods, except for my one cheat day per week, where I would actively seek to gain 10lbs over the course of 12 hours, eating nothing but total garbage. The theory was that the insane carb load and ensuing water retention would see me at my strongest for Mondays lifting session, and quite honestly, it worked. It was also a classic example of disordered eating. 

For the most part, we’ve had decent main meals with meat, veg and fruit, and we’ve also had chocolate shells cereal, pizza, pastries and ice cream. Todays workout was followed by a coffee at Moo & Two and an insanely good cinnamon bun. This is quite typical of how high level athletes eat and, since I can’t contend physically with the elite, at least I can attempt to emulate their diets :) I do not miss the days of eating a surplus of calories (6 days per week), with only ‘clean’ foods. What a boring existence. If you’re carrying north of 116kg or 240lbs of bodyweight (like I was), it doesn’t matter how clean you eat or how lean you are, those additional kg’s are only serving to push the sands of time more quickly through the hourglass. 

We have a couple more easy runs and a session before we leave on Saturday. We’re very lucky to have a lovely house sitter who some of you might know, coming at the weekend to water the plants and enjoy some time in our pretty little town. 

To anyone who has taken the time to read this, thank you. When I was training to run under 3 hours, I craved blogs that documented others training to do the same thing, so I hope some of this is at least a little helpful to others out there on the same journey I was. 

5 Lesser Known Tips to Navigate a Sub 3 Marathon

Amsterdam Marathon Build: 12 Weeks Out

*For anyone reading, this has been posted by me, Pete; not Holly, who in contrast is a quite excellent runner.*

Everything I’ve just logged, I’ve deleted. It didn’t read like something that I would find interesting and I don’t want to put the same old monotonous crap out there into the ether. In hindsight, Marathon training isn’t particularly exciting but I would take monotony over injury any day of the week, so perhaps I should have kept it in. 

As a summary, all is going well. The volume is increasing. The past three weeks have all seen 60+ miles. The threshold sessions have been tough. Much tougher than 5k training, and in this heat, it doesn’t get any easier.

I thought instead of reeling off the usual training anecdotes, I’d write up a list of things that I’ve learned since making the decision to run a sub 3 hour marathon as a 3:36 marathoner just 14 months back, to now, training for 2:4X:XX.

These aren’t the usual, ‘run your easy runs easy’, ‘do strides’ tips that anyone who is half interested in training to go under 3 will be aware of with very little digging. These are the things that I wasn’t aware of that had a big impact on my progression to chasing a sub 2:50 marathon.

1. Improve your cadence. Probably the most significant change I made to my running form. I’d go as far as to say it shocked me how much everything improved once I’d nailed my turnover. Less ground contact time means absorbing less impact forces, which has a beneficial impact on running economy and risk for injury. If your average cadence is under 170spm, set your watches metronome 5 points higher than your current cadence and aim to stay with it without increasing your HR. This takes practice but is worth the time investment.

2. Don’t push the volume. If you’re shooting for a sub 3, you don’t need to train over 50 miles per week. You really don’t. And if you do, it could potentially impact your ability to recover or perform your sessions to the best of your ability.

3. Be realistic about what you can actually achieve. You won’t, because you want to go under 3 even though you’re a 3:20-3:30 runner. That’s fine. You’ll simply learn to respect the distance the hard way, like I did. Holding 6:50 a mile for 26.2 miles is no joke. So let’s talk about training according to where your fitness actually is.

A lot of people will base their training paces off the marathon time they wish to hit, using a tool such as the Jack Daniels Vdot calculator, but understand this; if you’re a 3:30 marathoner training off paces prescribed for a 2:59:59, you could be setting yourself up for injury. This is exactly what happened to me. Psychologically, I had it, but my body wasn’t ready. I performed a treadmill session which I don’t recall exactly, but I was required to run at Half Marathon pace and Marathon Pace for longer durations over 3 sets. The final set was 20 mins at HMP which was just too fast for where my fitness was at that time. I could do it, and I did do it, but my hamstring pinged two minutes from the end. If your body perceives you to be performing at an effort which it isn’t accustomed to, or, knows it cannot sustain, it will tell you. And if you choose to ignore it, it’ll take more extreme methods to stop you. My suggestion to anyone who wants to run a faster marathon is to run to heart rate. This will let you know the kind of shape you’re in and dictate what you should realistically aim for. A lab test is the most accurate way to establish your training zones, but it costs. The alternative would be to do a flat park run as hard as you can, take that number and plug it into Jack Daniels Vdot calculator and it will give you your paces for easy, threshold, VO2 and predicted times for all distances. If it tells you you’re in 3:20 shape, bite the bullet and train for 3:15, hell, go for 3:10. Accept that it might take a marathon or two before you reach the elusive sub 3.

4. Learn how to race (1)

You might have read the last 3 points and thought, ‘yeah, I know all of this”, but a lot of athletes going for sub 3 will come apart on the day if they haven’t learned the intricacies of racing. 

Are you going with the sub 3 pacer? I tried to in Porto last November, until he dropped me. How did that happen? Well, the pace required for a sub 3 is 4:15-4:16 per k. The pacer for my first attempt took the group out at <4:10 per k. That’s a 2:55 marathon and, if you’re not in 2:55 shape, you can wave bye bye’s somewhere between 6 and 19 miles. Don’t be the fool who thinks they can hang because you ‘feel good’ in the first few miles.

So be prepared to pace yourself. In fact, just assume you’re running alone, and if the pacer does nail it, you got lucky. Don’t be afraid to back off if the pace is too fast. 

Enter a couple of shorter races prior to your marathon. Something like a half marathon followed by a 20 miler 2-3 weeks out. This will be a great opportunity to practice race strategy, fuelling and drinking…

5. Learn how to race (2)

Nail your hydration. Fuelling is easy. Drinking could cause you to waterboard yourself if you’re not used to drinking whilst running at marathon pace. If the race is handing out bottles, empty around a third onto the street (to prevent aforementioned waterboarding) then take sporadic sips until you’re satisfied- don’t gulp and don’t feel rushed to chuck your bottle. Cups are a pain, and if they’re passing out cups, you’re going to lose half of the fluid just from the pick up, so get whatever is left down and try not to hyperventilate.

So there you go. Some of what I’ve had to learn the hard way. I’ve got plenty more to learn as I head into this next race but whatever I do discover, good or bad, I’ll post up here.

The Sub 2:50 Marathon Build: 13 Weeks Out

Fatigue aside, I’m about as motivated as I’ve ever been. At the time of writing, we have four weeks until we hit Font Romeu for a month-long altitude training camp. This is also the first week of marathon training. Life is good!

Last week totalled 53 miles but I felt as though I had run in excess of 60 (no doubt the hangover of the Vo2 sessions and races). It was clearly time to switch things up from the lower volume, higher intensity work and begin to gradually introduce more miles and more threshold. 

This week started with an easy 6.5 miles on Monday at 5:01 per k avg and a hr avg of 129bpm. I have decided to go back to my regular running haunts and embrace the 150-250m gains, rather than play pretend fitness by attempting to run fast paces with a low HR around the flattest, shortest routes I can find in Frome. Constantly camber surfing, for me, is a sure-fire route to injury. On that particular note, I am incredibly happy to report that the pelvic pain/adductor soreness I’ve dealt with since Jan/Feb has much improved. The thought of entering Marathon training at less than 100% healthy has had me concerned for some time but, physically, I feel pretty good right now.

Tuesday was 8 miles easy on the treadmill. I had to fit this in between clients and, to get it done in time, I was running at 4:47 per k and a 0.5% gradient. Pace and HR felt great, but I hadn’t given my Coros armband a chance to sync with my watch before starting. This resulted in my HR climbing to 165 for long periods of time before dropping to 116bpm and then not even reading. I’ve no idea what my true avg pace was. Holly told me to ‘stop looking at your bloody watch’, which was probably the correct advice. I generally don’t have pace on my watch now, just cadence and HR. I find that, when I’m tired, my cadence tends to drop. I’m making an effort to rectify this as a slower cadence has the potential to make me more susceptible to injury. My thoughts for next week are to turn Tuesday into a double day; 4 miles AM, 4 miles PM.

Wednesday Session: 2 mile w/up, drills + strides then on to the treadmill for 4 x (800 hard/30 sec jog/1 mile in 6:30) 2 mins jog between sets. We ran the 800’s at threshold, which for me was 3:47 per k. The miles were at MRP. Whenever I’m running at MRP I visualise being in a pack. The first rep is about finding a rhythm and establishing HR. The second rep and onward is all about settling in, relaxing and switching off. The final rep is about crossing the line looking strong. I tend to grimace and squint the more fatigued I become, which I hate. Holly never shows pain when she races, which is what I’m now attempting to do. I won’t ever look as cool as her, but at least the shades hide the squinting.

The session went well, HR averaged at 157 for the mile reps, which is my predicted MRP. I have everything to be happy about. I’m so much fitter than I ever have been. My niggle is improving. Everything is good but the tiredness is a killer. All I want to do is lie on the couch all day after running. But that’s the price of training, right? And would I have killed to be in this position seven years ago? You bet. I try to think about about what it’s like to be injured and how it feels watching others who are able to run, without pain. When you’re laid up, you’d give anything to be in the position that I’m in right now - training well and injury free. I listen to people like Rich Roll talking about gratitude and I’m aware I need to practice this more.

As far as feeling fatigued, I think I just I have to acclimatise to the increasing volume and also make sure other factors are taken care of. Am I eating enough? Am I getting enough sleep? Are my easy runs as easy as they should be? I am lifting correctly, with intent? Am I too heavy? Should I drop weight? 

I know I’m ‘all in’ but I think I’m also all consumed. I don’t really know any other way. When my purpose is clear, I do what I think I have to do. Some never discover their purpose. 

I want to be the fastest man on the planet for my age when I reach fifty. 

Is that a totally ludicrous statement? Absolutely. Bonkers. My racing times so far indicate that I’m a very average runner, but when I began lifting, I was horribly weak. I’ve been training for speed for 13 months now - not a huge amount of time. I might be an old athlete but I have a young training age and the belief that I can do anything I truly want to. This time last year I was a 3:36+ marathoner. A year later I’m a 2:59 marathoner, and, in October I will be a 2:4X:XX marathoner. 

Anyway, pep talk over. 

I wasn’t planning on taking a day off running, but if I go for 7 straight days the quality of my Friday session might be impacted and mileage for the week would be higher than it probably should be currently. So Thursday became my lifting only day, starting with lower body in the AM and upper a few hours later. Since I’m working on fixing the disparity between my abdominal and adductor strength, my workouts look a little different, week on week, as I find out which exercises work best, and in what order. 

Here’s todays lifting (bearing in mind I have already lifted on Monday & Tuesday)

Reverse Hyper for 2 warm ups.

Hanging knee raises with roller between knees for 2x10

Side Plank 60 seconds each side.

45 Degree Back Extension Single Leg RDL 1x6 each side.

Abductor/Adductor 2x5 with 40 sec iso hold on each set of adductors.

Single Leg Squat 1x8 each side

Single Leg Leg Press 1x8 each side.

Single Arm Lumbar Lat Row 1x5 each side

Chest Press 1x6

Overhand Pull Up Weighted 1x6

Shoulder Press 1x4

As an aside, I’ve also finally figured out a typical pre-run breakfast. A lot of runners do porridge, which doesn’t work me. I can feel it sit in my stomach as soon as I start moving, leading to belching and acid. Instead, I’ve found these big, fluffy, sourdough ‘protein’ bagels, which taste really damned good. I have them with honey and peanut butter and a banana. Basically the exact same breakfast that 90% of runners have on race day morning. Granted, the protein count is pretty low, but whenever I return from a rep/lt session, I fill a giant bowl with Cinnamon Churros cereal (or another kind that has a ton of carbs and almost no fat), and add 2 scoops of whey. The rest of my meals typically contain a little more fruit, veg and fibre…

Friday Threshold Session… Oh boy.

Admittedly, it was 25 degrees celsius when we took to the flat packed trail path not far from home, but this session really let me know where my fitness is right now. I may have improved my 5k time fairly significantly, but that does not mean I am in any way marathon fit.

After a 2 mile warm up + drills/strides, we began. 

8x5 minutes at 3:53 per k off 2 mins jog recovery on an undulating path. Hollys session was slightly different - she had 6x1 mile. We started together and then I peeled off. First rep = 3:52. The second rep had me coming up behind someone running nearly the same pace. It felt a bit weird to creep up on her and then basically run together, so I ran past (I know that makes me sound like a dick, but I genuinely didn’t want her to think I was some kind of psycho and I didn’t want to run behind her as my rep would be slightly too slow). I pushed ahead and ended up with a 3:49, which was too much for the second rep. On the third, I felt the previous rep. 

Crap. I still have five 8 minute reps left.

3:53 for rep 3. The fourth, fifth and sixth were all 3:53-3:54 and my HR was around 170bpm. The jog recoveries became walk recoveries. The heat was stifling. As we were going out and back on each rep, the small gradients seemed to become steeper and steeper with each pass. 

On my seventh rep, no matter what I did, I couldn’t bring my pace under 4 mins per k. I didn’t feel lactic, just unable to produce any power. I came so close to packing it in. When I hit the recovery, I debated walking the final rep, but there was no way I could - I’d be setting a precedent for all my training to come. Instead, I muttered ‘Fuck this’ and rallied. The final rep actually felt pretty good and I finished with a 3:51. The most important thing, for me, is to show myself that I can rally when things get tough. The learning to kick in the 5k’s and 10k race we did recently. The final push of the Sub 3 marathon. This is something I need to practice and so, despite how hideous todays workout was, I feel really good for having completed it. It’s exciting to know this is an area in which I can make a lot of progress. But I also need to recalibrate my threshold efforts, so I’ll be guided by HR from now on.

Saturday was 9 miles easy followed by a 16 miles Sunday long run at 4:59 per k, 286m elevation and a 138hr. As I’m writing this, all I want to do is sleep. But I’m content. 

60 miles for the week. The official 12 week build begins tomorrow.