Good afternoon! Proper Spring weather today………..and last nights bootcamp was decidely ‘fresh(!)’
This mornings class was indoors as usual, and we got a good sweat on using some resistance training and finished with some high intensity intervals 🙂
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I like to try and help out charities when I can. Check some out:
We raised over £450 for Motor Neurone Disease with our Charity Bootcamp = http://www.yournextlevelfitness.co.uk/?p=1639 (Including bootcamp pics!)
Bootcamp sessions have raised over £200 for Help for heroes the past 2 years = http://www.yournextlevelfitness.co.uk/?p=1831
So for this weeks blog, I just wanted to leave a story today about one of my friends, and an event thats been a while coming.
My good mate and fellow team mate at 5-a-side Lee Phipps is running the london marathon in about 3 weeks (22nd April). While I like the odd run of about 5-10k from time to time, I would rather work harder for less time!!
I take my hat off to someone who can devote this much time and improve to be at a good standard.
Heres his words……
After years of watching the London Marathon on TV I finally decided to take the leap and apply for entry through the ballot system. Three years later and another failed ballot entry I found out about the Good For Age system where if you run a certain time (which varies depending on your age and sex) in a marathon you are guaranteed entry to the following years London Marathon.
Check the Good-for-age-system out here http://www.virginlondonmarathon.com/marathon-centre/enter-virgin-london-marathon/good-for-age-entries/
So I looked this up and found out that for me this would mean running a Marathon in under 3.10 which I knew would be a huge task. With this in mind I started to look for a Marathon the following year and decided on the Stratford Upon Avon Shakespeare Marathon in May the following year.
I had been running for a couple of years before this point but only really running 5k and 10k races so in the January I began my Marathon
training Schedule. This mainly involved about 4/5 runs per week and also playing 5 aside football. I usually tried to include at least one
speed session per week and 2 longer runs of between 7-9 miles during the week and one long run usually on a Sunday starting at 10 miles and
reaching a peak of 22 over a 14 week period. I found the longer training runs really hard work and really struggled with the runs of
over 20 miles (of which I managed 5) as I tried to run them all at roughly my marathon pace(MP) (7mm) and this really took it out of me.
After looking at other schedules I realised that maybe just running sections of those longer runs at MP would have left me in better shape
for my other training runs each week. Anyway after a tough 5 months I finally arrived at the start of the Stratford upon Avon Marathon. I
felt that I paced it pretty well and went through the Halfway point at 1.31.30 and Finished in 3.06.24. I felt pretty good until 20 miles
then slightly slowed for the final 6 miles but only by about 20-30 seconds per mile. So this meant that I had managed a good for age time
and had to do it all over again!
So after getting my application in and having everything confirmed I thought this time I was going to have a much better training plan and
did a lot of research into this. I came up with the plan below starting at the lower distances and adding about 10% per week until
reaching the top distances.
Monday – 4 miles
Tuesday – 8-10 miles with 8/10 x 500 meter intervals at 1 minute 45 (5k pace)
Wednesday – Football
Thursday – 8-12 miles (at Marathon Pace 6:52 mm)
Friday – 4 miles or rest day
Saturday – 6-8 miles (7:10 – 7:20 mm)
Sunday – 16 – 23 miles (second half at MP)
I decided that my aim for London would be to run a PB and if things went really well to sneak under the illusive 3 hour barrier. Training
went really well and I purchased a Garmin forerunner 110
Garmin Forerunner 110
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/garmin-forerunner-110-gps-sports-watch-without-hrm/
which really helped out with my pacing and made it a lot easier to complete interval sessions. My long Sunday runs also felt a lot easier this
time around; I think the increased mileage throughout the week and the 12 miles at MP during the week really helped this. I also focused a
lot more on recovery after the harder session I tried a number of different things and found what worked best for me was to try and have
a recovery shake (I liked the SIS Rego – SIS Rego Recovery
http://www.scienceinsport.com/public/shop_product.php?selprod=11) within 30 minutes of finishing a hard session and then to wear compression socks for 6-8 hours after the session.
Also along with this, lots of stretching before and after every workout seemed to really decrease any aches and pains that I
felt the day after the session.
After completing 16 weeks of hard training I had my final long run of 22 miles last Sunday. I have now began a 3 week taper which involves
reducing your training to 75% then 50% to 25% in the week leading up to the Marathon.
I have decided to run the Marathon for the British Heart Foundation as my Dad had a heart attack 5 years ago and the work that was carried
out was truly amazing and without their work he wouldn’t be here today.
I have created a ‘Justgiving’ page and any sponsors would be much appreciated.
http://www.justgiving.com/Lee-Phipps
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It’s John again ……I’m passionate about this cause as my dad also had heart problems.
Good look Lee! Hope you beat that little boy too, he looks a dark horse 😉
Here’s that link again
http://www.justgiving.com/Lee-Phipps
John