This was a busy week for me, with my work shifts being all
over the place thanks to a new job, and then being away at the weekend. But no
matter what life is throwing at me, marathon training goes on.
I started off week seven by turning twenty-six. No big
birthday celebrations this year – not even so much as a cake! But I did head to
Hotpod Yoga in the evening for a lovely flow – I’m so glad I’ve made this a
firm part of my training now.
Day two and I was working a late shift again, so it was
another early morning run and out the door by 6:15am for 5km. Finally an
opportunity to try out my new Asics Dynaflyte 3’s and a reminder of just how
good that new shoe feeling is. These will be my marathon shoes so I’m trying to
break them in enough to be sure they’ll be comfortable, without wearing them
out too much pre-race.
Day three, Wednesday, was technically my first day of my new
job rotation – but I was starting on night shifts. Luckily this worked out
nicely for me and meant I could use Wednesday day time for my long run. I
wanted to try and get out into the woods for it really, but I needed to make
sure I didn’t get distracted (or lost) running off exploring new trails, so
stuck to a tried-and-tested road route so that I’d be sure of being home with
plenty of time for an afternoon nap. I did a couple of sections at “marathon
pace” but actually ended up with these being a bit faster than planned because
they kept coinciding with steep downhills. This run felt brilliant though,
giving me a lot of confidence over the longer distances. It was also a chance
to start thinking about how I’m going to use gels for race day, and I
experimented with a gel after the first hour and another about 45 minutes
later. I really wanted to just check that I don’t get any problems from taking
more than one gel, as well as to figure out the best timing for them. Slightly
annoyingly on this run I broke the zip on my shorts pocket so I had to carry my
phone, keys and second gel in my hand, along with a water bottle – this wasn’t
great for relaxing my shoulders which doesn’t help my running form much.
My night shift turned out to be a really busy one and I didn’t
actually get to rest until 4:30am. I’m generally lucky with my nights that I
can get a bit of sleep overnight which helps me keep up my training around
them, but this was a rogue one. Nevertheless I got a bit of sleep when I got
home, before heading out in the sunshine for an easy 5.5 miles around the roads
and local park. I think the beautiful sunshine on this day made a world of
difference – I’m not sure I’d have bothered going out if it was dark or
raining!
My second night shift was much better and although it’s not
quite like getting a proper night sleep at home, I did get some decent rest so
was feeling able to manage an afternoon run on Friday. I decided to do some
intervals, so ran down to the lido (about 1.5 mile warm up), did 2 x 1mi then 3
x 0.25mi at “faster than marathon pace”, with jog recoveries inbetween. Not easy doing
speed workouts when I’m tired, but I felt good for getting it done.
I was away for the weekend and didn’t run, but I think this
was definitely beneficial to me and gave me lots of consecutive rest days ready
to hit week eight. This was a week for adapting the plan to fit around my life,
and although I didn’t make it to a track session or a parkrun, I’m quite
pleased that I managed to get in some good runs. Total mileage for the week was 28.8 miles - a bit under the planned 36 but oh well!
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