Week 14 Training for London Marathon Chief at Jenkin

Week 14 Training For The London Marathon

April 10, 2023

Previous Weeks

Just a couple of things to start with. Before reading about my week 14 training for the London Marathon, you should start at the beginning. To read the opening story about my training for the London Marathon please start here or click on the links for the previous week's training updates. Secondly, I'd love to hear what you are training for, how it is going and any questions you may have. Please comment below.

Week 14 Training for the London Marathon

Week 14 training for the London Marathon was another positive step forward in the goal to break 2:55. There was a tough speed session along with a couple of 20+ milers to add to the challenge. This week I was grateful to have some great company for most of my runs. Coming to the end of this 16-week cycle, that company was greatly appreciated. I can't recall having so many runs with a partner in any of my previous 10 marathons or so. That's something to keep in mind to see how it fares out come the finish line. I'm fairly sure it will prove to be a benefit.

Generally speaking, I'm in relatively good shape. The body is still showing signs of the long weeks of training. The McKenzie Method for my lower back pain may be helping, it's just too early to tell. I missed out on a sports massage this week as well, which I could really use. That's something that will need to be seen to this week, especially given the pair of 20 milers coming up.

Monday

Monday was a rest day. My coaching duties had me taking the new runners in the club during their session. This is something I always enjoy, so it was a pleasure to run easy around the outside of the track with them. Almost 2 miles at a gentle pace was racked up during this session.

Tuesday

Tuesday was another one of those tough sessions that appear on the plan and get right into my head. 8 x 1k reps at a target of 3:40/rep. I headed into the Enniskillen forum track to get these done. However, the track was closed, which at the end of the day may have been a blessing. It was back to the road where I did my 8 x 1 mile reps several weeks ago. The weather has been pretty bad these past few weeks, but this day was OK, just a blustery wind to contend with. It's pretty obvious which way the wind was blowing when looking at the reps. Here are the splits:

3:38
3:45
3:28
3:48
3:34
3:47
3:35
3:46

Overall, it averaged out to exactly 3:40/k, bang on target. I'm happy with the result of the session and even happier that it is the last of the intervals on the plan!

Wednesday

On Wednesday's 20 miler, I had the company of friend for the entire run. Cathal has just earned his coaching qualification and we had lots to talk about on the run. A midweek long run always feels good to get in the bank. As it was the day after a hard speed session, we treated it as a recovery run. We only got a couple of light showers, so overall it was enjoyable.

Thursday

Thursday of my week 14 training for the London Marathon a rest day. A rest day my body really appreciated. I took Chief up to Jenkin Forest for a walk, and as you can see in the photo, a paddle.

Friday

On Friday, I picked up my daughter, Catraoine, from the airport early and had my weekend running partner. Catraoine is running London as well, so we had a lot to discuss. This run was a 6 miler that we added a bit of pace to the middle 4 miles. We had a lovely run in Castle Coole and hit her target pace.

Saturday

Saturday called for parkrun + 3 miles. This was our local parkrun's 10th anniversary and there was a big turnout. I didn't have any expectations other than a nice tempo pace for the three miles. The comfortable pace on the first mile paid off and I finished with my second fastest parkrun on this course. It's a good sign, when you have an unexpected good run. Considering the miles this week, this was a great effort.

Sunday Runday

Week 14 training for the London Marathon finished off with the long slow run. Catraoine and I ran 20 miles together before I finished off the last 4 on my own. The goal was to run the first 10 at 7:30 and easy for the remainder. This was accomplished and for the most part, the 20 went fine. The last 4 on my own, however, were harder. My course took me up to my house and then back down the big hill. This meant that I had to finish back up the hill. It's a tough bit of the road to run, but when it was all said and done, 24 is 24. A really good run, with great company.

Week 14 Training for the London Marathon Metrics:

The numbers from week 14 are a slight improvement on week 13. 153.6 lb's is approaching my target race weight. There is still some work to be done there, but I should get there. Sleep and average resting heart rate were both improved on, which is excellent. The body needs the sleep for recovery and the heart rate is a good indicator of fitness. However, I need to do a better job of increasing my protein to kilocalorie ration. It was going in the right direction, but Easter really through it out the window. My fault and no excuses. This will need to be a better week on that front.

Upcoming Week 15 Training for the London Marathon:

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 22 miles easy
Wednesday: 20 miles easy
Thursday: Rest
Friday: 5 miles steady
Saturday: Parkrun
Sunday: 13 miles LSD

Week 14 Metrics:

Friday Weigh-in: 153.6 lbs (- 1.6 lbs)
Average Resting HR: 44 bpm (-1 bpm)
Average Nightly Sleep: 7:16 (+30 mins)
Average Daily Protein: 131 g (- 13 g/day)
Average Daily Water: 3214ml ( - 373ml)
Total Weekly Miles: 63.01 miles

Click here to see last week's metrics