Marathon Eryri – Weeks10 – 12 review #runchat @runningblogs

Oh dear – in the hussle and bussle of daily routine, I’ve been neglecting my training diary. There just doesn’t seem to be enough hours in the day. Sleep > Work > Run > Work > Sleep – with some meals in there too. Still – it’s all going well so not writing the blog hasn’t been down to no training, just no time to do it.

Review: Weeks 10 and 11

Everything has gone really well. Some good runs in Week 10 with the final Saturday seeing the longest run so far of 18 miles. 18 miles from my house took me over the mountain into Ystalyfera and then along Sustrans Bikr Route 43 until I came out by Asda in Llansamlet. From there I wandered over to McDonalds for some food. Spent most of my time in the shop heaving from an empty stomach and in the end left the food but demolished the milkshake, Fanta and bottle of water. Week 11 was an odd one with some missed runs due to being away with friends and having a few beers and two unhealthy meals (chips!!!). I’ll leave these weeks there but here are the stats:

Week 10 : 4 days of running, 3 rest days. 1 takeaway (chicken pathia again), 2 glasses of wine. Weekly target: 32 miles. Actual Miles run: 26.1 miles

Week 11 : 3 days of running, 4 rest days.2 very unhealthy meals, lost count of how many pints I had. Weekly target: 32 miles. Actual Miles run: 18.6 miles (not good at all)

So onto Week 12 – this week and it’s been a good week with plenty of running and healthy meals. I think I’ve hit my targets especially with the speed running.

So here we go – this weeks breakdown for those that read it.

Tuesday – 27th September : Intervals on the track – 1.4 mile warmup followed by 10 x 200m @ 7:32/mile pace with 200m recoveries ending with a 1.4 mile cool down.

Cracking interval session. Really happy with the 200m pace during the faster bits. Very good. No injury, hamstring felt fine.


Thursday – 29th September : 7 miles at easy pace plus strides

Not the best run – I did 7 miles but tried to climb a hill toward the black mountain. I don’t think I had recovered properly from the intervals on Tuesday and my legs were sore. Still, I made the cattle grid and then turned around. Maybe I hadn’t warmed up enough because I flew up Cwm Hill (really steep) at around mile 5/6. Strange.


Saturday – 1st October : 3m easy

The usual Saturday morning route to my children’s swimming lessons. Ran it waaaaaay to fast and as such ended up with really bad quads. It would worry me a little bit (not much mind) and set some doubt into whether or not I could run the 20 on Sunday.


Sunday – 20m easy aiming for negative split.

I didn’t bother with the negative split stuff. I just had an aim to get from my house to my parents house in Briton Ferry at around (or as close to) Marathon pace. My splits were good. Again bad nutrition and not enough carbs made it hurt more than it should. I need to sort that out.


How does this add up for the week? 4 days of running, 3 rest days. 1 takeaway (Chinese) , 3 glasses of wine. Weekly target: 36 miles. Actual Miles run: 35.3 miles

My trainers are have hit 614 miles and I still need to change the orthotics that were provided by Radiant Physiotherapy. The inside heel material is not causing any issues but I’ll monitor that.

During my 20 mile run today I started having doubts about whether I would succeed at Marathon Eryri – those doubts came around 15 miles when my quads were hurting. I’ve put them to one side for the moment but I am worried about the hills – I need to look at my hill training. I need to sort these doubts out – put them to one side. They are no helping.

So Please tell me about your training – are you getting there? Is your race soon? Do you suffer from doubts in the run up to your race day? How do yo u deal with them? Have you any advice?

2 comments

    1. Thank you. During this bout of training I’ve come to respect the food choices I make. It has certainly helped my recovery when running.

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