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Manchester Marathon Training: 9th-15th Dec

Dec 17, 2019 | Running, Running Advice | 4 comments

Ive lost count of how many weeks there are until Manchester, although I do have a daily reminder on my watch of how many days we have left.

Something switched in my brain this week as I tracked the CIM runners, listened to the podcasts with runners on, and had some stern words from somebody I trust about this whole BQ process. It’s time to pull my finger out, prioritise my workouts and runs. And think about Manchester and the big goal before each day. Planning my week, runs and cross-training around life at the start of the week rather than letting them slip (although that did happen once this week and reminded me just why I NEED to be a morning runner, far less that can get in the way!).

Manchester Marathon Training

Manchester Marathon Training

Manchester Marathon Training

Monday

Rest Day

Tuesday

Miserable weather here in the UK meant I opted for the treadmill for this run and watched a lot of vlogmas Youtube videos during this session – 9 miles total.

2 mile warm up

12 mins at 7.34 min mile pace

A 3 min walk

3 x 2.5 mins at 6.58 min mile pace with 2 mins walk between reps

3 min walk

12 mins at 7.34 min mile pace

3 min walk

3 x 1 min at 6.34 min mile pace

2 mile cool down (I actually cut it at 1.5 miles as my knee suddenly had a sharp pain, but I think I must have just landed weirdly on the treadmill as I haven’t had any problems or issues with it since!).

Wednesday

60 mins easy for 6.33 miles total with Emma around Henley

Manchester Marathon Training

Thursday

OFF. This wasn’t supposed to be a day off but horrific weather, a busy day and a train delay of 90 mins meant that when I got home at 9.30pm I just didn’t have the energy. Especially knowing I was up early the following day for a big workout.

Friday

I swapped my runs around to ensure I had time for my long run/workout around the wedding festivities at the weekend, and so had 12.5 miles on plan.

4 mile warm up

10 x 400m at 6.58 min mile pace with 4 min jogged recoveries

3 mile cool down

This felt great, honestly one of the first workouts that I just felt like it clicked and it was challenging but doable. There’s something so different between completing hard workouts on the treadmill vs outside. I find that it’s more about pacing and pushing your body when running outside compared to just setting the speed on the treadmill.

Project BQ

Saturday

3.5 miles at Sheringham parkrun with Emily before the wedding. It was far hillier than either of us were expecting which added to the challenge. We kept the pace easy, chatting (as much as we could, there was a point where we both had to stop!) and enjoying the gorgeous countryside. I think it’s the prettiest parkrun I’ve ever done!

Sunday

5.6 easy miles with a slight gin fog. I surprisingly didn’t feel too bad after the wedding, and although I was tired, the run felt ok. And so festive, enjoying the Christmas lights around Reading.

Also yes I wore the same outfit that I wore on Saturday. I never normally do that but just threw it on and left the house as soon as we got back from Norfolk…I knew if I faffed around at all then I would want to bail on the run.

running schedule

Next week (this week as I’m posting this on Tuesday!) has a lot of easy miles, a solid workout on Thursday (quite similar to last Friday’s 400m session), plus another workout on Sunday which I’m considering doing as part of the Wimbledon Santa Run. It’s totally still a fun run if you’re doing mile repeats within the 10K, right?!

What do you have on your plan for this week? 

4 Comments

  1. heiki

    Thank you for sharing your training! Quite inspiring as I will start training for my spring marathon in a couple of weeks.

    Reply
  2. Jac

    Hi! What do you use to calculate the pace on the treadmill? I sometimes find that it is slightly incorrect and when I think I am hitting the right paces, I am not!
    Do you just use your watch?

    thanks!!

    Reply
    • charlotte

      I use a print out conversion and err on the side of caution, choosing 0.1 faster usually – my watch is often way out!

      Reply
  3. Jeremy

    Hi! I agree with you about being a morning runner. It does help a lot and you are much more productive during the day as well. A little tired in the evening for waking up early sure, but still feels good!
    During your Friday run, how did you determine your target pace of 6min58sec / mile ? Based on your target Marathon pace for BQ ?
    Thank you for all your inspiring articles and travels btw 🙂

    Reply

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