Shoot for the stars

I have decided to divulge my little secret... I really want to run a sub 4 hour marathon.

There, I said it – there’s nothing like shooting for the stars (feel free to laugh and mock).  I have had this dream for a while, but never spoken of it out loud as it seem too far fetched to ever become a reality, but after speaking to a friend, I realised any goal worth achieving takes hard work and so with a bit of self belief (and a lot of hard work) I can conquer the 4 hour marathon. 

 

Okay, now to be realistic – I don’t think this is achievable this year as I don’t have the base mileage to fall back on, therefore I am hoping that 2013 will herald  a marathon time beginning with a ‘3’.

For this year, I have decided to try for a sub 4.15 at the New Forest Marathon (improving on my last marathon time by 30 minutes) which I believe should be achievable if I put in the hard work (and everything comes together on the day).

As you know, I don’t do speed work (or hills) normally as it always seems far too much like hard work.  However, I realise how short-sighted this is and if I want to realise my goals I need to suck it up and speed up.  Therefore, I have referenced the Runners World sub-4 plan and added their suggested speed and tempo sessions into my training plan (the rest of my plan is very similar anyway).  The Runners World plan suggests running 5 times a week but I know from previous experience that my body just can’t handle this so I am sticking to 4 times a week.  I am also going to use and stick to (that would be a first) the suggested RW training paces:

Easy Run:        10.00mm

Tempo Run:   8.30mm

Intervals:        7.06-8.00mm

Long Run:        10.00 - 11.30mm 

On the topic of my training – this week has been LAME!!  While I have done all my scheduled runs, I have done nothing else, nada, not a thing, I mean it’s not like I have my first triathlon coming up or anything... right?  My motivation seems to have completely left me this week – and the fact I gave in to the laziness so easily is the disappointing thing.  I need a serious kick up the caboose.   

Weekly Workout Round-up (pathetic, I know)

Monday

• Badminton Club

Tuesday

• Easy Run:       6 miles                 58:12     9:42mm

Wednesday

• Easy Run:       3 miles                 26:38     8:52mm

This run was way too fast for an easy run, but I felt good and the pace felt reasonable so I just went with it.  I need to be more disciplined with my pacing from now on. 

Friday

• Tempo Run:   4 miles                 36:04    

I did an easy warm up mile at 10mm then the middle two miles were run at 8:02 and 8:15 (target was 8-8:15mm) followed by another mile easy cool down at 9:50mm.  The final 0.25m of my tempo section was up a steep hill and even though I slowed a bit, I managed to hang on and not let my pace drop too much.  I did have to stop at the top for 30 seconds to recover as I thought I might throw up.  It felt great to work hard though, I felt like I had a proper workout when I got home.  

Sunday

• Planned LSR:     8 miles at 10-10.30mm