Canberra Marathon training and the year so far.

I am now a few weeks into my training for the Canberra Marathon on 14 April. As of this coming Sunday, I'll have nine weeks to go.

Last few weeks have been as follows:

31/12-6/1: 109.5k. Main workout was the Sunday long run which was with Mark Lee. We ran from Mends Street to City Beach along the City to Surf route and back again. 28.4k @ 4:16/km pace. Despite an early start (for me anyway) it started to get pretty warm towards the end. Good honest effort throughout the run, which remained conversational even with the solid pace.

7/1-31/1: 126.2k. Main workouts were a partially aborted session of 800s down at Kent Street HS (ridiculously hot and humid conditions) on Tuesday, 2 x 3k @ 10k pace on the Thursday and then a 26k long run on Sunday which included 4k @ marathon pace towards the end. Felt good on the long run.

14/1-20/1: 101.8k. Volume was down this week because I raced on the Sunday and missed out on my long run. Earlier in the week, I had another partial 800s session on the Tuesday and then a solid 2 x 2k @ 5k pace (ie below 3:30/km) on the Thursday.

On the Sunday, I raced the 4km at Matilda Bay finishing 3rd in 13:53. Ran smart, even effort, tucked in where I could when running into the wind and finished pretty strong. I think I did subconsciously switch off when I had 3rd sewn up and that probably cost me a couple of seconds.  After the race we headed down to Busselton for a few days.

21-1-27/1: 123.9k. I got in some good volume in Busselton although the logistics of being on holiday meant that I did not get any doubles in. Followed up Sunday's race with 21k on Monday, an easy hour on Tuesday (13k), 14k including 5 x 1k @ 5k pace (400m jog recovery) on Wednesday and then an easy 80 minutes (18k) on the Thursday before heading home. I started a workout on Friday but wasn't feeling it so that became an easy 15k. Recovery run Saturday before I ran my first 20 mile run of this training segment - 32k including 5k @ marathon effort progressing from 3:55 down to 3:50. I had left it too late to head out so it got pretty warm. Not enough carbs on the Saturday made for a bit of a slog in the MP section too as the wind had switched around. Felt harder than I thought it should so still plenty of room for improvement.

28/1-3/2: 125.2k. This was a bit of a rough week. After a reasonable start when I ran 5 x 1 mile @10k pace on the Tuesday, I had a down few days where I really struggled for motivation. I had a reasonable run with Rob on Thursday but felt crap on Friday and Saturday.

On the Sunday long run, I ran with Rob for the first 10k out past Ascot race course then he turned as he was running shorter today. I carried on the same course as the previous week out to Tonkin Highway and back through Bayswater and Maylands. I ran the 6k from 24-30k @ MP. Despite feeling a bit flat early on, I ran like a train on the MP part, hitting my paces perfectly - felt really good, strong and controlled. Only problem was that I ran around the Bridges which left me 5k from home rather than 2k which made for a longer cooldown so this became a 35k run by the end but very pleased to feel like I was back on track.

4/2 to 7/2: So far this week my two significant runs have been 5k @ 10k pace on Tuesday and then a 20k medium long run with Rob this morning. I am racing the 16k down at Point Walter on Sunday so the rest of the week will be relatively easy as I want to put in a good solid effort in the race which is one of two tune ups before Canberra. This morning I ran in a new pair of Saucony Mirage 3s for the first time so in the near future I will post a review. Initial view/opinion is very positive.