Marathon Training: Week 5

Week 5

Monday 1^st June

Supposed to be a rest day, however due to my antics over the weekend I rearranged my long run for today.

One-hour 30minutes was the target, but everything just seemed to go against me, it was cold and wet, my Nike+ app crashed plus I was tired from work/the weekend.

So I only managed around 50minutes and did not enjoy the run one bit.

Tuesday 2^nd June – Rest day

Wednesday 3^rd June – Rest day with 60minutes walking

Thursday 4^th June

A run with a combination of other drills including high knees, side steps and butt kicks was scheduled but not completed, or even started for that matter.

I had a busy day at work; I was tired and lacked motivation to get back out in the rain.

Friday 5^th June – Rest day with 60minutes walking

Saturday 6^th June

Again a similar run to Thursday was planned with a combination of other drills and again I didn’t manage to do it.

I had to stay back late at work to cover someone else and was just so tired by the end of it I decided on a quiet night in.

Week five was turning in to a nightmare, no motivation, no training and no enjoyment.

Sunday 7^th June

Distance: 20km

Location: Altona

This is the beauty of running, just when you think things are going bad you can pull out a decent performance.

Having woke up at 4:30am to watch the Champions League Final (Barcelona beat Juventus 3-1) I decided to stay up and head on out to get my legs moving.

With a stunning sunrise as my backdrop I set off with no real intention other than to see how far I could go and to enjoy my run.

With a slow and steady pace I looped around Cherry Lake then headed down on to the Esplanade towards the Altona Hill. 10 reps completed, five on the steps, five on the hill each with a slow recovery back down.

Already I had passed the 1hr 30mins planned by my coach Keith Fearnley, but as I said I was relishing my time on the track so carried on, finishing 20km in just under two hours.

This was nowhere near my best effort, but was important in raising my confidence and helping me get back on track.

Now I need to sign up for my event in Australia or New Zealand in July to maintain my focus.

Suggestions/thoughts welcome.