This year I was determined to do a big reset of my running and fitness in general (yes, I’ve heard that one before too). I’ve really missed the lovely (but challenging) local events like the Tring Ultra and Dunstable Downs Marathon in the last couple of years so I started the year determined to get myself back into shape so I could try them again.
I’ve also got a family wedding coming up and it’ll take some drastic measures to get into my decent shirt!
To keep me motivated I’ve booked the Ridgeway 40 which is just a week after the wedding. It’s a target I’ll need to take seriously if I’m going to have a pleasant time of it. And fitting into that shirt - let’s face it, is the real ‘final boss’ training goal here.
To prepare, I found a 50-mile training planner that I’m pleased to say I’ve actually followed correctly!
Winter nights and hill reps
In the past I’ve only focussed on mileage when training for events, just doing longer and longer easy runs. While it’s good to get the miles in my legs I could do with pushing myself a bit more. A big part of my winter training was tempo runs and hill repeats, which, while tough, I’ve actually enjoyed.
I found two good places nearby for the hill repeats: Plantation Road is good for the dark winter months - it’s fully paved with some streetlights and long-ish. The gradient ranges from 8-4%.
If I really want to punish myself though, the best place is this single track country lane right near my street, which is 10-8% roughly. I can only do this in daylight due to the occasional car, but it’s pretty good for training!
Longer runs and Twin Lakes 20
Another old habit of mine in previous years is only doing one or two 20 mile training runs before the Marathon. This year I got my fitness levels up enough to start taking on these longer training runs quite early, so by the time the Twin Lakes came around I’d already covered the distance and knew what to expect. I’m feeling much better prepared this year.
I’ve even run very close to the full Marathon distance in last week’s training, and this week I’ve also done my first run through the footpaths to Woburn, which opens up a lot more routes for me. It was a very challenging run with an elevation gain of 1600ft! I’d like to build on this in the coming weeks.
The forgotten marathon
I had planned on skipping the MK Marathon too this year so I could focus on the Ridgeway instead. That’s about the time I confusingly started getting “countdown” emails about the MK Marathon in April. Apparently I booked that one ages ago and forgot all about it! I guess I’ll be doing both then…
And that shirt?
Well, despite the good training and fitness increases my weight plateaued all through March and April which was disappointing. (I even bought a backup shirt, just in case). Fortunately things started picking up again just in time for the end of April - and I managed to fit into it! Phew! I don’t care what happens with the MK Marathon and Ridgeway runs, I can say I achieved my goals for the year.