Howdy, Stranger!
Categories
Options
Marathon training with Mike Gratton
The materials in this website are in no way intended to replace the professional medical care, advice, diagnosis or treatment of a doctor, qualified personal trainer, therapist, dietitian or nutritionist Runners's World, Part of the Hearst UK well-being network © Copyright 2017
Comments
I think this is the only time in my life that I will be able to say I had something in common with Gebrasallasie!
Maybe it was too much lucozade, though I too used it in training TmR
Tell your wife the invoice for treatment is in the post:-)
Seriously, hope it helps.
After all that training it all went to pot. Was aiming for 3:20 and finished at 4:15. But I'm not posting just to moan. I'm after some advice about what to do next time:
My problem was severe cramps, mostly in my calf muscles. They started at half-way and didn't go away. This is despite drinking lots, stopping four times for massages from the St John's Ambulance team, and adopting a run-walk strategy.
I understand that common causes of cramps are heat, dehydration and loss of salts. So what can I do next time to try to prevent the cramps from coming?
Danny
I seem to be in a minority having had a relatively good race on sunday. No idea why I normally suffer badly in the heat. Well done to everyone on Sunday it was certainly a challenge !
My question Mike is how to approach my next marathon. I got 4.07 in 2006 FLM, and 3.54 on Sunday. In 2008 FLM I would really like to get a GFA place. (I am 42 year old Female !)Firstly I am being over optimistic, and secondly if not what is the best approach to achieving this ? Thank you !
It is interesting that the guys on the Hard training thread in the most part ran well. This may be because they were out in the direct sunlight for less time - anyone out in the suns radiation for 4 hrs will have been absorbing extra heat through the skin so I think it was tougher for those out for longer.
First thing is to get sufficient recovery. You will need at least 2 weeks, possibly more, for muscle damage to recover, hydration and energy levels to recover also. A good indicator of recovery is when you can press your thumbs lightly into your quads and there is no pain - do that today and you'll know what I mean:-)
Wheather you do some running or not in these two weeks doesn't seem to make much difference to recovery rate - but any running should be short and very easy at the moment.
If you are doing another marathon shortly then get back up to your maximum mileage after about 5 weeks from now....you will probably then start to taper for your next race.
For an autumn marathon you should re-establish the long runs and aim to get out for 2hrs every Sunday that you are not racing. Through the summer it is a good idea to work on 10km pace and have a season of 10km races to build on pace then towards the end of the summer return to building up higher mileage for a half marathon and then your target marathon.
You probably want to start marathon training about 12 weeks out from the target race - assuming you have managed to keep the long runs in the programme through the summer.
I also missed my target by around 30 mins, but it was my first and now I know I can do it at least!
I think my main problem was the heat, Im pretty sure I hydrated properly etc, so for future reference what can be done to train/prepare for running in the heat, will a week or two training in the sun surfice or do you need longer or is it just one of those things that you just have to accept you wont do so well!
Secondly, I have entered for WDW marathon, middle of Jan 2008, but am now thinking that Id like to do london again in 2008. This would be 13 weeks between them. Is it possible to do myself justice in both? Between now and then have lots of 10ks lined up over the summer, Great North Run and Great South Run. Id like to work on my sopeed over the summer but would like to maintain my long run. Whats a sensible distance for the weekends when Im not racing?
Thanks
Dawn
Heat acclimatisation training does work, and 2 weeks in the sun will help but there needs to be a shortish gap between the acclimatisation weeks and the race. The main benifit of warm weather training is the chance to train a bit harder and faster with the sun on your back rather than plodding around in tracksuits at home.
There is time between WDW and FLM. If you have built up a good training base for WDW then after a couple of weeks recovery and a couple of weeks to re-establish your previous training volume you will be able to get around 8 weeks meaningful work for FLM.
It's interesting that elite runners will race more often than - mostly a spring marathon, a championship marathon in the summer and an autumn marathon. Most people are far too cautious and could do more than they think - it also takes the pressure off FLM because it then isn't the sole target of your year.
Just wondering if you missed my question just before Happycat !
Thank you
Will be spending a month in Marbella in August and will need to do some training for GNR there, what is the best way to ensure not over doing it in the heat? Using a HRM?
Thanks
Dawn
I'm looking to keep myself running over the summer doing a few 10k's and build to a HM in autumn. I'm not looking to go mad with the training after putting so much time in for London but wondered if you could recommend the general key sessions i should consider for a 3/4 days a week schedule?
Thanks
Sorry, I did miss it. I don't think there's any reason why you can't improve to whatever standard you target (within reason of course). The skill of training is to set realistic but demanding targets and train appropriately for them.
You will get immediate improvements from increasing your mileage in the first place. Initially keep the pace slow and gradually increase the work load over the weeks, taking every 3rd or 4th week easier before increasing again.
You will feel tired and that you have lost speed while you adjust to the extra mileage, but that will change once your body has adjusted.
The amount you can increase is personal to you - everyone has different running efficiency and trainability, so you need to keep a record of how your feel and any little injuries before increasing again.
A good 4-day week through the summer would be:
Sunday: long run
Tuesday: 5km interval work (12x1 min fast/1 min slow, or similar)
Wednesday: half marathon pace tempo run 10 mins steady - 20mins HM pace - 10mins steady.
Friday: 10km interval work (6 x 1km/5 x 1 mile or similar)
Not sure if you will be able to help me with this one, but I’m getting desperate so I’ll put it to you anyway.
Last summer I was improving well and managed a 36 minute 10k, so was hoping for a good time at London this year. Then out of the blue last October my resting and working HR jumped by about 10 - 15 bpm and my training paces dropped by around a minute a mile. This was also accompanied by achy joints, so I went down to the doctors. He took some blood tests, which didn’t show up any problems, so he suggested that it was probably just a virus which would clear up in time. At the time I was doing 80 – 90 mpw and although I was doing most of these at an easy pace, I was concerned about overtraining so took 10 days off. When I returned to training I reduced my mileage down to 40 mpw, but the HR problem was still there. I continued to train at the lower level until mid December when I started to prepare for the FLM. Needless to say training for London was pretty hard and I could only manage a maximum of 60 mpw.
To cut a long story short, my resting HR is still about 6-7 bpm higher than it was last summer and my paces at every distance are about 45 seconds per mile slower. Have you heard of anything like this before or have you got any suggestions what the problem could be? I’m now thinking of taking an extended post London break, but fear I will lose what little speed I have left!
Funny you should say that! I had a health screening a couple of weeks back and there was one strange spike on it. The doc said that ordinarily she wouldn't be overly concerned, but given what I had told her, she would get it checked out by a cardiologist. I hadn’t heard back, so assumed it was OK. If that is the case, do you know if there is anything that can be done?
Just to thank you for the race day nutritional advice you gave me a while ago for the FLM; I took the isotonic gels every half an hour as you suggested and drank water, skipping the lucozade which I had found sickly in training and it worked just great. But I did one extra thing, which probably saved me from any cramps or other kinds of seizures; I carried a small 250ml loop water bottle which I topped up at the water stations and put in half an electrolyte tablet in at each top up and I sipped this all the way through. I'm sure this added extra seconds to my time, but although I was (probably unrealistically as it was my first marathon and I'm a 44 year old non-runner) aiming for 4 hours, I was very happy with 4: 17 as I really enjoyed it, soaked up the fun atmosphere, found my groove and just kept moving. It was brilliant.
Would those electrolyte tablets have saved the poor chap who tragically died yesterday? It is such a sad story.
I don't know what the cause of the young chaps death was, I haven't had chance to see what press there has been on it but I think dehydration was probably not the cause.
I missed out on my sub 3:15 target but having had tonsillitis and a stomach bug in the week leading up to the marathon I am fairly delighted with 3:25. I feel this is a good indicator that given 100% health and cooler weather, I could go under 3:15 in the autumn following the Hard Training schedules.
My question is what to do in the meantime? I note you say to concentrate on 10ks but there are not that many around my area of the country in the summer. I have a half marathon in 3 weeks and am prepared to train 6/7 days a week.
I got bad blisters after race was in tent for nearly hour having treatment. It's still painful to walk on one is near ball of foot and one on little toe very sore. I'm slightly worried it might get affected. I've washed in Salt water and put compeed plaster on one near ball of foot.
Any additional advice would be appreciated.
HOD
Due to the fear of its effects however, I cut down the pace so that I was 10 mins slower than usual at 20 miles and I expected to benefit from this during the final 10k which I have usually run in about the same time. However I slowed down dramatically and it took 20 minutes longer than normal. Was this just the heat even though I was not particularly aware of it?