3 Runs Per Week Schedule

Hello everyone, Astride, and any other teachers I think my school was the only one in the south east to be open today! I too am on the Furmann schedule, I ran in the Watford half yesterday and knocked a couple of minutes off my PB to do it in 1.40.58, was amazed. It seems to be working, although the book schedule and what this site says is the 3 a wk schedule do not match.  I did not run a 20 miler this week as I was in the Watford half already.

 Other than that I am sticking with it. Legs feel good today. Amazing.

Hope others who ran in Watford also feel good- it was cold!

Sorry to hear you've not been well Astride - hope you feel better soon.

I changed my long run from fri to sat this weekend so was going to do sunday's usual session today - but all this snow has put paid to that - my car was sliding all over the place earlier.  I work in a school too (not a teacher though) but mine was open today.   Also missed the tempo run last week.  Not sure whether to try and do 4 runs a week for a couple of weeks to catch up or not.  Will have to do something tomorrow even if I have to find a treadmill somewhere.  The snow is good fun but is not so good when training for a marathon.

JPF - I didn't think I could ever run 6 times a week. 

 Astride - I wondered where you'd been, hope you're fully reovered - better to have a cold now with 12 weeks to go.

Despite the weather I managed to get down to the pool for 6:30 - on the way I spotted a car off the road, down a small grass bank, bonnet first into the sidewall of our police station!!!!!  I'd love to see their insurance claim.

I'm really glad I made the effort to go early for 2 reasons 1) the pool shut down later in the day due to mechanical breakdown in the water system 2) my legs felt really tired from the Sunday run before swimming but now seemed revitalised.

Here's hoping the weather breaks by Wednesday in time for the speed or tempo session.

There seem to be a lot of teacher's around. I'm not one of them though but I do have three kids at home as the school is shut again whilst my husband and I are both trying to work from home. I can vaguely hear the sounds of high school musical in the distance.

Sore-hip - well done on a half pb. What are you aiming for in London?  

I really don't think my training is going well at the moment, I need a few decent runs to get back into the groove, if you know what I mean. Cold still lingering, a foot problem seems to have returned and snow not really helping matters. The weeks are going far too fast. Still vaguely hopeful that it will still come together though. I too might have to give the treadmill a go today if I get a chance.

Astride: sorry to hear about your cold and injury problems interfering with your training plan.  If it's any consolation: I did zero running and very little else for about a month before starting a 10-week programme for Berlin last year and still managed to get a new PB by a whopping 13 minutes.  So, with 12 weeks to go not all hope is lost.  You are an experienced runner and it's not like you are starting from scratch just beginning to build up mileage.  An enforced period of rest is sometimes not the worst thing.  My fingers crossed you will feel better soon.  I'm sending you some good vibes.

Lou: I would forget about trying to play catch up with those missed sessions.  My sense is that trying to force them in somehow will just result in making your other sessions even harder, and worst case resulting in injury.  I was so disappointed when I messed up my very first interval session that I vowed I'd try them again the next day rather than x-train.  To cut a long story short: I didn't even complete the first repetition... lesson learnt!

Sore-hip: great result for your half.  I wish I could run that fast ...  I have a half coming up on March 15 and I'm hoping for 1.45 but I know it'll be tough to achieve.

Quickstepper: bliddy hell, that's some impressive pace for your long run, expecially with that ascent.  You are going to love this: your long-run pace is about my interval pace for those blasted mile repeats.  I did them today - 7.11 and they always make me retch.  As there's ice and snow everywhere I had to go on the treddy but I set the incline to 2% & stuck to the 1 minute recovery.  Glutton for punishment ... 

Now I just want that snow to go away so that we can all resume our training properly. 

Hello all. School was shut today, fantastic! (if you're a teacher with a sick 7 month old at home who needs tlc).

 As for marathon target, it's to beat 4 hours. I would like to think I could do better (the Furman book says 3.38 I think off a half of 1.41- mental) but I have some solid experience that says it's hard!

 No run since Sunday due to dangerous ice covered paths and advice of 2 days of rest after a hard half from the book, who am I to ignore advice to rest!?!

Hi everyone, thanks for your comments on me catching up with a couple of missed sessions.  You are right of course, I should just let them go and concentrate hard on the three runs a week.  I was so determined at the start of this schedule not to miss a single session, due to there only being 3 a week, but I certainly don't want to get injured like I did last year. 

I had a terrible run tonight.  Think I had too big a lunch too late and my stomach was in knots resulting in me walking the last half mile home.  However I did have a good run on Saturday so I'm trying not to get too upset about it.  It's amazing the difference 2 or 3 days makes!

Sore-hip - I'm going for Sub 4 too.  3.59.59 will do nicely!

Quickstepper - are you going to fill us in on your "other hobby" a little bit more?!!!!

Thanks for the comments everyone. I went to the gym yesterday and did intervals on the treadmill which was a new experience. I am still aware that I have a virus of some kind as not feeling 100% so did mile intervals about half a minute slower than normal pace but did an extra one for good measure. Also kept the treadmill at 0% incline to make life a bit easier. Felt loads better afterwards for doing a bit of speed and not feeling too bad.

Lou7 - sorry I meant to comment on your missed session. I am often guilty of trying to play catch and think sometimes it's a gamble to do it but psychologically it does help if it pays off. But to be honest, with so many weeks left to go, it won't do you any harm. That's why I think it's good to get these 20's started as soon as possible as undoubtedly in a few weeks time, something will stop you from doing at least one of the later ones.

JPF1 - well done for keeping your school open. I was glad our school was shut on Monday as it was great fun for them but yesterday too was a bit too much. So do you have a target time for FLM this year - 3:03:30 perhaps then maybe dip under 3 at Edunburgh?  

Hi everyone!  Some great running going on here.  I've not had much time to post the last couple of weeks but have dropped in to see how everyone is getting on.

I did 17m last weekend but I had to miss a 'long' run this weekend due to work etc.  Instead did 9.5 off road on Friday then another 9 off road on Sunday followed by 2.5 on the road at well under marathon pace (but it was down hill!).  I felt I need to do the last bit because the off road hills are so slow - the need for speed!

Club training last night - plan to do 1m reps but the ice was so bad on route we had to change plan.  Instead did a total of 5.5 miles with 3 x 1200m internals (2mins rest).  I completed in 5.12, 5.08, 5.05 and was thrilled, if not totally knackered!

Amazingly, I have lost half a stone since I started training and  I put this down to the speed sessions.  Having never lost weight marathon training before and having never done speed sessions the two must be linked.  I feel much better for it, especially when running.  I can feel my using my abdomen when doing these sessions - ok it might just be that I'm searching for every drop of oxygen, but its making me feel fitter.

I must admit that concentrating on the 3 sessions per week seems to be suiting me.  I'm cycling and running other days to but I know if I get these key ones in I can relax. 

JPF1 - go for it - commit and believe in the schedule - just because it is unconventional it doesn't mean it won't work - this is the way I'm playing it for a sub 2:45.  Your timings against goal sessions are just as I am finding - ok for long and tempo (just a bit short of speed) - and I sneak in a 40min easy.

 I crossed trained yesterday - polybag sliding with hill reps followed by snowballing - not sure if it was my daughter or I who was happier for the school to be closed.

Plus after being in my feet for 5 hours with minimal lunch I squeezed in a 5m tempo on the leisure centre treadmill - mind you I only had an incline of 1.5 degree to protect any lurking achilles problem. 

Ever tried to convert your mile paces into kilometres in your head whilst running on a treadmill - yes it was that boring but at least it passed the s-e-c-o-n-d-s.  Give me the outdoors (ice free) any day.

GUYS - book your advance train tickets now for the marathon weekend - I saved over 50% on the normal return fare!  so with the saving I paid for another fare to go up on the Thursday to Excel to get my number - so the Saturday is as stress free as possible.....

Hi everyone

Just done a 10 miler no hills at 7.08 pace so fairly happy with that.

If i do a 4 miler tomorrow i will be up to 30 for the week

12 miles planned for sunday

Quiskstepper

Dont know actually,but I suppose i must be a bit mad to be doing my first marathon at my age.

Not so mad Mark - you are simply bettering yourself.  Nothing mad in that.  Well done.  Are you doing any cross training?

Sore-hip: I've been on the dreaded treadmill for both my tempo and interval runs this week - my gym membership for the cross training certainly came up trumps this week. The paces actually felt easier (relatively) even with a 1.5 deg incline.  Could be the warmer conditions, belt actually does some of the push off, perfect even pacing.....I hate to say this I might becoming a fan of treadmills - did I just say that!!!!!  20 miles on a treadmill - ok I temper my remark - I'm a fan in extreme situations.

Where has everybody else gone....snow on the line?

Quickstepper - Thanks for the encouragment re FLM target time. I'm going to keep plugging away at the suggested Furman times and see what sort of shape I'm in nearer April 26th before I firm up any targets. I like the unconventional nature of  the programme.

Mad Mark - Suppose some people might describe us all as mad for running at all - let alone marathons - but what do they know?!

Snow hasn't been so bad up here, so have managed to continue as planned. Managed a 7.9 tempo run last night in 50 mins and am happy that I have a turbo session to look forward to tonight, to give my legs a bit of a rest from pounding.

The snow's all gone here - 18 miles tonight - ouch!

I agree we are all slightly mad, running marathons!

Got an 18 miler tomorrow o hopefully the paths will have cleared....no way i am attemping 18 miles on tredmill!!

Booked train tickets today...£45 return from lincoln to kings cross for wife and I. Cheap as chips