Marathon Newsletter Week 5

Dear Marathon Runner,

We're into the second quarter of our 16 week run-in to the big day now, and following last weeks notes on recovery weeks, it's time for another period of increasing mileage, as the hard work begins, and your dedication shines through. A lot of people talk about the last few miles of the race as being the hardest, but it's here, where there are so many opportunities to put off, reschedule, stay inside and avoid the cold - this is where your race is defined.

It's time for a quick look at how you all did during week 4. We've collected another 30 Fetchies in the last week - 620 of you now listed as doing the race. 438 of you ran, median mileage was 26.56 (down by a mile on last week - could it be true, did you all have a recovery week? Nice!), and median long run was 10.49 (again, slightly shorter than last week - sensible folks!). Rather than show a weekly breakdown of what you all did this week, I thought I'd look at the total mileage you've done in the last four weeks (you'll see why in a bit).

Week 1-4 inclusive 3:00 3:15 3:30 3:45 4:00 4:15 4:30 4:45 5:00
Race Pace 6:52 7:27 8:01 8:35 9:10 9:44 10:18 10:53 11:27
Total Mileage 170 151 117 115 97 89 78 76 63
Average Pace (mins/mile) 7:32 8:12 8:25 8:53 9:15 9:29 9:54 10:11 10:35
Longest Run 19 16 15 14 14 13 11 12 10
Longest Run Pace (mins/mile) 7:30 8:21 8:36 9:03 9:13 9:43 10:19 10:13 10:51

It's good to see that most of you have done your longest runs at a pace slower than your marathon pace (4:45'ers and 5:00'ers take note!), and as groups, you've all conquered double figures when running long.

I thought it'd be interesting to look at the idealised mileages I quoted in week 1, to see what proportion of those you've all achieved. Here comes another table:

Week 1-4 inclusive 3:00 3:15 3:30 3:45 4:00 4:15 4:30 4:45 5:00
Race Pace 6:52 7:27 8:01 8:35 9:10 9:44 10:18 10:53 11:27
4 week group mileage 170 151 117 115 97 89 78 76 63
Idealised 16 week mileage 715 587 531 492 443 426 409 385 352
Percentage complete 24 26 22 23 22 21 19 20 18

If we think of the 16 weeks as four quarters, it's pretty obvious that the first one will contribute less than a quarter of the mileage - most of this will come in the second and third quarter - the fourth quarter should see a reduction again as you all taper down to race day.

So what lies ahead? Well, as I've gone a bit table crazy this week, let's look at what percentage of your mileage you should do in each quarter:

3:00 3:15 3:30 3:45 4:00 4:15 4:30 4:45 5:00
Quarter 1 24 23 24 24 23 24 24 23 23
Quarter 2 27 27 27 26 27 27 27 27 27
Quarter 3 29 29 28 28 29 29 29 29 30
Quarter 4 21 22 21 21 21 21 21 21 21

The figures are nicely consistent across the board, 24% in the first four weeks, 27% in the second quarter, 29% in the third, and 21% in the fourth. So if that's hurting your brain, just divide your mileage so far by 24, and multiply by 27 to get an approximate figure for your mileage in the next four weeks. That's assuming your training has gone well so far!

I spoke to Katieb about how best to help your body cope with the increasing workload. She suggests that it's best to get any niggles or pains looked at early on in your training programme, rather than compounding any problems with extra mileage, and that schedules are all well and good, but rest can sometimes be the best session for improving your marathon chances.

Next week, well I don't know what we'll do, but I'll have fun thinking of something, and would appreciate your suggestions on where to go with it. If you're enjoying the newsletter and the whole Fetch marathon experience, you could do some or all of the following:

  1. Send this newsletter to friends and club mates, post it on your club forum (might give some of them a laugh if nothing else), and tell *EVERYONE* about it.
  2. Add a prediction of your VLM time, even if it's just an estimate, and keep logging your training - I hope to squeeze plenty of motivational stats out for you.
  3. Let me know if there's anything you'd like me to try to cover in future weeks - there's a discussion thread
  4. Join our Fetchpoint groups as a runner or as a supporter - more information on Fetchpoint to follow in coming weeks.

Happy Running,
Ian Williams aka 'Fetch'
Editor, www.fetcheveryone.com