VIRGIN LONDON MARATHON TRAINING The TaperWith Marius Bakken
The beer has stopped flowing and the dancing girls have gone home.So I suppose it's time to stop celebrating my 'Victory' at the Liverpool Half Marathon!
Marius sent me a email; Hi Rick, Absolutely fantastic! It shows once again how committed you are. Be smart now for the last weeks leading up to London. It is all a matter of sticking to the plan when things are going as well as now and not "over-run" anything. I wish you the best of luck, I'll be checking in on your blog in these last weeks, kind regards, Marius Oops; with Marius keeping an eye on me I better get back on the road again, I plunged my face into a cold bucket of water to sober up,then put on the running kit, which had been collecting dust in the corner, yeah baby lets get this party started, I mean Run! WedLocation; Kings Garden's One K loop 4 x 12 mins [ 4 mins marathon pace- 4 mins just below MP - 4mins 1/2MP] 45 sec Rec after each 12 mins GARMIN DATA Going by the Garmin map it looks like I've been running on water! Maybe Ewen is right after all:] Things went pretty well, tough session all the same! Finished with 6 x smart strides. The strides always seem to bring my legs back to life after a tough session! Shoes; Spira Total time 1 hour 19 mins TueEasy run with Tess, sandhill 6 = 1 hour 11 mins Moneasy run with Tess, Hillside loop = 32 mins
Hi guy's hope your new year got off to a good start? I started my new year with the clubs new years day 14.2 mile coastal path run. most of the route goes over the sand dunes and Formby and Ainsdale pinewoods. 10.30am 24 of us set off at an easy pace along the coastal path, by 5 miles Steve McLean started pushing the pace as we went into the Formby woods with Steve Wilko pushing things on through the Ainsdale woods. As we emerged out onto the main path by the railway line I found myself taking the lead into a nasty headwind, as the rain started I thought to hell with it and pushed even harder! Under the Railway bridge and back into the dunes. I lead the charge onto the winding single track following the white posts, at last we reached Pointins, just 2 1/2 miles until the comfort of the Fisherman's pub where beer and food was awaiting us! I lead Steve and Joe off the sand dunes and onto the final 1/2 mile of tarmac cycle track. Steve lifted the pace and we were soon doing sub 6 pace into the finish. Total time 1.48
SAMMY WANJIRU starts 2011 with a 'BANG'! Someone who didn't have such a great start to the new year was Olympic marathon champion Sammy Wanjiru. Sammy's been charged in his native Kenya with death threats to his wife and the illegal possession of an AK47 rifle. READ HERE
My Marius Bakken training for the London Marathon 2011 starts tomorrow with the aim of sub 2.45 and gaining a championship place for London 2012 at the age of 50!
RicksRunning has received 3022 hits this month Today I received my 'Good For Age' acceptance letter:] I hope all you guy's that entered got in, if not, hopefully your get a club place. My BIG aim is to smash 2.45 and win a championship start for 2012. To be able to line up behind the elite would be awesome! I feel it may be my last big chance. Following the 100 day plan got me a 4 min improvement on last year and a one min improvement on my old P.B. set back in 2003. POST MARATHON RECOVERY I paid the price at The Langdale marathon with a sub par race due to missing out Marius's recover programme, after running London this year. My eagerness to race again meant I ran a 15k trail race, only a week after the April marathon, then got straight back into hard training, result I ran well through May-June, started to go a bit flat in July and really stalled in Aug! End result tired,flat empty legs on race day! This time I've learned my lesson well and have now started the recovery plan. I asked Marius for advice and this is what he said;
Hi Rick, good to hear from you. No worries at all, the way to "freshen" up your legs again is this :
1) take the recovery weeks of the 100 day plan and follow them strictly the next couple of weeks.
2) take the intro weeks of the 100 day plan and to these thereafter.
This will give you about 4-6 weeks of perfect recovery but at the same time smart training. MARIUS
After this i plan to follow the 5K-10K part of the marathon plan working on building speed and getting the sharpness back in my legs.
Interview - Bruce Fordyce
There is a very interesting interview with 9 times Comrades Marathon winner Bruce on Marathon Talk. He talks about the importance of doing your longest runs very slowly and easy and the most important thing is to work on your speed. Marius stresses the importants of what Bruce says and I am now starting to think maybe I pushed it to much on some of my 3 hour hill runs this summer.
The Liverpool Marathon could be back next year and I plan to run it if it goes ahead as planned in Oct 2011 READ HERE
ACTIVE RECOVERY Mon; REST Tue; Very easy sand trail run with Tess = 47 mins Wed; 30 mins level one with 5 x 20 sec at 1/2 marathon pace [ Marius says these short bursts help get back the elasticity in the muscles and increase recovery quicker than just steady runs].
Went to see my Chiropractor [ Scott fullwood] today to work on my sciatic problem. Will be adding some new core training exercises to work on strengthening my hips, as my hip tends to drop and allow my foot to rotate inwards as I run. This is very evident on my race photos and may well be the root of my problems.
