The general advice is that you should always to write down your race plan, so here we go.
The plan is set:
Last year I was hoping to burn round at the peak of post-Ironman fitness and smash out a sub-3:30. No chance of hauling my arse round in that time at the moment – I have a bucket less fitness, and around a bucket more weight. I would dearly love to hit 4 hours, but love is not enough – need to run a bit too.
So, I’m going to go for a solid consistent 6 minutes per km, from start to finish. If I have any beans left then I’ll see if I can just nudge a negative split, that would be the icing for my inaugural marathon cake. 6min/km works out to 4:13.12, so with a few seconds for stopping at the drinks table the big target is 4:15.
Mrs will be on hand to yell encouragement, check her twitter feed (@totkat) for updates (maybe). She ran an incredible 50 mile (80km) off-road ultra-marathon in Rotherham recently. The bar has been set, and I'm not going to get anywhere near it!
The route is set:
Well, it's just around the park right? How can you go wrong...
One lap of about 9km followed by 3 of about 11km.
Start at the green marker, run anti-clockwise to the red marker (that's the 9km lap), turn around and run clockwise round one full 11km lap back to the red marker, turn again and run 11km anti-clockwise, then one more turn and an 11km clockwise circuit, all the way round to the red marker to finish.
Though it is a bit lumpy
Clothing is set:
- My trusty Brooks T7 Racers (though with some of the 2kg of mud I picked up at Orpington parkrun this morning knocked off)
- Long 2XU compression socks to keep my calves under control in the later stages
- Super-comfy Nike long sleeved base layer
- Valencia triathlon t-shirt on the top (bringing the spirit of the sun, even if there isn’t any actual sun)
- Sailfish peaked cap, thin gloves, and two small squares of surgical tape to protect my pec-nuts
Food plan is set:
Despite a little more cake lately than an LCHF food plan might advise, I still seem to be well adapted to fat burning – a few weeks ago I ran a come-back PB parkrun and followed it with a 90km bike ride and all on a cup of coffee. That was a fun experiment - I was hungry by the time I’d finished but that’s because I didn’t have any food in my stomach – I certainly wasn’t bonking or feeling drained of energy. So, with that in mind I shouldn’t need to fill myself with sugar every 5 minutes to get round.
- Breakfast: Salmon, avocado, cream cheese, and scrambled egg for breakfast (no carbs before exercise, you’ll immediately break fat burning) and a nice large mug of coffee
- During the run: Mainly nothing but water – if I do get hungry I’ll nibble on a Clif bar. Like a good boy scout though I’ll be prepared Just In Case, so I’ll keep a couple of ultra-power Double Espresso Clif shots in my pocket…
- After the run: Pies, beer, and whatever the hell else I fancy :)
Weather is set:
Temperature fine, might be a bit breezy
Alarm is set:
Ouchy... It wouldn't be race day without a crazy early alarm
Plan B is set:
Ah yes, you’re supposed to have a plan B. Plan B is “adjust pace if required, but try and keep consistent, take as long as you need to finish – but do try to finish”.
I’ve entered the Rotterdam Marathon which is on 13th April 2014, and I’m going to train for that properly – until then, this will be my PB.
See you on the other side!
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