26/09/2026
One day away from Loch Ness. Here’s what’s gone on down 🏃♂️
One of the big things that has changed is that I stopped training in the grey zone. Almost all my running used to sit in Zone 3, which is too hard to recover from and too easy to adapt to. Fatigue with a decent pace attached. This block most of it got slowed right down and the speed work was deliberate rather than accidental.
The gym stayed constant the whole way through. Three whole body sessions a week with targets set to maintain muscle and strength without stealing performance or recovery from the running. I purposely chosen to keep the big four lifts in this time round: Squats, Deadlifts, Bench Press and OHP.
I practiced fuelling on long runs so nothing on Sunday is new. Same gels, same timing, same breakfast to get the body use to the routine. All calories and macro’s tracked with extra emphasis on protein. Sleep tracked rather than guessed at. Daily mobility, foam rolling and prehab to keep the body primed.
One thing that didn’t go too well is I went too hard at Northampton Half and ended up missing the 32km peak run. Purely on me, and it may well come back to bite me in the arse but we’ll find out tomorrow.
Then to add to that my knee flared in taper week and I haven’t run at all this week. Not the build up I wanted. I’ve progressed well over the last few months and a setback this late still messes with your head, so I’m going in a bit nervous. But, all the hard work has been put in over the last few months.
Heading into my third marathon tomorrow. My first marathon I went off far too fast and finished in 4:14:40. Second was 3:58:11. This time I’ve trained by heart rate rather than ego, kept the strength work in throughout, and tapered to an actual protocol instead of guessing.
Let’s see how it goes 😬
Andy.
