Targets times, training & tempo

Right, this is the post where I throw down some numbers & spend the next few months sweating & puffing & panting & swearing, certainly swearing, to get them.

So through some sort of insanity gripped moment yesterday morning I booked my place in the RunLiverpool Marathon, not only did I book a marathon place I booked myself in the 4hr group. There was method to this madness, I used to do quite a few 25 mile walks / marches as a nipper, they took between 6 & 8 hours, and everyone knows running is twice as fast as walking. Right?)
After a long shower & a goodnights sleep I wake up & start to realise that this may perhaps be a bit ambitious...
On the other hand I have just about 6 months to train for it, and if I'm honest my current running is about 50% walking at the moment, so doubling my pace, means actually running all the time.

Cathy, JogBlog on twitter, and of course author of Jog Blog, pointed me in the direction of Hal Higdon's Marathon Training Schedules and they seem quite simple & straight forwards, as she said on twitter, they have non of the faffy 8x200m tempo rubbish, the sort of stuff I'm guaranteed not to actually do.
So the 18 week program has been logged into my Google calendar (see over there at the top right?)

But before those 18 weeks of swearing stupidity, I have the Great Manchester 10k. As I've quite normally booked myself into the 1hr slot for this, I'm not too worried. After yesterday afternoons run, I just have 12 weeks to double my speed & fitness to reach that goal.
I've found a training plan on the Nike+ site that schedules in a few 8 mile runs, and ends nicely with a 10k, so that's been plugged into the google calendar, and it fits almost perfectly into the time I have, with about a week between the 10k & the 18 Week countdown. perhaps during this week off I'll eat cake & beer? Probably not.

To be honest I've been looking at the pace calculator things you can find online & I'm a bit frightened by the pace they keep throwing out at me. But they are just numbers and I feel like I have nothing to relate them too. So I'm 50/50 on going to go out tonight & doing a mile at the marathon pace, just to put something real behind the figures I keep seeing. And possibly motivate myself to step away from OHMYGODWHATHAVEIDONE?! edge. I know there are a lot of strategies when running marathons, I keep reading things about splits & there are a few calculators that will give you a differing pace for each mile, letting you tailor it to a fast start or sprint finish, but I'm just aiming for an over all steady pace. At least I am right now, I haven't even gotten my trainers on yet!

Anyway I digress...

 TARGET TIMES 2011


            Target          dream  / real   / settle for
Manchester 10k        50min / 55min / 60min
Liverpool Marathon  4 hrs / 4:30 hrs / 5 hrs


Wish me luck?!