Week 2: Training for the Manchester Marathon

I have made it to 40 years old.

Published February 5, 2023

I started the week by turning 40 years old. This has at least one advantage, my race age category moves from M35 to M40.

Monday was primarily a rest day, but with it being my birthday, I couldn’t resist playing tennis. So my wife Ewa and I played a short 30-minute game. Ewa was also on a rest day.

Tuesday lunchtime consisted of a 500-calorie cardio session. The cardio session was three sets of 10 minutes with a heart rate above 144 bpm. With minimal rest between. I did 10 minutes on a Wattbike, 10 minutes on the stair stepper, and 10 minutes on the rowing machine. I was meant to do two lots of 1000-calorie sessions this week, but being under the weather, I decided before starting 500-calories would do.

Tuesday evening was a combined 7 km on the treadmill. First, I ran 1.2 km on the treadmill at 12 km/h to warm up. I then ran 5 km starting at 11.2 km/h running negative splits up to 13 km/h. And then, after a quick drink, I run for 2 minutes at 16 km/h, right on the edge of my current ability.

On Wednesday, I showed up for the Cranbrook Running Club’s first Wednesday of every month, 4-mile handicap. I finished in 29 minutes and 56 seconds.

Thursday was another cardio session. It felt like hard work that day to keep my heart rate above 144 bpm, so I was obviously still not feeling quite right. The session consisted of 10 minutes on the air skier, 10 minutes on the rowing machine, 10 minutes on the bike, and 20 minutes on the treadmill.

On Friday at noon, I was finally feeling better. I ran 10 km on the treadmill with a steady pace finishing just under 50 minutes.

Then on Friday evening, it was an 8 km run on the treadmill, with a steady pace finishing just over 40 minutes.

Saturday was a rest day.

Sunday was an 18 km run that took 1 hour and 41 minutes.