North East Running

 This blog post is part of a three blog series. 1 of 3 - The training plan 2 of 3 - Finishing the training plan 3 of 3 - The result My final pacing plan was as follows: The plan So the plan was to get to the 30km mark at 4:10/km pace. Then have a little bit of a cushion to ease off to 4:25/km for the final 12.5km to sneak in at the 02:59:00 mark. So.... how did it go... All went to plan until 36km, then the energy just disappeared I knew I couldn't let it slip to 4:30+ in the last section of the race - but lost all energy So, all went perfectly until 36km, then if 4:30/km was the pace I needed to keep under I then lost: 37km : -6s 38km : -19s 39km : -43s 40km : -58s 41km  -80s 42km: -107s 200m : -68s 381seconds lost - 6min21s. Resulting in a 3:05:56 instead of what could have been 2:59:35. A particular disappointment was cramping in both hamstrings on final downhill and having to stop for 30-40s to stretch them off (the crowd gave great support). After five or six hours to think ab

 Three months ago I posted my marathon training plan . Taking the distance up from 23km to 35km Having a HM race midway through Winding it down distance wise, but with two 'race pace' runs to finish it off DONE :) The runs all listed in screenshot below. Some observations below the screenshot. Three-month marathon training plan Some observations: Having a training partner also aiming for the same marathon helps (cheers Cian) To follow the above plan - you need a base fitness level of being able to do a HM as a Sunday Long Run without much trouble Taking on energy is vital mid-run - SiS GO Energy + Caffeine Gel Citrus worked really well - take one every 45 minutes One Imodium tablet before each run reduces chance of needing toilet break 30 minutes before the run I liked eating a Grenade Carb Killa chocolate bar - I couldn't find much science on the web about this (protein is a recovery thing) - but I like chocolate and I think it had a placebo effect with the sugar rush Ra