As some of you might know, I have set myself a new goal. Running a marathon under the (for me at least) magical 3 hours threshold. I will track my progress in this new ‘Under 3’ series. I will share the numbers , but mostly I will focus on the impact on my mind and body. As I am curious in finding out if this will improve my day to day abilities and minimizes my setbacks.
Well the first week is done, the routine hasn’t really changed much , just some more speed training and a lot more (core) strength training. While just exercises with a lot of repetitions seem to bore me, I found Yoga to be much more fluent. Not dull reps but focused on movement. Which fits me so much better. So instead of going trough the exercises I now find myself enjoying it and paying much more attention, maybe it’s less effective I don’t know. But it keeps me engaged and I am now enjoying this. So this is it for me as far as strength trying goes.
The runs were all good, sometimes a bit too fast for now, I get excited and don’t mind the hart rate. But all in all I am happy. No little pains and now problems in recovering. The extra fast bits of my runs went very well, now it’s just a matter of getting my long runs in a better hart rate zone. The new long distance pace must feel as good as the old one did. I am aiming for a long run tempo between 4:30 and 4:45 per kilometer, which should make running a sub 3 hours marathon a possibility.
So what did I do this week ? First there are four core and strength yoga sessions of about half an hour. My normal 5 times a week running sessions consisting of 3 short runs with faster bits of about 7 to 10 k. One 14k easy and one 21k long run.
It’s early days but I am having fun just thinking about the process and the possibility of achieving the ultimate goal. The marathon in under 3 hours!