Project Good For Age Week 7 of 30
Goal : Automatic Entry Into the London Marathon
How? : Run a 3:15 Mara @ Manchester Mara in April (Current PB 4:45)
First Step : Run a 45 Minute 10k @ Windmill 10k race in November (10k time at start of project 57:58) www.strava.com/activities/1188827899
This Weeks ’10k’ Time : 45:52 www.strava.com/activities/1262333938
One week to go until race day – so excited!!
Here is how it went in week 7:
Behaviour
Parties, Halloween, Bonfires.
Alcohol everywhere you go.
Couple of times I was tempted, but partaking in such debaunchery so close to race day when I have been such a good little boy for the last 7 weeks would be just plain crazy.
Once again managed to resist but nearly got lynched when I foolishly asked for a ‘coffee’ at a party that was being held in a rough boozer…
Whilst Manchester can be as ‘metrosexual’ as the best of them, there are still certain pubs in this wonderful town of ours that you simply don’t walk into and ask for a ‘skinny latte’ – this was one of them and Iron Rookie really should know much better than that.
The thing is there was a time when I would be the one sat at the bar taking the piss out of someone like me asking for a ‘coffee’ in a rough pub….
But now I find myself walking down a very different path, a very different path indeed….
Diet
What a joke of a week on the diet front.
Half term which meant trips to the seaside etc.
Sorry, but you cant go the seaside without eating ice cream and fish and chips.
Its the law.
Add to that parties, meals out and far too many sweets and I was fearing the worst when I climbed onto the scales this week.
Weight
13/10 on my scales and 13/8 on the bodytrax ones with 23.5% bodyfat.
How the hell I managed to lose weight given what happened on the diet front is beyond me.
That said I tend to find that my weight operates a ‘week in arrears’
Will I finally see the light regarding diet in race week?
Training
On Monday I went and did 5k of the ‘benchmark’ route.
It was way tougher than my training.
Way tougher.
Later in the week I reverted back to ‘training’ and it felt like a piece of piss.
There is one thing that will show how effective my training has been and one thing only..
Its called Race day.
Super Sunday ‘Benchmark’ 10k : 45:52 www.strava.com/activities/1262333938
Whereas last week trying to hit 4 minute 40 kilometres felt somewhat difficult, this week , it felt relatively comfortable, everything just seems to have ‘clicked’ all of a sudden – at least that was certainly the case for the first 7km, and it got me to thinking…
I have set myself a target for next weeks race of a 45 minute 10k.
This works out at 4 and a half minute kilometres but I couldn’t help thinking that in my quest to PB every ‘super sunday’ session I have lost sight of the bigger picture
The bigger picture is to run a 3:15 mara.
This equates to 4:40 kilometres, not 4:30.
The gig is to make 4:40 kilometres feel comfortable, like I could run at that pace all day, and that is what is starting to happen.
This weeks result for the benchmark 10k began with the number 45 once again, but this time, the pace felt much more comfortable for large chunks and at the end of the day, that ‘feeling’ of comfort at the 4:40 pace is precisely what I am striving to achieve.
Don’t get me wrong, the last couple of kilometres were still a challenge, but something good appears to be happening, something very good.
I haven’t decided what I am going to do next week – do I settle for 4:40 kilometres, recording a time of 46 minutes for the 10k and fly the ‘this is the pace I am looking to achieve’ flag – or do I ‘go for it’ and attempt to record a time beginning with the magical 45?
We must remember that my Sunday ‘benchmark’ runs have always been a good half a kilometre short throughout which would make a 45 minute 10k an even more wonderful achievement, but I am not overly concerned about that, something special always appears to happen on race day that will render those final 500 metres irrelelevant. (that comment better not come back to bite me on the arse).
Time will tell.
One thing is for certain, there is a fire within me, and the more I think about the magical 45, the brighter that fire gets.
There will be over 1500 lining up in Lythm next week and I cant begin to tell you how excited I am about pitting my wits against so many kindred spirits to see how far my training has taken me.
Looking at last years results, a 45 minute 10k would put you inside the top 10% of finishers.
Top 10%.
There was a time, and it wasn’t that long ago, when Iron Rookie was absolutely buzzing just to be able to finish a 10k and not come last – yet here he is looking to rank inside the top 10% of 1500 athletes..
My goodness Iron rookie.
My goodness indeed.
Next update 12/11/17 – Race day!
By the way, I have written a book, it’s all about how I went from zero fitness to completing an Ironman triathlon, it’s only just come out but it has got some fantastic reviews already!- you can check them out here: (also available on Amazon in the US but please read the UK reviews first!)
To your amazing journey!
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