Evaluation of my "Reconditioning Programme"

Last week I took a week off work to increase my effort in my marathon training. Earlier I had resolved to put in a lot more mileage (around 100-130 km) in the week, and a lot more intense running and recovery in the day.

Here's how it actually went, and how I felt at the end of it.

Reconditioning Programme
Monday:

• Morning: 8 x 2 km at tempo pace, 120 secs easy x 4, 90 secs easy x 2, 60 secs easy x 2
• Afternoon: Rest, or stretch
• Evening: 5 miles easy

This was a hard start to the programme. In the evening, I had trouble running 5 miles comfortably, and felt like overheating.

Tuesday:

• 3 x 30 mins at tempo pace, 5 mins easy

I felt so flat that I abandoned training at around 6 km. Did nothing the rest of the day.

Wednesday:

• Morning: 10 x 2 km at tempo pace, 60 secs easy
• Afternoon: Rest, or stretch
• Evening: 6 miles easy

Because of very bad weather, I couldn't do the morning workout at the track. Changed Wednesday's programme to be 3 x 30 mins at tempo pace, 5 mins easy, i.e. Tuesday's programme, which was done on the treadmill. Managed to get 19 km in. Decided to get rid of the evening runs.

Thursday:

• Morning: 6 x 500 m hill repititions, walk/jog downhill
• Evening: 6 miles easy

Changed this to be a 25 km slow endurance run. I felt there were too many speed/strength workouts in the week, so I needed to introduce a long slow run. Managed to get 25 km in 2 hours 45 mins.

Friday:

• 7 miles at tempo pace

Again, changed, this time to a rest day. Needed a rest day badly! Absolutely no running.

Saturday:

• 3 hour long run or 32 km

Finally, some consistency. Managed to run approximately 32 km in 3 hours 7 minutes. The first 11 km was pretty slow running, last 21 km was a lot faster running.

So in total, I managed to get in 113 km this week, much more than my usual weekly effort. I was happy to get through Saturday's long run in a good solid time (the best time I've done over 32 km in training), which will hopefully be a good indicator to marathon performance.

Unfortunately I couldn't carry out the full programme. Sometimes I felt flat on certain days, where I didn't feel like training. When the body tells you not to train, it was a indication to ease up on the effort and to let the body rest. I had to respect my body's limitations, and to carry out the full programme could have been detrimental to my training. Injuries and sickness may have crept in. Thankfully I have managed to get through unscathed and I hope it has brought benefits to my running and performance.

I have also decided to briefly mention the All Blacks quarterfinal loss against France in the Rugby World Cup. A brutal, sudden end to their campaign. Was the reconditioning programme to blame? I say no. Perhaps the best way for the All Blacks to prepare for such an important event was to get more rugby under the belt, and not to do a reconditioning programme. Reconditioning was only one part of their preparation, but there were other aspects specific to rugby as well; perhaps the All Blacks were caught short there.

So if the reconditioning programme wasn't enough for the All Blacks to bring back the Rugby World Cup, well I hope my reconditioning programme is enough for me to realise my marathon goal of 4 hours or under. We'll wait and see!