Watercolour - Pendulum

Lyrics:- 'Feed the fire, Break your vision, Throw your fists up, Come on with me' - Swire Thompson

Song Choice:- There's nothing better than running whilst listening to Pendulum when you are cranking out a fast time. I shattered another Post-Guillain-Barre Syndrome PB today at Cardiff's parkrun and gave myself hope of one day soon being able to knock out a SUB 4hr marathon once again. Ironically, I did say early on in my marathon running career that if I ever did OVER 4hrs, I'd pack up!

We were all young and more stupid once...

Anyway, the interesting thing and the basis of today's blog is that a PB at any distance comes as a result of pure hard work. With every client, I've ever written a training plan for, I've always included at least three 'Long Slow Distance' runs a week, peaking sometimes at five LSD runs on consecutive days.

It's not a new theory at all, and it's been around for decades. Ernst van Aaken, a German physician and coach, is generally recognised as the founder of the long slow distance method of endurance training and if you are not in the know it's a form of aerobic endurance training where physiological adaptations include improved cardiovascular function, improved thermoregulatory function, improved mitochondrial energy production, increased oxidative capacity of skeletal muscle, and increased utilisation of fat for fuel.

In other words, it makes you dead fit!

The other main benefit 'Wiki' won't tell you is that at 75% MHR you'll be decreasing your waistline and therefore improving your PB's even more at the rate of 2 minutes per kilo of bodyweight over 26.2 miles.

You see, even if 100% of all your training was carried out at 75% Maximum Heart Rate and you ran 100 miles a week, you would make huge strides in your fitness. I ran 200 miles a week like this for four weeks during my 28 x 28 mile Marathons for 'Stoptober' and ran a 3:37 just a couple of weeks afterwards feeling 'Superfit' and 'Superlean'.

Now, I'm not saying go out and start clocking up hundreds of miles a week but if you want to do well in your events make sure you run 80% of your weekly mileage at 75% MHR and your PB's will start to crumble, especially if you add in the odd Power-Hour and ParkRun.

My confidence got a real lift today as I've been out there building my endurance and cardiovascular fitness just like I did twenty years ago, and I'll keep you posted on my journey towards 3:59:59 glory.

'Feed the fire, Break your vision, Throw your fists up, Come on with me'...

Amen

Rory Coleman - 995 Marathons - 244 Ultras - 14 Marathon des Sables

9 Guinness World Records - 8,584 Days' Alcohol Free - 432 Days' post GBS

& 1 Inspirational Running Memoir - Get your copy here.

Location: Caerdydd, Cymru