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Week 3 Jeffing 30:30 Marathon Training plan week commencing 20/4/20

Run 1 Tuesday 21/4/20
I got up this morning feeling much more motivated than yesterday. Not just running wise but in general. Yesterday had just been one of those un motivated days.
My typical week at the moment plan wise consists of 2 short runs supposedly 30 minutes long however mine tend to be about 3 to 4 mile ish mark lasting up to about an hour with a longer run which I normally run in the latter part of the week Saturday or Sunday. It’s whats always fell better for me around work commitments etc, however I had found my run routines were changing under the current times.
I can’t remember the last time I bounced out of bed at 5.30am to have breakfast so I was off out nice and early before the day had even began. My run days now tent to be getting out the door no earlier than 8.30am and my non run days seem to start mid day. I do feel like I have become lazy however its hard when you’ve no where to go and no normal routine to follow.
I set off just after 10am, a lot later than normal for me but by the time i’d actually got out of bed and let my usual pre run breakfast of porridge followed by a banana settle I was shocked to see the time.
Today should have been run 1 of the week so normally a shorter run but when I left the house and headed down the road something just felt different. I kept my usual 30:30 Jeff going and stuck to my normal pace which felt comfortable.
As I joined the trail from the main road normally I would have gone up, round and along towards Rothervalley but today I felt like venturing out and trying a different route. Maybe it was the change of route that got me excited who knows but I found myself going down the trail in the opposite direction. It didn’t seem to take long before I was hitting the Renishaw entrance to the Sitwell arms, knowing continuing towards Pools Brook would be pushing it too far too soon today and would almost double my long run millage this week I decided to take a detour back home around the road way.
As I turned out of the Sitwell carpark onto the main road a thought occurred to me as I visually mapped out the route home in my mind. Running this way would mean I’d have to face the very large hill between Eckington and Morissons at half way! I’d not thought of that and having not been hill training this could be interesting. I decided if it was that bad it really would not be the end of the world to walk up it.
As I came to the gold club area there was a small bridge bit on a windy bit of road, at first I did wonder how I was going to get round the section with no patch way and surprisingly a lot of traffic out today, I then realised to the right of me just off the road side was a hidden metal foot bridge, I would have looked like a right plonker tackling the road and traffic had I not seen the small path leading tot he bridge section.
It wasn’t much longer before I rounded the corner to face the hill. I looked at it head on and set my self goals like I used to when out with Sharon on Joes Ices hills (Them were the days when I could run and go for a chat) I started slow and steady just having started a 30 seconds stint. It’s times like these 30 seconds really do feel like a life time. I was great full when I felt the vibration on my arm indicate it was walking time. The next indicator from walk to run signalled but going from a walk to a very and it was very slow jog took some getting into and felt awkward to transition between. About half way up and in a walk section I was passed by a road sweeper and I have to be honest when I needed to cross the road as there was no path left and had to try and time it around the sweeper I secretly used it to walk the remaining top part of the hill before getting back into rhythm at the top.
Following a different route really was rather inspiring me and I continued along the road, along the top past Morrisons taking a peek to check out the ques for Stu who was off to do our weekly shop after. As it turns out I was surprised to see no one stood waiting to go inside.
I turned off down the trail route taking me away from the road down the back of the petrol station and industrial units and back onto the track entrance. I decided to use the track to get extra millage in so joined back onto the track and headed back up it to go over the bridge and down along past the horse field.
I was half way up the hill towards out house when the local delivery man collared me to talk to (social distancing of course) as much as I wanted to continue the 200 yards I knew that would be rude so stopped my timer and decided to call it a day.
Just over 6 miles, I was more than happy with that.
I really need to start taking more pictures when out especially on my longer or newer routed runs. I logged a memory note (I have many of these when out on runs) to discuss how the small action camera worked with stu when I got back to save having to take phone in and out of pocket and risk dropping it.
Tonight’s news that Berlin has cancelled their Marathon in October left me feeling emotional.
I really want to keep focused and drive forward with the training plan and miles in hope that I will make that start line in 2020 but part of me is starting to feel deflated and like running a marathon is maybe not meant to be for me. All I can do is hope, I can’t even defer my place to 2021 if the event dose not go ahead as we’re away for a big holiday on the date 😭😭. My crying faces are over the deferral not the holiday no way I would miss this holiday.
I need to think of a back up plan, a Marathon later on in 2021 if really needed to focus on, I am determined nothing is going to stop me crossing a finish line even if it is a different one to my original plan. It will not drag me down to give in on my goals, I will run 26.2 miles in 2020 one way or another!
When I put my Jeffing plan together based on Jeff’s book I was wary over the fact that the training plan takes you to the full 26 miles! Every plan I have ever read up on or seen has always steered clear of completing the full millage. However, Jeff’s plans push to cover the millage during training. I had planned in a 26 mile run on my plan but was going to gauge how I felt on the run up to this week. I have now decided that if it is looking or feeling unlikely the official marathon will be going ahead then I am committing to completing those 26.2 miles in my own un official marathon. Even if I have to do numerous circuits of RotherValley. In fairness by then I should be able to run it blindfolded if the lock down continues.
Run 2 Thursday 23/4/20
Last night I had this bright spark that I needed to get back into some sort of routine again so I set my alarm! It’s not been set for nearly 5 weeks but I decided tomorrow was going to be warm one and I wanted to get up, out and done before the heat hit. I also remember how I really enjoyed by early morning runs to start the day off last year.
Who was I fooling, the alarm did go off at 6am but I turned it off and turned over back to sleep. In fairness I felt wheezy so decided I would go out a bit later. When I did stir an hour later I decided to i’d already decided I was going to have a change and run in the evening today. It had been ages since i had done a teatime run so i’d wait for the temperature to drop then go out before tea for a change. Pleased I decided to wait as the post woman brought me my Gymboss I’d ordered a belated birthday gift.
You may be asking what is a Gymboss? I had to ask myself the same question a few weeks back. well if I am honest I didn’t ask it myself I asked it on the girlsthejeff Facebook page.
A Gymboss it this little beauty
Looks a little bit like a pager. It has settings to allow you to set interval timers, so for example I set mine at 30:30 so every 30 seconds it vibrates and beeps. you can choose big beep or little beep, I set mine on big beep, lets just say they will certainly here me along the trail.
Just before 5pm I got changed, decided it was a cookie monster evening with he matching feed me cookie monster vest top. Although if I am completely honest I certainly didn’t need feeding anymore! confinement was doing nothing for my sweet tooth and this week I had decided I need to step back on the scales and start taking more note of what was going in especially since I wasn’t being as active as I normally was. I set up the gym boss attaching it to my vest strap and went off down the track for a short one.
I have to say highly impressed with the Gymboss, certainly no chance of not hearing it. Only issue I did have is I could feel it rubbing slightly and knew the longer distances wouldn’t survive it positioned where it was so I moved it mid route into the middle of the neck line on my vest which is where it felt better. Think it will be trail and error till I find where it works best without rubbing.
I knew tonight was just a short one so paced at what I felt comfy with. About a mile in I could feel a twingy buttock and a niggle on the inside of my right knee.  I had felt the twinge before in the past training but the niggle was normally on the out side of my knee not inside. I knew the signs were all there in tonight’s run that I needed to start bringing back in those strengthening exercises, something that should never have left my routine (tut tut). I also needed to find some sort of strengthening class such as body balance etc online to follow once a week. I just needed to find a space and time that  was suitable to do it.
Just under 2.5 miles done this evening, short but sweet.
Friday 24/4/20 Saturday 25/4/20 –
No walk day this week, no particular reason just didn’t fit it in to my week, will promise to do better next week.
Sunday Run 3 – 26/4/20
Long run day today although technically I’ve already covered my long run on Tuesday.
Earlier on in the week I had decided to see what I felt like today before deciding if to make this a smaller run or if to still run the planned 7 miles on my plan.
So as I woke and fuelled with usual porridge and a cuppa tea I decided to give the 7 miles ago. I made up some Tailwind in my water bottle (something I’d not done in awhile due to shorter runs)
It felt like a cookie monster day today so on went the latest cookie monster Capris followed by the matching vest top (first time worn). I did take a selfie, not that I am very good at doing that but it also turns out the picture was too big to post on here and i’m also not that technical either. 🤣🤣.
I decided to give the same route as Tuesday ago again but reverse it to try and avoid that massive hill section. What I didn’t take into account was the longer but more gradual hill sections up to the big downward hill section their was 😂😂. I’d obviously not taken much notice of those stretches when going down them the other day. Oh well at least those bits were done early on in the run and the rest was fairly flat apart from the small hill up to the Sitwell Arms.
It was a nice day again and just being out in the fresh air was good for me. As I turned just past the Sitwell onto the track home my legs felt strong and comfortable at the pace I’d slipped into and I knew I was homeward bound along this stretch. I’d stuck to my 30:30 Jeff all way finding it the most comfortable, although I do think I need to work on speeding up some of my walking sections as I sometimes feel like I’m going for a stroll on my 30 second walk sections and could benefits pace wise from stepping it up a little, however equally I need to remember 26.2 miles is a long way and so far my pace feels comfortable and I’m around the 5 mile an hour mark which I’d be more than happy with on the big day.
As I came towards the track exit I checked my millage to see it just turn 6 miles and knew if I wanted to hit 7 I’d need to add a loop in, so instead of getting off I carried on down past the industrial works entering the trail again at the roadside entrance and running back up to the bridge section before exiting down past the horse field.
As I reached the brow of the hill just before our car park I checked in again on the mileage to see it was still short of 7 miles. So did a loop of the nearby street Dobbs Close and then several rounds of the small car park before I hit that lucky 7! If the neighbours ever see me when I’m car park running they’ll wonder what I’m doing 😂😂.
Week 3 down 23 to go 😁.
The more photo promise is a working progress it would appear the posh camera bag Stu got out of the loft contains everything except the camera 😡 since its been ages since it was used the mission of trying to find it is now underway. With the loft being transformed into our new working office it could be in one of many box’s that’s been moved out of there 🙄.
 
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Week 2 Marathon Jeffing Plan Week Commencing 13/4/20

Tuesday Run 1 – 14/4/20
Weather this morning is deceiving the sun is out and although its not jumper weather it certainly isn’t vest weather either like the other day, so on went a t shirt.
I left the house again following my usual route road round to entrance of trail up through the track and down onto Rothervalley.
Rothervalley really was becoming my second home, but I enjoyed seeing the country park especially looking so peaceful. The only down side to doing the same routes is my blogs not the most exciting to follow at the moment.
Thursday Run 2 – 16/4/20
Today was one of those days. Didn’t feel 100% yesterday and as I hit 1 mile I really felt like I was struggling this morning. I wasn’t going fast in fact I’d tried to slow down as I knew my runs needed to be at Marathon pace. But legs felt like they were running on 0 energy, everything felt like an effort. I can honestly say I’ve not had a run feeling like this in a very very long time. It was starting to get warm but I’d ran in hotter temperatures before, my body felt tired and I knew today was going to be minimal planned millage, nothing more as something just didn’t feel right 😩.
I went my usual route down the trail and onto Rothervalley at the first exit turning right so going anti clockwise round today. Instead of continuing around the smaller lake I turned around the big lake passing the park area. The park still seems so erie all shut down, no sound of children’s laughter like something from a horror movie. 1 lap of the larger lake really was going to enough today.
When I came to second trail exit my watch beeped 3 miles covered with legs feeling no more energised I knew that was enough for today so stopped my watch and continued to walk a very slow walk back home. Even walking was an effort.
I can’t remember the last time I had to stop out on a run even on the really big constant runs or when I last had to walk home as oppose to running, part of me felt a little gutted but having felt not right yesterday I knew I had to listen to my body, 3 miles was plenty for today.
It might not be the usual millage I’d cover but I’d got out and done my planned training millage at least which was better than nothing at all.
Friday – Walk Day –  17/4/20
Gentle walk planned today, guess where to? Yup off down round Rothervalley 😂😂.
Decides to make my walk days family walk days 😍.
Suzie was even more excited to join me when she realised we’d got matching Tikkaboos.
Mine were a birthday gift and whilst ordering them Suzie had got really excited so I couldn’t resist putting her a pair in the basket. Tiger stripes it was today.
It was a bit nippy but we enjoyed our walk and fresh air. Suzie managed to walk all the way round the big lake bless her.
Was nice to stretch the legs without having to think of pace.
Sunday – Long run day – 19/4/20
The start to the day just felt better this morning.  Although today is long run day, the planned millage was only 3 miles, a drop down week in preparation of a longer run next week. This is all new to me I’ve never really done drop down weeks the week before bigger runs unless it’s been a half marathon or 10k race. In past plans my millage as always gone up in small increments until taper weeks have began. Reading Jeffs book I knew this was a great way to keep muscles free of injury and allow body to rebuild stronger.
However I found running only 3 miles hard especially feeling so much better than earlier on in the week so did cheekily do 4 miles along my usual Rothervalley route but I did refrain from including the smaller lake in my run and just did the large one.
As I turned the corner towards the exit of the country park I was greeted with a duo of spider men on bikes! 🤣🤣 A little lad and his dad both in spiderman onsies made me smile. I love seeing quirky things when out.
Week 2 training done!
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Week 1  Jeffing Marathon Plan Week Commencing 6/4/20

You may or may not be thinking or asking what is Jeffing? If you already know you may want to jog on from this first bit, for those of you who are interested and no idea here’s a little bit about Jeffing, the technique I’m going to use to get me across the finish line of my first marathon.

A gentleman called Jeff Galloway designed the Jeffing method in 1973! Yup it really has been around all these years and yet still so many people haven’t heard of this amazing technique. It was designed to help beginners start running. Using strategic walk breaks allow each runner to control fatigue, virtually eliminating significant running injuries. Jeff now has a range of training plans and e coaching runners starting with 5k’s all the way to marathon training. If it’s something you are thinking i’d like to give that a go or find out more about it then check him out online.

After reading his Marathon you can do it book ( which I highly recommend), I was left feeling inspired and ready to change my Marathon training plan from running to Jeffing. So I sat down and put together a plan based on Jeffs Marathon plan in his book. As with all plans I know things might get moved around, you have to be prepared for that flexibility. Normally I would have holidays etc worked into my plan but under the circumstances majority of our main ones have had to be postponed till next year so if any breaks go ahead ill work them in as and when they occur. Putting together a plan based on Jeffs Marathon training plan has helped me refocus and given me an idea of millage to be covering each week to get me through that finish line.

So here it is Jeffing my way to a marathon blog section. I will blog week by week all  26 weeks worth of training and then do a full on the day blog of the big day.

At the moment my running routes are limited due to current isolation guidelines and are alone so i’m not promising blogs full of giggles or exciting stuff bur who knows what these weeks will bring and I’d love to have you following me.

 

Monday 6/4/20 – Just a short one to start the week off, I headed off down the track to the trail and decided to right once on trail away from Rothervalley for a change. Sticking to my 30:30 ratio (30 secs walk / 30 secs running) I ran up to the gap in the fence then went down onto the bottom track running back towards home. Covering just over 2.5 miles. It seemed so measly compared to the millage I had been doing a couple of months ago but I knew I had to follow my plan and not over do things.

 

Wednesday 8/4/20 – Decided to cover a bit further today and headed off down to Rothervalley. The weather was lovely and it felt good to be wearing my Capris and vest top as opposed to base layers and gloves. The only downside to the seasons changing is that my wheeze at the start of my runs was back. Although this soon disappeared a couple of km in I knew I needed to start slower bot to prevent the wheezing but also 26.2 miles was no walk in the park and I knew starting to quick could be the make of break of longer runs as the mileage increased so getting into good habits now would help me along the way. Keeping my 30:30 ratio I went down the trail and onto the lakes deciding I would go round both lakes, 5 miles covered and feeling strong! I have to say i’m really enjoying Jeffing.

 

Thursday 9/4/20 – Leisurely stroll day today. With the weather so nice it’s a shame to be stuck indoors so keeping social distances of course Suzie and I headed down for a gestalt stroll around both lakes. We really are so lucky to have all this on our doorstep and be able to get out during these tough times.

 

Saturday 11/4/20 – Long run day today as a family Birthday walk is planned tomorrow. By long run my plan states 3 miles which to be honest doesn’t feel like I am challenging myself or pushing myself at the moment but I need to remember I have gone back to the very start of a training plan and pushing too hard too soon will only lead to injury. 

I have been covering an average of 4 – 5 miles on most days i’ve been out so I set out with the intention of seeing how I felt but doing no more than 6 Miles max. 

I took my usual route, but decided I felt strong enough to add in an extra stretch by passing my usual exit and getting off at the second exit and coming back along the trail which I knew would cover the extra mileage. Another good run today finishing the week feeling pleased. 

 

Sunday 12/4/20 – Today should have been a rest day, I know how important resting is but we had planned a family, social distanced stroll around Rothervalley for my birthday so we took a slow plod. It was a slow plod so no danger of over exerting myself today, with Stu, Suzie and Jaffa (the beagle). Suzie enjoyed stretching her legs and looking at the ducks, before climbing into the buggy ¾ of the way round just before the heavens opened and decided to soak us all. Typically it stopped when we reached our garden gate, a bit of rain never hurt anyone and it was nice to escape the house as a family. 

 

       

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Update 11/04/2020

Apologies for my lack of blogging. It feels like it has been months since I last blogged, probably because it has been but so much has happened that to try to catch up with blogs would be a tough one. So I have decided to do a quick catch up post and then restart my blogging this week.

It was 4 weeks prior to what should have been the big day of the Manchester Marathon when I had my first Physio session and was diagnosed officially with ITT Band issues. The world was just starting to enter the first stages of the Corona Virus and the thought that the big day would be cancelled was still just a small thought at this point.

I went with a heavy heart expecting to be told there would be no way I’d make the start line, instead I was given ultrasound and deep tissue massage and told if I followed advice I could still be within a chance.

So that week I followed a strict routine of no running, who would have thought that not running for just 1 week would have driven me so crazy! But I kept my promise knowing that it would get me to that start line, I followed a daily set of strengthening exercises. My word I am not a fan of side planks and walking planks killed my stomach muscles for the first few days but I stuck with it alongside the routine 3 times a day icing of the knee area.

During this week I did a lot of research and reading up on the Jeffing method. I realised to get me to the finish I may have to change my approach. The more I read up on this idea the more I wanted to give it ago.

For anyone unfamiliar with the term Jeffing it’s a very effective method designed by an american gent Jeff Galloway where you mix intervals of running and walking from the very start. This allows better recovery of the muscles, runners to go further with less risk of injuries and more enjoyment.

If you ever get a chance to read his Jeffing a marathon book I really would recommend it, for me it was a real eye opener.

I re-visited the Physio the  week after and received another ultrasound and deep tissue massage. I was then told I was able to re-start the introduction of running but light runs 15 minutes first then increasing this by another 15 minutes and including a walk break every 5 minutes.

After having considered the Jeffing system I had already decided I was going to give it a go and set out doing a 60:30 ratio, so 60 seconds running to 30 seconds walk. The first run took me longer to get dressed for than I actually ran but I had promised not to over do it and risk flaring up my knee. It was strange running then walking and I had to really commit to not just running the 15 minutes but by the end I found I was quiet enjoying it. I knew my ratio’s would take some getting used to and need playing around with but I was quite excited to be taking on a new challenge and the thought that this really may be the way to cross that finish line for me.  

I made my third visit to the Physio the week after, this is were things were starting to get a little more scarier in the world and the thought that the organisers may have to make the decision to cancel the event was starting to feel more real. Happy with my progress we decided my appointment could move to fortnightly and I could continue to increase my mileage and running time gradually.

Little did I know that life would change from the next day.

Tuesday is really when things took a turn in my life, I had to close the doors that day to my Slimming World groups, never knowing if or when they would re open.It turns out three weeks later I made the decision to step down from role as a consultant making a decision I knew would change my life. I’d had five amazing years at building up my groups, being part of members’ amazing journeys, but up until trying to make this work from home I had never really worked out the hours I was putting in. Lets just say it was a lot and I decided I wanted to be able to switch off from my work in an evening and give my family the time they deserved from me.

 I started on an emotional roller coaster ride, one I am still on and believe I will be on for a while as will most people. I never realised how much running would play a part in keeping me sane during this time.

That weekend the announcement came in everything I had been looking forward to planning and training for, was taken away. The marathon had been cancelled, Although I agreed with the reasons,I went through a series of feelings. First it was disappointment and upset. I had spent a year building up to this date, early mornings, running in all weathers. Then it turned into determination. Just because I was not crossing that line on April 5th 2020 didn’t mean I was never going to cross it. This extra time meant I could strengthen the training I had already put in crossing that line stronger!

By that weekend the Corona Virus had really started to up its pace in the world, taking thousands of life’s and it was decided as a country we would go into isolation with strict measures in place only being allowed out of our houses for exercise and essentials such as shopping whilst maintaining a social distancing at all times. Some countries at this point had banned things such as exercise at this point so just to be able to get out once a day was a blessing to me. The world was turning into an erie place full of uncertainty. So much had changed over the last couple of weeks things felt so unreal.

I’d already eyed up the garden and realised it would be too much of a krypton factor for me to run in. Dodging the slide, swing, dog child etc spelled disaster. So being able to have access to the trail and Rothervalley really was my saviour.

Jeffing gave me a new challenge to focus on, a new plan. When the new date 11th October 2020 was released for the Manchester Marathon I decided to re start my training with a brand new plan.

By this time I had spent a few weeks building back up to around the 5 mile mark by using a Jeffing ratio of 30:30 which I found to be quite comfortable, with no knee pain so decided to plan a whole new training plan based on Jeff Galloways marathon training plan.

Which leads me up to where I am today, My first week of my new marathon training plan!

I have decided to start a whole new blog category to follow for my new plan. I promise to blog every week as opposed to every run unless there’s anything extra exciting to share with you, all the way to that finish line in October.