I started this blog to track my progression over the years, what things worked, what things didn’t and share with you!

The focus this year has been developing the aerobic system, I took a test in January for blood lactate.

My max HR was around 199 achieved in a 5k race, hitting a steep brutal hill on the last 5km, from this I i estimated my z2 HR to be around 150bpm, I continued with this from May 2023-2025, I made great progress going from Sub 19:50 5k -> 17:25. Great progression but it seemed I stalled out after that.

Going back to the blood lactate test, found out that I was really aerobically underdeveloped, didn’t think I could be, I was consistent with the weekly training with very little downtime. So after Jan, I decided to slow down, running at 130 BPM, when I started out this was 7.00 per km. Over time, it has worked it way down to 5.30 per km and I am hoping to get this closer to 4.30 per KM with increased volume with time spent.

The lower HR has made training enjoyable, easy runs should feel easy and I am recovering well between the harder sessions. Plus mainly, I saw improvements, I ran 1.19 half this year, 17.02 5k all while in the middle of a busy triathlon training season.

In this marathon build up, I have been taking the easy runs super easy between hard sessions, I have been working with a renowned Irish marathon coach Gary O ‘ Hanlon, I will not go into the specifics of the training sessions as that’s his business! But focus on long tempos with floating recoveries, hill training, 10k effort work. The stress level from these sessions are high and put you at high risk from injury. The slow runs help to flush your legs out after these brutal sessions and allows you to go to survive until the next session.

I am hoping to run 2.45 this year, an improvement by over 12 minutes from my December marathon in malaga. A big ask, but the easy runs might just be the answer!