Diane smashed it! 3:20:14 marathon on a windy course. That's a new personal best by 9 minutes, and she was the winning female!
It's been a pleasure helping Diane. We only actually had 4 sessions together before her marathon.
It's really fun training runners like Diane who are experienced, hard-working and already very good runners. Diane did not need me to tell her how to put together a marathon training program. She knew a good deal about this already. My job was to listen to her concerns and help refine what she was doing.
We talked a lot about how to perfect the taper period; not only the training specifics, but also the mental approach to this block of training.
We did a small amount of work on running technique. More specifically, we focussed on a few minor adjustments that would have a big impact, but were low risk. You can easily cause more problems than you solve by making major adjustments to the running technique of experienced runners, particularly so close to an event.
We then established that there was value in hard intervals with me watching the clock. Intervals are hard to do on your own, particularly at 5.45am around a common in Cambridge! We settled on some classic Yasso 800m reps.
Great work Diane. Brilliant achievement.
If you live in Cambridge, Saffron Walden, Newmarket or the surrounding villages, and are thinking about running a marathon, please don't hesitate to get in touch if you think you need some help from a running coach.
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