Brathay 10in10 Training 2022

1st January 2022, what’s the training plan?

I’m not someone that has a detailed daily running plan, I never have, I haven’t got the mindset for that kind of thing, on top of that I need to be flexible with my running to fit it around work and family commitments. When training for the Brathay 10in10 it is all about building up endurance and the speed work that usual runners do is of little value to me. There are three things I focus on in my preparation. These are:-

1. Weekly mileage

In 2021 I averaged 35 miles per week so this is the base with which I consider building my training from the beginning of 2022 for this year’s Brathay 10in10 in May.
I had planned the following weekly mileages:-
January – 40 miles per week
February – 45 miles per week
March – starting with 50 miles per week, moving up to 60 for a couple of weeks
April, first couple of weeks about 50 miles per week then starting to taper
Two weeks in May dropping to 30 and 20 miles per week

This would give me an average of about 50 miles per week. I have not been able to consistently do this planned mileage because of all the injuries which I have mentioned in my previous blog post. In the end, I have completed almost 700 miles over the last 18 weeks giving me an average weekly mileage of 39 miles per week. On a positive, I did a block of 4 weeks at the end of March/early April averaging 55 miles per week. I suppose I should be pleased to have managed this.

2. Weekly long run

Sunday, for many years has been the day of my long run. On weeks I’m not running a marathon, I will at least do half marathon distance. In the main I have managed this, apart from a couple of weeks while resting because of injury.

In the run up to the Brathay 10in10 from 1^st January I like to get in about 8 to 10 marathons, with one weekend being a double, which is usually my very own Gin Pit Double. I managed the double and 4 other marathons, giving a total of 6 marathons. This is not what I would have liked but I still think it is enough to give me reasonable distance run preparation.

3. Hilly work

This can be a tough one for me to do while living in Leigh on the edge of the Cheshire plane with hardly a hill around. There are a few small hills nearby in Tyldesley which I have used to do hill reps. I also have spent some time in the Lakes and Anglesey which are much hillier, and this has helped. I have managed some decent hill work but probably half what I would normally have done so I’ll have to hope it is enough.

Overall, my training has been a bit disappointing, but all things considered, I could not have done more without aggravating my injuries and probably making things worse. I think I have got the balance of training and injury management the best I could and just hope it is enough to get me around Britain’s largest lake 10 times in 10 days next week.