Gerry Doyle, masters runner with Rathfarnham WSAF, was kind enough to allow us to share his feedback on our training programmes after using the schedule to run 2:41 in the Rotterdam Marathon. Below he shares his experience with the programme:
Currently this is the longest period I have had injury free since I started running competitively again when I turned 40. The marathon programme was fantastic and it looks like I have carried that form on with a solid run in the RTE 5 mile yesterday 27:09.
I have raced well since the start of the year and yesterday was my 7th race of the year which is also my longest racing streak in the last 10 years.
The Lydiard programme works well for me as unlike the club programmes it is not based around easy running with multiple speed sessions throughout the week. I particularly find the tempo and Out&Back runs very effective.
One other thing I should have mentioned was my race performances. In all of my races up to and including the marathon itself I finished the race strong and my last mile was generally the quickest or at least as fast as my first mile, I always felt I had something left towards the end of the race and recovery immediately after the race with the exception of the marathon was instant.
Traditionally my splits would get slower towards the tail end of a race and I would be extremely fatigued after the event so it was pleasing to both finish strong and recover quickly while running the quickest times I have managed for years.
With regard to the marathon recovery I was able to recommence running 2 days later starting with an easy 3 miles albeit on very sore quads, however I was very comfortable running an easy 18 miles 7 days after the event and had a good race 3 weeks later so altogether very surprised at the speed of recovery.