Blog: RfH marathon run

British Superbike star Dean Ellison is planning to compete in the New York marathon to raise funds for the Riders for Health charity. And he’s sharing his training regime in a blog for MCN.

Training update

As you will know by now I have been running early in the morning for most of this week and apart from needing to be dragged out of bed at 5am I actually enjoy jogging around my home town when it is still dark, cold and really quiet. The 2 short runs per day have worked really well and today (Saturday 14th) I did my first half marathon distance (13 miles), since my accident and it was tough, my legs still feel pretty weak but I completed it in 1 hour & 35 minutes. I was aiming for 1 hour 30mins but at the same time I was also concerned not to push too hard because I didn’t want to fail half way round or give my self an injury.

My plan for the next few days is to continue with running twice a day but to have a bit more variety, now that my legs are getting a bit stronger I will have to incorporate some speed work, hill work and also increase my daily runs to 45 minutes. Something else that I will have to consider is my technique, when you are running long distance you have to adjust your style to the differing terrain, going uphill you need to shorten your stride, use your arms to help and keep the pace consistent. On the flat you have to lengthen your stride and try to reduce the impact you put through your legs by ensuring a foot rolling of heal to toe and keep the movement smooth. When you get to the down hills you can treat them as your recovery, just relax, lengthen your stride even more and allow gravity and momentum to take over.

Anyway I am having a day off the running tomorrow as I will need it to recover. I had to turn down going to Estoril to watch my brother in the GP so that I could concentrate on the training.

Thank you for the donations already made, if you have not donated yet please remember that this is a really good cause and it can be easily done on line www.justgiving.co/deanellison

Cheers

Dean