The Event Horizon..

6 Days to Go

There was a time not too long ago when the thought of a 12 mile run of a Sunday morning would fill me with dread. Now, as I enter the last week of this training programme, it's a blessed relief. I thought that the old faithful route along the Rea Valley would be a nice change - before the marathon I used to   do it practically every week, nowadays I can't remember the last time I ran the whole way up to Northfield and back.

EDIT: According to the oracle that is Strava, it was at the end of March and I was twenty seconds faster than today. Ordinarily I'd be worried - but I hadn't had four months of 40-plus mile weeks back then. Actually, any excuse to be worried...

So that's just about it for the training. Next week is race week so Monday's club run will be little more than an exercise in calming the nerves, then a mandated session on Wednesday with a couple of miles at race pace before I put myself in the hands of Icelandair.

I've checked the weather and, barring a potential for showers on the day, conditions look damn near perfect. Training has gone about as well as it could. Even a natural pessimist like myself is struggling to find many negatives in the build-up.

Starting to get very nervous.

Peak Performance

20 Days to Go

Made it! I'll be honest and admit that there were a few points over the last few weeks when I genuinely thought that I wouldn't, but today marked both the heaviest week in terms of mileage and the end of the hard weeks of training. From now on, it's tapering all the way.

A final 20 mile run was the order of the day, again along the canal into town before looping back through Summerfield Park - an unusual choice admittedly, but it did mean I could add another tick to my owl spotting list. Overall, it was a bit slower than previous weeks but that is probably due to deliberately trying to run the first few miles a bit slower so that I wasn't absolutely exhausted by the end. Unsurprisingly this didn't work.

Daft tactics aside, I still made it in a decent time and could reward myself with a big lunch and the knowledge that the next few weeks will involve progressively less running leading up to the big day. Of course the running will now be replaced by increasing levels of introspection. Have I put in enough training? Did I do it at the right pace? 

In the end, all this is entirely meaningless. There are only so many hours in the day and I'm pretty sure that I've spent far too many of them running in the last few weeks to the detriment of other activity. Ultimately, I've done as much training as I can. We shall see in a few weeks if it's enough...

That said, to stop myself going slightly bonkers through second guessing myself, 'The Plan' recommends a 10k race next week to clear the head. Handily, that fits in with the Stourbridge Stagger so a Saturday evening out beckons. 

Before that, I have to content with a new broom at work as our new boss starts in post tomorrow. I sense some meaningless charts in the offing...

The heat is on...

48 Days to Go

Blimey, it's been hot!

I managed 13 miles home from work on Tuesday evening after deciding it was likely to be the coolest  evening this week - that said, I still managed to down a litre bottle of water on the way back. Just as well, otherwise it would have been a particularly unpleasant experience. Wednesday was supposed to be a VO2 max workout, but a combination of the hottest day of the year and final rehearsals for the stage debut (Tickets still available) rather sensibly put paid to that.

After a nice strength workout at club on Thursday, and a quick blast on Friday, the stage was set for the Birmingham Black Country Half Marathon on Saturday. It's a straight point to point along the canal from Wolverhampton back to Brum with the flat terrain pretty similar to Reykjavik so a decent choice for a tune up race.

My plan was to try and maintain slightly quicker than the planned marathon pace - which with the temperature in the mid twenties was going to easier said than done. When I signed up for the race, I was mindful that previous years have seen the race extended to about 14 miles due to a repair enforced detour, so set a conservative estimated time in anticipation. As it happened, the canal was now fully fixed so the race was back to the right distance but my estimated time was useful as it gave me a constant stream of people to run at.

The race was tough in the conditions, but I consoled myself with the knowledge that the marathon in eight weeks will be run in temperatures at best half of what they were today. My overall time of 1:30:58 was pleasing as well - it meant that I was slightly quicker than marathon pace as intended. The mileage was pretty consistent as well, with most within five seconds of each other. The only outlier was the one involving running through the infamous canal tunnel at Coseley. 300m in the murky darkness is faintly terrifying.

So just a long run to brave tomorrow and then another week of training ticked off. My reward in the evening will be a trip to gig for the first time in months and then the play on Monday. Having a social life again following the Uni course is taking some getting used to!

Running Whilst Ginger

53 Days to Go

A pretty uneventful rest of week running wise, I needed the period of recovery after recent efforts and it seems that most of the runs were roughly the same pace - which either means that I'm not overtraining or I've become defiantly one paced. Time will tell...

The biggest difficulty this week was the delayed onset of summer and the warm weather. For a ginger person like myself, it's never pleasant and even worse when exercising. The sweat begins to pour off me almost as soon as I leave the house so carrying bottles will probably be the order of the day from now on. I might even scare the neighbours by switching to a vest for my runs out.

A quick swap of the schedules for this week thanks to juggling work and tune-up races. According to 'The Plan', the first of two tune-up Half Marathons should be in two weeks however due to having to work that weekend I've instead opted for that old perennial the Birmingham Black Country Half Marathon this Saturday. I've therefore switched two weeks of the schedule - giving me a mini taper prior to the race. 

On one hand, the fact it's down the canal and therefore pretty flat in a similar way to Reykjavik means that it should be good practice. On the other hand, if the warm continues as anticipated then it could be less a race and more a war of attrition!

Canals

75 Days to Go

Well that's another week down and so far things seem on course. Thursday was a recovery run down at the club - depressingly everyone else was committed to the rep session so another steady plod on my own was the order of the day (this is starting to become a familiar experience!). I had a catch up with Mike afterwards - he was planning on running the Worcester race that I decided to dip out of (and actually ran a really good time, so a great result!).

Friday was a switched rest day following my exam exertions on Monday so I just went to the gym and started looking forward to my first weekend with absolutely nothing planned in about eight months.

Sadly, this didn't mean a completely relaxing day - there was an inordinate amount of shopping and tackling of the overgrown jungle that is my garden to be done. Nevertheless, I still managed to get in the mandated seven mile run. For reasons that weren't exactly clear, this was supposed to be done in the afternoon which meant braving Cannon Hill at the busiest time of day. Luckily I managed to find a secluded part to do some 100m strides away from prying eyes.

Sunday morning brought the longest run so far and I thought that I would take advantage of the decent weather by hitting the canal out towards Stratford. Shamefully, despite living in the area for almost five years, I've never run out further than the Alcester Road. Every year I take part in a relay race from Stratford to Brum and know that the final checkpoint is at a pub called the Bluebell Cider House which is about eight miles out of town, so decided to make for that. 

It was a really nice run, incredibly quiet almost as soon as I cleared the part of the canal near Maypole, although my rudimentary distance calculations seemed worryingly off as the miles ticked by and the pub showed no sign of appearing. Thankfully, after an hour and a half it suddenly appeared from around a bend, so after a quick refuel (I have learned to my cost that energy gels don't agree with me - energy sweets on the other hand...) I set off back.

Psychologically, it's always easier on the return even though its obviously the same distance, and I managed to maintain the same pace even as the miles began to stack up. That said, the final one back up the Alcester Road was a tough slog but I managed to get in done. So 19.5 miles in the bank for the day and 56 for the week - and crucially not feeling absolutely obliterated in the aftermath!

So a rest day tomorrow and then next week brings two (spectacularly poor planning on my part again) races - the second Worcester Midweek at Redditch and then the penultimate Fourmidables event on Saturday. It breaks up the long runs I suppose - but its still a good job they're only 10k a piece!

Normal Service Resumed

Week Seven - 79 Days to Go

First post in a while after an enforced absence - last week was a mandated recovery week, which meant less running. Handily this was a good thing as on Monday I sat my first and only exam for my Masters this year. Having not had the pleasure of a written exam for about 13 years, it was a fairly terrifying experience - compounded by the fact it all took place in an old gym which gave me flashbacks to my GCSEs!

Anyway, out of the way now so nothing else to occupy my spare time apart from training and rehearsals for my stage debut (here on the 6th July). Yesterday I went out and managed a five mile threshold run along the canal. As per usual, I was for too quick - which made for an undignified spectacle on the last mile. Even more concerning was that the five miles finished just by a children's play area - the one place you shouldn't really stand around panting and sweating profusely....

Tonight was my now customary run home from work, and as is now also customary the weather was very pleasant. It was so nice (and to be honest I felt in such good shape) that I added an extra mile and a bit on the end to make a half marathon distance. The pace was pretty consistent, save for the inevitable road crossings and having to negotiate a small army of ducks in Highbury Park. It seems the recovery week has done the trick, so far 'The Plan' is doing the business.

The next few days are planned to be easy runs, building for the weekend. For reasons I can't really remember, I've entered a 10k race in Worcester on Sunday morning. However, I think that I may be giving it a miss - although I think I'm in the kind of shape for a sub-40 minute time, it probably won't be any use for the training regime which calls for a 18-plus run on the Sunday. Besides, the Droitwich 10k is booked in for a few weeks time. Hopefully post-marathon I can reap the benefits of the training and post some quick times over the shorter distances.

Poor choice of words for a blog about marathon training but best not to walk before you can run!