And . . . I'm Off !!

The first 2 days of my training have gone well and today I'm enjoying a well earned rest day after 4 days of back to back training sessions.

Monday saw the start of my 14 week training program and it was a nice and easy start with a 3.5 mile recovery run (30 mins).  I was actually glad it was just a short run because I went out in the evening and it was a bitterly cold night with frost already forming on the pavement.  I ran the first mile with my snood up over my face to keep the cold out which I've never had to do before.  When I'd warmed up though it was fine and I didn't really notice the cold too much until I got inside the house which felt like a walking into a sauna after being out in sub-zero temperatures.

Tuesday was a 5.75 mile run including a 3 x 5 mins threshold interval session with a 1.5 mile warm up and cool down.  I ran this during my lunch break at work and conditions were perfect, nice and cool with the sun coming out intermittently.  I ran the threshold sections at 6:58 min/mile pace which is just right for the finish time I'm aiming for.

I've chosen a target time that should be well within my perceived capability based on my half marathon time of 1hr 30mins because I don't want to run 'all out' so that I can try to enjoy the marathon experience in London.  This also has the affect of making my training a bit more enjoyable because I don't have to push so hard during my interval sessions as my training paces have dropped to suit.  This has shown up already during my first threshold interval session as my average heart rate only reached threshold level during the 3rd rep.  Hopefully the slightly reduced paces will put me at a lower risk of injury as well.  As my training advances I may change my mind, but for now I'm going to be a bit conservative until I'm 100% sure my knee injury isn't going to return.

Tomorrow brings a Kenyan Hill session, which I'm now quite looking forward to because I found out today that I've been running these sessions incorrectly when training for previous races, making them alot harder than I should've been.  The only down side is that it's forecast to rain, which isn't great when you are trying to run up hills at a quick pace.