Week 13, Session 1 - Recovery Run (3.5 Miles)
Session 2 - Recovery Run (5.5 Miles)
Session 3 - Progression Run (9 Miles - Last 4.5 miles @ Marathon Pace)
Session 4 - 5 x 5 mins Thershold Intervals (7 Miles)
Session 5 - Long Run (7 Miles)
Well, this time next week it'll all be over and hopefully all the hard work in training will have paid off. I'll have a medal in my hand and hopefully, all being well, I will have finished in the sort of time that I have trained towards - although just getting over the finish line is my main priority. More importantly though, I will have raised a large sum of money for CLIC Sargent.
Last weeks training felt a little bit harder than I was expecting during a taper week and I've been suffering a bit with a cough and sore throat. My legs have felt a little heavy and some of the distances didn't feel as easy as they have done over the past months. I've been reading that it isn't unusual to feel like this during the taper and the body can get withdrawl symptoms from all the hard and long running that it's been doing throughout the rest of training.
It felt quite weird going out for a long run on Wednesday, but it made sense to do it early so that it wasn't too close to marathon day. It's also feels strange to call a 9 miler a long run when in recent weeks 18-22 miles constituted a long run. The last 35 minutes had to be run at marathon pace and I'm glad to say my target pace felt comfortable - well I should hope so, beings as I'll be running at that pace for several more hours on Sunday.
On Saturday I took the boys to football training where I had to get into my PINK marathon outfit for a photo with all the kids and coaches at the football club. This is for an article that is to be published in the local paper this week to promote my marathon attempt and the sponsored 'mini-marathon' that the kids at the club are going to be running to help me with my fundraising for CLIC Sargent. It was a very cold and wet morning and although the kids didn't seem to mind as they were running about for 90 minutes, all the parents couldn't wait to get home in the warm.
On Saturday afternoon I went out for a threshold interval session, although I wasn't keen. It was horrible outside despite the fact the rain had stopped, but I knew I had to do it. I took the intervals a bit easier than usual because I didn't want to risk picking up an injury and because I was feeling a little under the weather. When I got back I was just in time to sit down with the kids to watch the Grand National. Earlier in the day we all picked a horse and I placed a cheeky little bet on each one. My eldest son Ben picked a horse that fell at the second fence and he wasn't best pleased because he is very competitive, but his mood improved alot by the end when he saw that the horses that my youngest son Kieran and I picked were at the front and in with a chance of winning. After jumping the final fence it was clear that mine wasn't going to win but Kieran's was neck and neck with another at the front. It was a photo finish and you should've heard the noise when it was announced that Kieran's horse 'Neptune Collonges' had won at 33-1 . . . needless to say we were all very happy, especially as a few minutes later I realised that my horse had finished 4th winning us a bit more money.
When I got back from my run on Sunday we decided to treat ourselves to a Chinese takeaway for tea with some of the winnings from the previous day. Naughty, but nice !! Even naughtier was that I had the left overs for lunch today at work when I'm supposed to be cutting out carbs for a few days . . . ooops, that'll have to wait until tomorrow.
The comming week doesn't involve much running. A short interval session on Tuesday to keep sharp followed by a session with my physio after work and very short recovery runs on Thursday and Saturday. We're travelling to London on the Saturday and we've identified a little park near the hotel that I can run in, but if we get back late from the Expo I may have to give it a miss.
It's all getting very real now and it's great reading all the feelings of excitement, nervousness, apprehension etc, from other VLM runners on the forums and blogs, knowing that I'm not the only one out there feeling like that. I just wish this week would fly by, so that I can get on the train on Saturday for what should hopefully be a great weekend !!
Week 13 Summary - 32 miles : 4hrs 21 mins
Session 1 - Recovery Run - 3.5 Miles
Session 2 - Recovery Run - 5.5 Miles
Session 3 - Progression Run - 9 Miles with last 4.5 miles @ Marathon Pace
Session 4 - 5 x 5 mins Thershold Intervals - 7 Miles
Session 5 - Long Run - 7 Miles
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