Almost there

Saturday was my last marathon pace run. I ran with Darren and was pleased to be told we were sub 6:20 pace from the outset. Trouble is it was VERY WINDY and we should really have been nearer 6:10 pace.

On my own for the return 7.5 miles I had a 35 minute section of block headwind to finish the run. It was horrendous and I felt I had to run as hard as I could to avoid and truly awful result. At the finish I had ran 1 minute 15 seconds slower for the horrible return leg. Not a bad result given the conditions but what was supposed to be a comparatively short outing leaving me feeling like I could have continued for 10 miles more actually left me feeling so utterly wrecked that I went back to bed for a nap later in the afternoon.

The pace was 6:25 - same as I managed for 18 miles in more pleasant conditions two weeks earlier. 6:25 will give me a 2:47 marathon. In 2010 I ran a 2:47 marathon. The only consolation is that it was certainly an excellent workout if not quite of the intensity I had planned.

Sunday I jogged in the evening with Scamp for an hour.

This left just 3 training days to complete before London (as opposed to  'just going for a run' every day in the final taper week)

The 3 training days were to be similar to what have been doing but reduced in volume.

So on Monday I ran for approx 75 mins (instead of 2 hours) with Scamp off road.

Tuesday I my usual 11mins hard 4 minutes easy session, but instead of doing this around a 10 mile loop I ran one lap of the hilly Talkin circuit. More strong wind made it difficult to try hard enough on the downhill tailwind sections and any uphill headwind saw me slow to almost a crawl. Nevertheless 42:45 is my fastest time around that circuit in some while.

Wednesday I didnt run at all but I did walk most of the way up Grisedale Pike to take photos of the fellrace thereon.

Thursday was fast reps as usual but only 4x 800 metres (instead of 5 x 3 minutes). Short  of time, I didnt do much of a warm up over and above the mile to get to the measured 800metre path. Started off steady therefore with a 2:46, then 2:50 back into a headwind. Nicely warmed up I then ran a bit faster, 2:39 and 2:44. Not startling times by any means but that is the kind of distance I would usually train over in the summer when looking to improve 10k performance.

So now we wait. No more training to do until  Easter Monday at the earliest. I suppose the small matter of  26.2 miles next Sunday counts as training, but all of next weeks taper runs will be for enjoyment. Short and slow. With Scamp probably.

Good luck to all others also heading down to the capital -and also to fellow blogger running THIS weekend