Six of the best and seventy two more besides

Some might say doing a hard run within 2 days of completing a 20 mile race is unwise. But , with the clock ticking to marathon day, how long do you not train hard for? I decided that in deference to the race obviously being still  in my legs I would reduce my now customary time trial effort to just 4 miles this Tuesday. Much further and I would probably have found myself running at a very similar pace to the race, and one thing I learned a long time ago is that you shouldn't train consecutively at the same pace.

I met up with Darren and we ran 5:52 pace with a negative split despite a gusty headwind to contend with in the second half. Darren ran strongly, taking his fair share of the wind as we changed lead often. (He actually finished one second ahead of me but then he ONLY raced 13.1 hilly miles on Sunday compared to my 20 flat).

My midweek long run offroad was as muddy as ever. Once I got to Dalston I ran around a couple of fields until one hour had elapsed, then took the slightly easier route back to Carlisle on the opposite side of the river. Handily, this gives me a chance to encourage Scamp into the water a few times - much needed considering the state he gets in paddling through the muddy side - no way I could let him in the house like that! I was finished in just under two hours but with a couple of Scamp stops etc I'm claiming a 110 minute run.

Horrible weather just prior to Tonights nights reps meant I wasn't looking forward to these 3 by 2 mile efforts. Luckily the rain stopped and the wind seemed to ease back a little while we (me and Darren) completed the efforts in 11:37, 11:40 and 11:37. I'd imagined I could do these at 5:45 per mile but the result of 5:49 perhaps was as good as it was ever likely to get considering how much hard running I have done in the previous 4 days.

Presuming I run my intended 23 miles this coming Saturday I will have done a total mileage of 78 in 6 runs. Bit of a cheat in that the two longest runs are Sunday then the next Saturday, but however its calculated its still my biggest ever weekly total. Bearing this in mind I will probably take next week as a real kickback week before then embarking on a final 3 week push, taking me up to the final fortnight which will gently ramp me down into the London Marathon.