Funny Week

Nobody I knew was wanting to do a 10 mile run at the same pace and time of day as me last Sunday. So, with nobody to chat to to help ensure I maintained no faster than a conversational pace, I made a point of passing the time of day/weather observations with every person I ran past enroute. A very cold wind in the East made the return journey very pleasant for a change, making miles 9 and 10  well inside 6:30 pace and feeling very relaxed.
65:45 for the run is one minute slower than I ran it in 2004. I don't think this means that I can run the marathon merely  2.6 minutes slower than in 2004 though - but hey, wouldn't that be good if I could?

Since the weekend I enjoyed an evening jog with Milly  for about 40 minute on Monday - plenty of good craic, all running related topics.  On Tuesday Darren joined me for two 'soft mile reps' (about 6:10 pace).

Then on Wednesday I felt quite tired so opted to take the day off from running, but 90 minutes and approx 4 miles offroad walking with Scamp was perhaps just as good a workout as the easy jog I would have done otherwise.

Today will be an easy 20 minute jogging within Scamps walk, and Friday will be similar but in the early morning as I am catching the 10:50 train to Euston.

For once, the weather in London is just as poor as we are enduring 'oop North'. I say that, but  I don't actually regard 8-13 degrees centigrade and rain showers as being poor weather. In fact, the reverse is true - such conditions are ideal for me to run a marathon in. It pissed down for my Marathon debut and PB in London 2004 and also in 2007 when I won Langdale (did I ever mention I once won Langdale Marathon?) I am relishing the opportunity after most recent years have been 15-20 degrees and sunny.

With marathon training it is common to feel like you have trained to the optimum and are ready to run the race when there are still a few weeks to go until race day. That low point didnt happen to me this year. Maybe that was because I didn't have a written schedule to look at and dread having to adhere to. Maybe it was because I had races to enjoy every week or two since Christmas - they mostly went well and bolstered my confidence. Generally making or beating my pace target for the longer runs has also been good for the mental side of things.

I have enjoyed the first 4 months of 2012 immensely and am already formulating plans for the next phase of training. The  wee race this weekend is in the bag as far as I'm concerned - I can taste that post-race Tuna toastie and pint of Guiness in a pub on The Strand already.

So c'mon Richard Branson - lets be having you and your London Virgins Marathon