Training peak

Still no injury issues as marathon training peaks! I've been trying to keep the training levels up, while also not risking potential injury by overdoing it (and of course, dealing with the ever-present work-life balance issues too).

We were down in the New Forest at the weekend to celebrate my parents 40th wedding anniversary (Well done Mum and Dad!) so I fit in a 14-mile run on Friday morning before we flew down. Went well, and it took me just under 2 hours.  I massively over-ate on Saturday on the day of the ruby wedding celebrations, but I did get a little exercise, going swimming with the kids in the afternoon.  On Sunday morning Shona and I got up at 7am to do a 5 mile run before breakfast... We know how to have a good time!

We then followed that up with an unexpectedly long walk with the kids, my sister and her family, my Mum and my Aunty.  Probably would have taken not much more than an hour if it had just been the adults but having to coax the kids along too it was nearer two hours.  Rewarded ourselves with excellent pub lunch at the end.

Then back to Edinburgh Sunday evening and have only managed to fit in a 5-mile cycle home from work one day before today.

But tonight, Wednesday, was club training night, and once again, it was brutal..!

We started with a couple of relay races (with a small hill thrown in for good measure) to get us warmed up, and then on to 20 x 1 min fast. 1 minute recovery between each of the first 10 reps, then on to 30 seconds recovery between each rep for the last 10.  Short stuff isn't really my thing and my hamstrings in particular were screaming a bit... But it's all good training and hopefully it will pay off in the long run.

So, next up I'll do a bit of cycling over next couple of days, then I'm doing my longest run before Berlin on Sunday.  A group of us are running from Edinburgh to North Berwick (20 miles) on Sunday morning - 3 weeks before race day.

After that, the long runs reduce in length, and the aim is to maintain fitness levels but also let your legs recover so they're ready for the big one when it comes... For me, on the one hand I'd ideally like to have done a bit more training, a couple more long runs nearer 20 miles, but I can also tell my legs are ready for a bit of a rest.  I won't give in to the temptation to do another really long one 2 weeks before the race, but I also don't want to sit idle for 3 weeks - don't think I'm fit enough to do that and not pay the price in Berlin.  So I'll probably want to do a 14-16 mile run a week or so after this weekend's 20-miler and then taper more after that.

But it's getting close now!

On a final note, I am once again completely humbled by the generosity of friends who've supported me with my training effort and donated to my justgiving pages for Care International and Sick Kids Friends Foundation.  It really makes it all worthwhile and I'm incredibly grateful.  Thank you!