So when the news broke at 6pm on Thursday it wasn’t a major surprise. After being across the morning papers, I doubt I was the only one who had spent the day refreshing twitter for updates. Ironically when it did break, I was driving to get my son some new football boots as his feet have grown loads over lockdown and he almost crippled himself back at training. Therfore I only saw the first couple of lines of the tweet flash up in my watch. This meant it was an hour or so before I could read the release properly.
My gut feel, and I have said this before, is they were doing everything in their power to put on the race. I am sure even if it had gone ahead with restrictions, there will have been those who felt uncomfortable but I haven’t been one who has been angry or annoyed that I have “had to train”. I am pleased that the deferrals are quite open as this was one of my biggest fears. At this time I don’t think I will do the virtual race that is on offer as with Manchester in my diary for April next year, I think my body would like an extra couple of months of less intense training.
📝 It’s with a heavy heart that we can confirm, for the first time since 1981, the Virgin Money London Marathon will not be taking place in its usual format.
— TCS London Marathon (@LondonMarathon) August 6, 2020
Read the full update: https://t.co/mJ9jhItAqB#LondonMarathon #The40thRace pic.twitter.com/VFXEiY89No
Before the announcement was made, I continued training into what would be the halfway of my training plan. Monday was a well deserved rest day after 16 miles the day before but come Tuesday the uncertainty was telling. Last week I mentioned how I had been missing a few more sessions and as the alarm rang, I found every excuse under the sun not to get out of bed!
I couldn’t keep skipping sessions though so Wednesday I headed out for a pleasant 10km and a few more streets on CityStrides. By this point I really was taking training a day at a time waiting the announcement. However, with no update before bed on Wednesday night, a sprint repeats was set for Thursday AM. With the race now cancelled, I think I might switch my focus back down to shaving the final 15s off my 5km PB and going sub 20. Therefore this session was still needed! However, this time it was to be the final session of the training block.
Over 7.5 weeks I have run just over 350km which I never expected when I started out again in June. Add this to the 620km I logged in block one and so far I have almost done 1,000km of training for races that haven’t gone ahead and will have to be repeated! However, I really don’t mind. I am probably in the best running shape now of my life. In recent weeks I have dropped my 5km PB to just above 20mins; I have beaten a 10km PB I have had since I was 18 and never thought I’d even get close to; and in the next couple of weeks I am intending to have a crack at breaking my 1:40 nemesis over the half. By keeping training ticking over I can be in the best possible shape to start up again at the end if the year, ready to hit Manchester in the spring and finally get the first marathon under my belt, raising money for The UK Sepsis Trust at the same time!
- Monday – Rest Day
- Tuesday – Rest Day
- Wednesday – 10.77km @ 5:06 pace
- Thursday – 12x 200m – 7.21km
- Total – 17.98km
- Overall Total – 352.85km