I don’t know if it is the fact I’m now on the home straight, or that I was back at work this week. However, the week has flown by and suddenly we’re down to just 5 weeks until the first Marathon.
I won’t lie, I am starting to feel a little anxious. Not about running the race, more that we could see them cancelled among the hysteria around coronavirus. I would hate for the last few months of training to be for nothing. Don’t get me wrong, I know actions need to be taken to stop the spread but I do struggle to understand how cancelling events across Europe helps when you’ll still have millions going in to the cities each day for work etc. But, as it is something out of my control, I need to focus on what I can control and that is the training.
After Monday’s rest day I was meant to be on a Fartlek session on Tuesday. However, with it being my first day back with a 5am alarm, I wasn’t really feeling it. Therefore I switched it with the plan for Weds to have a nice gentle 10km round town.
This did mean I had to get the run done on Wednesday and I still wasn’t really feeling it. I think, as I said last time my training plan called for Fartlek in week 5, I’m just not spontaneous enough! I really do prefer doing something as prescribed. I got on it though and knocked out an ok session. I even got a new segment PB on Strava after sprinting it.
After a week off last week, Thursday I was back with my PT for some strength and conditioning. I do like the mix this gives me.
Then on Friday it was time for a slightly quicker 8 miles before work. It was nice as there was no wind for once so the whole way round felt strong. I was actually a bit too fast vs the plan but it felt good (and I had got out the house a bit late as couldn’t find my gloves so needed to make up a few minutes).
Saturday saw a late match cancellation for my son due to a waterlogged pitch. Therefore parkrun was on (provided it wasn’t also too wet!). A quick check on Facebook reassured me the run was going ahead and my daughter was well up for going so we headed down together.
Turn out was lower than normal but that was possibly for the best as the course was real X-country conditions. I was so proud of my daughter as she slipped in the mud and went down twice on the first lap. This wasn’t stopping her though and from that point on, we took great pride in going through all the puddles rather than go on the very slippy sections to avoid them. The run also showed some of the most positive parts of parkrun. Almost everyone, young/old, fast/slow, runner/volunteer had a word of encouragement for my daughter as we passed. Getting kids active at a young age is so key and to have this support was amazing. She powered on and we crossed in just over 38mins, a PB of almost a minute for her. Whats more is her smile just showed me how much she loved it. Not bad for a 6yr old! Our kit needed a bit of a clean though!
The week ended with another new longest run at 20 miles. It was actually quite hard to plot out a route that wasn’t going to go too far, or would require lots of embellishments around town to bulk out I did manage to find a route though so headed out in long sleeves and leggings, expecting it to be cold.
As it was, it was a really pleasant morning to be out running. Storm Jorge gave some stronger winds but nothing like recent weeks and there was barely a cloud in the sky. I was headed in a direction I’d not been before so the whole run was a new adventure and as such, at no point did I feel bored. The first half I was at a steady pace, a bit faster than the slow pace I should have been at. But then as I was feeling good I picked it up a bit to more like Marathon pace in the second half. Things like this give me the full confidence that race day shouldn’t be an issue, especially as I was even able to roller skate with my daughter just over an hour later.
5 weeks to go now and I will be keeping everything crossed that my worst fears aren’t realised and I di get to tick off this goal.
- Monday – Rest Day
- Tuesday – 10.06km @ 5:25 pace
- Wednesday – Fartlek 11.27km
- Thursday – Strength and Conditioning session
- Friday – 12.83km @ 4:54 pace
- Saturday – Pocket parkrun 5km
- Sunday – 32.07km @ 5:22 pace
- Total – 71.23km
- Overall Total – 562.97km