Wow, that’s the last full week of training. By this time next week I’ll either be finished, or walking round the course really slowly!
Of course, it was also the London marathon today. I’ve spent the past sixteen weeks of training in the company of George Lamb and the “Mo Joe” podcast from Amazon. In this, Lamb has documented his journey from being reasonably fit but “not a runner” to his doing the London marathon. He had the advantage of training from Mo Farah and Joe Wicks.
Well, Mo Farah certainly acquitted himself well today, coming in third and gaining a new British record. George also completed the run – a great achievement, especially considering the heat he had to run in. I’ve enjoyed your company over the past few months George – well done on getting round.
Back to my training. Tuesday was a busy day at work, and the weather was awful. So I didn’t go out for my run, instead I did the treadmill. I really don’t like the treadmill, but it does serve a purpose. Every mile counts.
Wednesday was a much better day, and after work I was able to get out and run a five mile slow run. Except it wasn’t as slow as it should have been, for reasons I’ll get into further down. Still, it was a nice evening run round Linlithgow Loch.
As I was coming round the southern part of the Loch, I bumped into my daughter and her boyfriend who were taking our dog for a walk in the park – I stopped and we chatted for a moment before I carried on. That was really nice!
Max elevation: 80 m
Min elevation: 41 m
On Thursday I ran a similar route, though I cut out one of the hill loops round Bonnytoun farm to get the mileage down to four miles. On the way home I stopped to try to make a running photo, which I am now using as the header for the blog:
Max elevation: 80 m
Min elevation: 41 m
And that was me done with running until Saturday. Saturday called for three miles. The very first run of this training plan also called for three miles, and so I took the exact same route. It’s interesting to compare the photos from today with those from my first run, on Boxing Day.
As per usual, I ran too fast. I do need to fix my training watch.
Max elevation: 79 m
Min elevation: 76 m
And finally Sunday, I ran from the Falkirk Wheel, to the Kelpies, and back again.
Too fast. Again.
The problem is, you see, that the running app I have been relying on throughout my training has been and gone and updated itself – and in the process broken its “running 30s average pace” feature. So if you happen to know of an Apple Watch running app that has such a feature, please let me know.
Max elevation: 45 m
Min elevation: 2 m
My other concern is about the temperature. Up until now I have been expecting to run in vest and shorts, but as I look at the forecast for Sunday I’m beginning to have my doubts. I don’t want to overheat, but equally I don’t want to be so cold that I stop being able to function. Vest and shorts may have to give way to short sleeves and leggings… I don’t know.
Three runs this week, then an emotional summing-up post on Saturday… and then it’s race day!
