Pre-marathon training week

My ‘official’ training starts on Monday 9th but I’m making sure I keep up with Jantastic (see Marathon Talk website). First run of the week was a relatively comfortable (pace-wise) 6.8 miles with a very testing 1.5 mile, 500ft elevation hill, strong wind-against into driving freezing rain and hail, towards the finish (that hurt!)

Very strong gusty winds today almost had me heading for the gym treadmill but I decided to go with something different and went out for a 2 and a bit mile ‘sprint’. First part is all uphill (but only a gentle slope compared with yesterday!) and then I cut across the fields…where running changed to some strange combination of wading and mud wrestling. Back on the solid surface and downhill, I picked up the pace again and added in a couple of small hill sprints at the finish for a short but varied session.

Tomorrow, I plan to go for a 30 min out/28 min back session which should cover around 6 miles at ‘easy’ pace.