Week 10 - Happy Birthday - Day 64 of 112

My cake

I never really thought about doing marathons until I was approaching my 40th birthday and I hatched this mad plan to do a marathon a year until I was 50. As I enter my fifth year I am one ahead of schedule as attempt my sixth marathon. It started off in New York in 2008 and I have taken in Amsterdam and Boston as well as Loch Ness. I hope to continue to take in some more foreign destination races with Chicago high up on the list as well as Rome. 

The last marathon was done on the back of a six week programme following on from my Half Ironman last summer. I had done alot of bike and swimming training but little running. I had a very good fitness to go slow and long so I was happy to get over the line at Loch Ness in a shade under 3.15 hrs on only six weeks training. On the basis that I have now got six weeks left and with 9 weeks under my belt I should feel more confident than I do to break the three. I am beginning to look out for signs that will tell me that I am heading in the right direction and that the training is on schedule. This was the reason for the race on Saturday and me entering the Alloa Half next week. They say that you should double your half marathon time and add 10% to give you a conservative marathon time. Another is to do 10X800m and the average time will be what you can run a marathon in.  Saturday's race was not much of a barometer and I would say that this Saturday will be a good litmus test. We are going out for dinner to celebrate my birthday on Saturday evening so I am intending to bring forward my long run to Saturday. It is a 20 miler with a marathon pace effort over the last 10 miles. If I can achieve somewhere near the marathon place I will be pleased.

Weighed in this morning at 79.1kgs. My legs are heavy and the hamstrings are tight. I have 16X400m tomorrow evening so I better watch the hammys. The last thing I need is to pull one of them. that would not be clever. 

Had a spin on the bike this morning for 40 mins to save the legs. Got the cadence up for the first time to average 90rpm. The HR stayed at around 108. The rollers are still in use in the cave downstairs. I have set up the bike on some old pieces of laminate flooring to avoid the sweat going on to the carpet.

Jen couldn't find 44 candles for my cake so had to rely on two 4 candles. Got pampered by my girls. Jen got me some vouchers to ease my aching limbs for a massage at Achilles Heel whilst Amy and Emma got me a book about triathlon called Iron Wars which is about the Kona Ironman World Championships where nutters swim 2.4 miles, cycle 112 miles and then to cap it off run a marathon. Now that's got me thinking..............

Numbers to follow