Week 9 - Positive anything is better than negative nothing - Day 60 of 112

Sub 3 Hour Marathon

Time to take stock of things as they presently stand me thinks. The training has taken on a monotonous and relentless hew. Run followed by run followed by run. The fact that I am doing some cycling on a Monday is helping. Having said that by the time I am finished with the long run on Wednesday I am ready for the scrap heap and the run on Thursday has been something over the last couple that I have put off until the Friday giving me a days rest on the Thursday rather than the Friday. Not sure if this is having any effect on the Sunday long run performance?

One of my colleagues at work has been asking me how my training is going and I have said that it is too early at the moment to say if I am on schedule for breaking the 3 hour barrier. I am confident that a PB is on the cards but the sub 3, not sure? I could hide behind the cold and duck in behind the achilles if I truly felt that I had no chance but training has gone well this week and I was certainly buoyed at how well the interval session went on Tuesday. Lets put the answer to that question on the back burner until after Sunday's 20 miler on the canal.

Once you have done the training then finishing the marathon should baring a catastrophe be achieved. What is difficult is getting a good time. How to get a good time is predominately down to the plan and the amount of work you put in. This will be my sixth marathon and probably only my second one where I have followed a 16 week plan with a HR rate monitor and first with a cadence sensor. Over and above the pure running side there are things that I can do to ensure that I give myself the best opportunity of a sub 3. I think one of the most important is having a good mental strategy so  I need to start working on some good visualisation techniques in the coming weeks and come up with some mantras that will take me through the 20 mile pain cave and out the other side to the Mall. Good to start with these on Sunday which has me down for a 20 mile steady 7.30 pace run.

I was thinking of sitting on the bike tonight but think that I will give myself the full day off and go for the 6 mile hills session tomorrow before breakfast. Let's see if I can raise my head from my slumbers at 5.55am.