Week 16 - The hay is in the barn - Day 106 of 112

Have I gathered in enough hay?





So here it is the last week of what has been a roller coaster of a ride. This is my 6th marathon and other than the odd cold and the achilles I have never had such a rough ride as far as injuries are concerned as this schedule. In total I have probably missed the best part of three weeks running with a half marathon, a 20 and 22 miler falling by the wayside. On the positive note I tried where possible to do cross training and kept going with my swimming and cycling so that I did not lose too much fitness. I do feel fit and with the Garmin coming back this week I can find out how fit I am. I will never know the true loss of fitness until I get into the pain cave of 18-20 miles on Sunday.

It is now time to rest. All the hay is in the barn and it is just a case ticking over and doing a couple of shorter runs with race pace strides. Race pace is something that I have given some consideration to and have mapped out a number of different strategies based on a 6 mile intervals. The numbers are These are strategies that I hope to pick from on race day. I need to be pragmatic and realise that slipping under 3.30 hours by much given the training loss is a long shot - but hey no point in going down wondering. Time to zip up the man suit, test the Central Governor and blast out the marathon.

Type of strategy    Miles 1-6   Miles 7-12   Miles 13-18   Miles 19-24   Last 2.2 miles    TOTAL

Conservative               48                 48                  48                   48                   15                   3.27

Plan A                        48                 45                  45                   45                    14                   3.17

Plan B                        45                  45                 45                   45                    14                    3.15
Plan C                        48                  45                 44                   43                    14                   3.14
Plan D                        47                  45                 44                  43                     14                   3.13
Lunacy                       45                   45                44                   43                     14                3.11PB

I like the look of Plan B and if I am feeling good at half way then I can still have a crack at the Lunacy option. If it is not going so well then I can ease back and take the conservative option.



Outa my way youngster!



I nearly got hit by an old women on one of those motorised scooters this morning. I was cycling to work over the Ha'penny Bridge at the Botanics when I saw this old dear hurtling towards me waving here hands. More nutters. What did she want. Skidded by bike to a halt to listen to her ramblings. Directions. That is what she was looking for. To where? The Botanics. She was bloody in the Botanics. Off she went quite the thing.

Got in a 5 miler + after taking the kids for cricket practice. Need to choose a captain for the U13 team. No watch with me so had to go by guesstimate as to how far I ran and the time. Ended up going down to the club and then out to the canal to finish off. Felt fine. No bother with the hamstring.

Keeping a close eye on my food intake this week as no point in adding extra calories that I have to lug around London on Sunday. Always a possibility in putting on a few pounds before the race given the fact that I am not training as hard this week

Numbers - 5+ miles

Weight - 77.6 kgs

Food - 2 toast + marmalade - tea - porridge - yoghurt - ham sandwich - 2 satsumas, apple and banana - pasta dinner,green beans and 2 pittas - piece of chocolate - tea - slice of mum's loaf - litre water