Week 3

Total Mileage: 53
Runs: 5

The top line is consistent. I have been putting in pretty much the same overall volume for 3 weeks in a row. Consistency is good in training. Its less good if we are meant to be ramping up your overall mileage but lets not worry too much about that yet...

This week has again been Speed of Light affected. I couldnt find a sensible way of fitting in a run on Wednesday with having to travel to Edinburgh in the evening to take part in the walking audience for Speed of Light. The late night drive back through on the M8 would have been even more of a trial if i had been up at stupid o'clock in the morning so again, i have ditched a recovery run.

If i know any small thing about marathon training its that flexibility is vital and i am more than happy to take a view on recovery runs. While i think these are really important parts of the process they are definitely less important than the long runs. My target therefore is to make sure i get the key sessions in each week and then work around that.

Which would be great except i failed in that respect this week too. This time the weather was the culprit. Training for a marathon in Scotland is always going to have its climatic challenges. Whether that is a spring marathon where you have to train through the cold, wet and miserable winter or an autumn race where you do your training through the cold, wet and miserable summer. Presumably because i am now pretty much used to the rain Friday hit us with some scorchio sunshine. My afternoon tempo run looked to be a bit too much of a trial in the heat so i binned it for the same distance but at an easy pace. Predictably my performance data taunted me with my failure by not being heat affected in the slightest. Still, a good run is a good run and i didnt want to be wrecked for saturday night anyway.

Speed of Light has been covered more fully elsewhere here but in running terms it was again a joy, albeit a slightly harder joy than the rehearsal night suggested. More distance overall and fewer pauses. I definitely need to get out on the hills and have a go at running them at a less leisurely pace.

While the pace was benign the inclines still wrecked havoc on my legs. Sunday's long run was fine till late on when running downhill towards home. Fatigue and the pounding my legs had taken on Arthur's Seat caught up on me and the last mile and a half saw my pace fade. Its telling that as writing this on tuesday my legs still feel a bit sorry for themselves. 9 miles tonight should get them moving again though.