Week 1

Runs: 6
Total Miles :56

First one down. Successful too. To quote a wiser man than i (i think it may have been Bertrand Russell, but i might be wrong), i am more or less hanging out the back of this week. Managed to hit every session and no ill effects. Of course 56 miles off my current base is still a shock to the system and my heart rate data shows an apparent step backwards this week. Post-lurgy recovery plus increased training load has resulted in some slightly slower running. Thats fine though. I would expect a bit of a hump at this stage and this hump is a lower hump than my previous humps (not lady lumps).

This week has also brought one of the joys of ttraining for a spring marathon - dealing with appalling weather. Friday brought some half-hearted snow and a slippery slidey plod around the higher reaches of Glasgow's southside. Sunday introduces a particular speciality of this place - wind which manages to come from just about all directions at once. Seriously, no matter how many times i changed direction i was heading into a howling gale. Physically impossible but certainly true. It made my 15 miles with 8 at marathon pace a bit of a challenge if not actually a problem. I say marathon pace though what i really mean is *target* marathon pace. 8 miles at that pace was more than plenty. More fitness needs to be accrued before i can claim this to be my actual marathon pace.

Pace is a concern for another day. This week ought to be 60 miles. Yes....hmmmm....

In other news, i am now officially in marathon training booze purda.

In other totally unrelated news, almost literally bumped in to Mark Thomas and Tony Benn at Glasgow airport. See? The running stuff *is* actually the more exciting part of my patter...

And we are back...

New year, new plans.

The original intention was for this blog to record the journey to Firenze. It did that and turned out to be a useful means for me to think about my training and how it was working for me so this is the blog that would not die.

This week is week 1 of training for this year's (first) marathon. Lochaber in April is the target. Though a fairly soft target. More on that at some point.

Like retaliation, excuses should always be administered early, so before i get too far i should list the reasons why i will fail in this marathon:

• Christmas. Nobody escapes christmas unscathed. Lets just say i am no longer quite at racing weight...
• Inconsistent training post-Firenze. It has taken a while to get back going again so mileage has been disappointing
• Lurgy. Some time lost in the last week the man flu
• Short build up. In order to win wifely approval for this enterprise (or at least minimise the disproval) i have agreed to a 12 week training schedule
• Travel. Looks like i will be away just prior to taper

This all sounds terribly gloomy but in reality its fine. Lochaber is not my 'A' race for this year. The general plan is to run it, try and solve some of the issues i had in Firenze, recover and then build to Loch Ness in the Autumn. Key ambition this year is really to get a full year of training in without significant interuption. Fingers crossed on that one. I am sure to break somewhere at some point.

So, 12 weeks of training. 55 miles a week and upwards. The grand plan is to reduce pre-run carb intake to try and revert to fat burning more effectively. Train low, race high. We shall see. Advice is varied.

I also have some very jaunty, colourful new running shoes. Louder shoes go faster. Its a rule.