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...