T - 14 days: Monsoons, Caravans and too many Jolly Ranchers

So this is going to sound boring and smug, but no problems on Monday after Sundays 21 + an extra bit miler. *Does smug face*

Monday I had to do a 3 mile run in the evening. Some would call this a recovery run I suppose, for the non runners reading the idea is the day after a long run a short slow run is helpful. I've read many articles about this - some say it helps get lactic acid out of your legs, however during a long run there shouldn't really be much of that. I've also read even after the most hardcore workout your lactic acid levels go back to normal within an hour. Some say that doing a short run in a tired state boosts fitness. Either way whatever it actually does in physiological terms these runs do seem to get the legs working again, and if you are feeling a bit stiff it seems to ease things a bit. Perhaps it is a bit of a mental thing too, convincing yourself you are OK after the previous days effort. I managed to dodge the slug population of Warmley and Mangotsfield quite well.

Tuesday I had a speed session which to be honest I was dreading. 7 miles with 2/4/6 at a 10K-ish pace. I'd gone back home from Bristol to run with Dudley Ladies, I managed to run the first easy mile with them before taking off like a rocket. My 3 fast miles were 7.45mm or slightly quicker, and they felt ok. Not quite Mo standards, but for me that's quite good. I actually caught them back up for the last mile (they did 5) so all good.

So why was I dreading it? Well it was a stiflingly hot evening for starters although I've found it easier to run in the heat recently - if you just get on with it you get used to it. Let’s face it - not been much of an issue this summer. I have a bit of paranoia that a lot of slow running means my legs and my lungs will "forget" how to run fast. I am almost certain if I had a bad speed session and could only muster 8.30mm for the same level of effort as 7.45mm previously I'd feel like it was a massive step backwards. In reality I hardly ever have a bad speed session, but funny how one off day / off session has the potential to do my head in. The logical part of me says we all have off days but the other bit of me doesn't listen. So I dreaded it because something *might* go wrong... typical me worrying about something that hasn't *actually* happened!!! Anyway over all it appears I am getting quicker at the moment.

Wednesday I had a rest day, but I actually went out for a run with my work colleague M in the evening. He was freshly back from a 3 week holiday in Las Vegas. People take the piss a bit, but he is also a runner going out 2-3 times a week when he is at home. Because we've been staying away we've been going out for 3-3.5 miles when he would have gone out and done his home routes with his mates. I am not the quickest of runners, but I am faster than him, and I have no problem running with someone whose preferred running pace is 2mm+ slower than my "easy" / Long run pace. As long as the pace is not going to knacker me I am pretty happy to go out and do a little extra run any time with anyone. It seems 3 weeks off have helped M's aches and pains and he seemed to be running more comfortably than before. There are some running routes in Bristol I wouldn't have investigated if it wasn't for having the company of M, I get a bit nervous about doing new routes on my own if I don't know the area so it has worked really well. From a personal safety point of view I have to ask myself who is protecting who though.

So towards the end of each week the 4 day long run build up starts. This week I started tapering a bit - 10/14/10/18 LOL. With a normal single marathon I would be cutting right down now, but my legs will have an awful lot of stress on them over the 4 days so we don't want them to be too relaxed going in to the event.

Thursday: 10 miles. Pretty much as soon as I stepped out of the building at work, the heavens opened and I mean opened. It was like someone chucking a bucket of water from the sky for about an hour. Within a matter of seconds the downhill from work was flooded, inches of water appeared from seemingly nowhere both on road and pavement. Water was bubbling out of drain covers, cars driving past were creating huge waves, but it didn't matter because I was completely, utterly and totally soaked to the skin within the first quarter mile. Quite an amazing deluge, that only really stopped as I got to the 5 mile turnaround point having gone up through Ashton court and over the bridge. I could see car drivers laughing at me and a solitary ice cream van man parked up in Ashton court was wiping the steam off the inside of the window of his van looking at me in total disbelief. Still it got me thinking I could have 4 days of this in Ireland. Best get the shittiness out of the way in training. At least I can say I prepared in everything!! I have at least 4 pairs of trainers I could comfortably wear for a Marathon so I think I will be taking all of them and having a fresh pair on every day in case I end up paddling on one of the days. I don't think there is much point in raincoats unless it is going to be cold. Skin is waterproof!

It had been my plan to get up at 05.30 Friday, scoff some porridge and go and do 14 miles before work. No chance. Thursday evening we went out for food and decided rather than do nothing after eating we would go to the cinema. It was a really weird atmosphere in the restaurant, as in people kept knocking things over, dropping and smashing stuff and generally being clumsy. A waiter nearly tripped over my chair, and then to top it all off another waiter slipped on a stray chip and ended up crashing a massive tray of empty dishes over his own head. All his colleagues scurried in to clear it up, but no one actually asked him if he was ok. What is the world coming to? :( When he came over for something and I asked him if he was alright he looked genuinely shocked! All this chaos meant we got quite a late showing of a film and ended up getting back to the hotel at about 11.50pm. Knackered. Actually to be honest on Wednesday / Thursday I found myself feeling slightly unwell at times.

I have to wonder if some of this midweek excessive tiredness and weird feeling was due to high sweetie consumption on Wed/Thu. M had got us some American sweets to share at work, and thinking back I think the amount of very bright food colouring, artificial flavouring and pure sugar I ate midweek might have actually made me feel a bit funny, e.g. slightly hyper followed by a massive crash in energy. I shall be avoiding that sort of thing in future (don't mean to sound ungrateful!). I do think it made me feel off colour (bright cherry Jolly Rancher red to be precise)

So Friday morning the alarm went off as planned, and I could tell without getting out of bed it was dark, windy and raining outside. In bed I stayed. I can get up when I have to, and I am better than I used to be, but it would be fair to say I am not really a morning person. I love my bed. We left Bristol at 3pm, and after picking up M's son from his Grandparents etc I finally got home just before 7pm. I had crashed out on what was probably another sugar low in the car, but when I woke up and we were still in that long M5 traffic jam surrounded by every caravan and motor home in the northern hemisphere I started to get very twitchy and fretful, desparately wishing I had just got on with it at 5.30am and mentally kicking myself. I got home, did a wonder woman change and out again at 7.05pm.

And you know what? I bloody did it. 14 miles knocked out with a frightening focus really. I just ran and ran, no faffing, just got it done. By the time I got about 4 miles from home it was dark, but I was on a safe main road so I felt ok with it. And for all the tiredness and end of week "meh" this 14 - it just felt effortless. I think that's positive sign. I didn't feel like I'd run at the end of it.

Saturday I went with my friend Jane for a run in a different setting, Telford to Ironbridge. I have obviously covered a lot of miles in training and I've found that variety of routes, and doing runs with different people is the key to staying sane. I'd wanted to go with her for a while, another friend lives in Telford and has a route that ends at... THE MOST AMAZING CAKE SHOP IN THE WORLD. (Yup, I liked it a lot.) It was great to run somewhere new. But back to those cakes!!!! OH MY GOD! They really are very special. Amazing. And little tea cosies on the tea pots. And the Queen and her corgis were there. There is also a pork pie shop up the road. Next time, first stop pie and cupcake for pudding. Health food. I love Ironbridge, and I love the cupcake shop.

I need one of these....

Invasion of the tea cozies

Spoiling what would have been a nice picture of the cakes (I speak for myself here Jane)

So is Marathon training is an excuse to eat crap? No! My first Marathon I expected to lose loads of weight training and I never did. I think people seriously overestimate what they are burning, and therefore actually end up eating too much under the premise of "carb loading" (in actual fact leading up to the event it is the proportion of carbs you should change and NOT the amount). At the moment I seem to be getting comments from people (esp those I haven't seen for a while) that I look slimmer. I suppose 70 miles a week does that to you. I don't weigh myself that often but I think there may have been a shape change, and without meaning to sound like I spend vast amounts of time feeling myself up(!) I do notice how my leg muscles, stomach muscles and even my arms feel different. Running this high mileage makes me feel good and I want to keep it up after the Quad.

Saturday afternoon despite my legs feeling OK I crashed out again. Not sugar related this time, For the first time in a while I simply had nothing to do for the afternoon, and on days like this the general pattern seems to be:

Get up early
Run
Shower
Lunch
Tell self "I will just have a little lie down on the bed for 30 mins".
3 hours later wake up :-0

Gah. Still awake at 2am on Sunday morning.

Sunday was the muggiest day of the year, off we all went doing a 10 mile loop sweating our proverbials off and myself and Massie carried on doing another 8 stopping for water at every possible point. As I drunk it, it just came out of my skin. Massie did well - 18 is the furthest she has ever run, it was lovely to see a big happy smile she was so happy to have done it. She looked so comfortable too. I think she is going to rock the half marathon she is doing in a few weeks.

Me - well a mere 65 miles this week, so yes I have cut back. Oh and I keep counting down T-x days at the top of this blog looking at it I've discovered that I've been counting down from the day of the last marathon. So the first one is in T-10 days (SHIIIIIIIIIIIT!!!!!), and a fortnight today I will hopefully be dangling my feet in the water by the Redcastle hotel surrounded by empty Guinness glasses :)