Day: 42
Distance: 19.6km
Time: 1:57:00 secs
Calories: 1,553
It's the end of Week 6 of the training plan and this tablet of stone which I have been blindly following has gone a bit vague.
Up until today the plan has been very specific - it's "30 mins steady" here and "45 mins easy off-road/hilly" there - but all it says today is "10 mile or half marathon race". No mention of tempo and, more surprisingly, a choice between two different distances. For the sake of clarity a half marathon is 13.1 miles, which is 31% further than the other suggested distance. That's quite a difference.
Up until today the plan has been very specific - it's "30 mins steady" here and "45 mins easy off-road/hilly" there - but all it says today is "10 mile or half marathon race". No mention of tempo and, more surprisingly, a choice between two different distances. For the sake of clarity a half marathon is 13.1 miles, which is 31% further than the other suggested distance. That's quite a difference.
To run 10 miles the week after I ran 12 miles seems somewhat counter intuitive, so I opt to follow the same route that I took this time last week. This time I was joined by Jim who will be running a half marathon in exactly 5 weeks, so it's good training for both of us.
It has been decidedly cold all week long, so it was a nice surprise to step outside today and be greeted by blinding sunlight. That's not to say that it was a hot day (it wasn't), but it was perfect weather for running. The cold helped to keep me cool and the sunshine made it feel like a real pleasure to be outside and in green spaces like Brockwell Park. I wouldn't complain if the weather was like this on the day of the actual London Marathon.
So, as I've already mentioned this run concludes the sixth week of the training plan. That means that I'm now halfway through the 12 week plan and I'm pleased to report that I'm still enjoying the training. I had thought that it was going to be a real chore. I had heard many marathon runners talking about how it takes over your life and, to an extent, I can see that as you need to put a lot of time and effort in each and every week. For example, this week I've trained on five out of the seven days and have committed nearly 5 hours to training. However, I'm managing to fit this training around the rest of my life and my wife isn't yet complaining about becoming a "marathon widow" so I wouldn't say that it's completely taken over my life. That said, whilst I'm writing this I'm also looking at the upcoming weeks and the ever increasing time commitments - so maybe I'll have changed my mind in a few weeks time.
One thing that is helping me to keep going (other than the running playlist and my desire to achieve my stated aim of completing the marathon in 3:40) is all the kind donations that I've already received on my JustGiving page. I only sent the link out on Tuesday and I'm already 27% of the way to my target of £1,000. A massive thank you to everyone who has already sponsored me and for those who would like to help me get a little closer to my target please visit http://www.justgiving.com/Darren-Yaxley-marathon.
It has been decidedly cold all week long, so it was a nice surprise to step outside today and be greeted by blinding sunlight. That's not to say that it was a hot day (it wasn't), but it was perfect weather for running. The cold helped to keep me cool and the sunshine made it feel like a real pleasure to be outside and in green spaces like Brockwell Park. I wouldn't complain if the weather was like this on the day of the actual London Marathon.
So, as I've already mentioned this run concludes the sixth week of the training plan. That means that I'm now halfway through the 12 week plan and I'm pleased to report that I'm still enjoying the training. I had thought that it was going to be a real chore. I had heard many marathon runners talking about how it takes over your life and, to an extent, I can see that as you need to put a lot of time and effort in each and every week. For example, this week I've trained on five out of the seven days and have committed nearly 5 hours to training. However, I'm managing to fit this training around the rest of my life and my wife isn't yet complaining about becoming a "marathon widow" so I wouldn't say that it's completely taken over my life. That said, whilst I'm writing this I'm also looking at the upcoming weeks and the ever increasing time commitments - so maybe I'll have changed my mind in a few weeks time.
One thing that is helping me to keep going (other than the running playlist and my desire to achieve my stated aim of completing the marathon in 3:40) is all the kind donations that I've already received on my JustGiving page. I only sent the link out on Tuesday and I'm already 27% of the way to my target of £1,000. A massive thank you to everyone who has already sponsored me and for those who would like to help me get a little closer to my target please visit http://www.justgiving.com/Darren-Yaxley-marathon.
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