I am more than halfway through my training plan for the Rotterdam Marathon and this week passed the two hundred kilometre mark for running this month. Next month’s total distance will likely be higher than that, with the added bonus of a race thrown in. March will be a big month.
This has been a slight down week in terms of total distance run, but that is more due to the fact that I have been away for the weekend, so my usual weekend long run did not take place. I had to be inventive to get in a long run at all.
I have written many times before about how, for me, running is an enjoyable hobby, and as such, it has to take its place alongside all of the other things which go on in my life – work, family, etc. This week I could not run on Tuesday due to work commitments so I ran on Monday instead. As I mentioned I could not run long this weekend as I was away for a few days, so I ran long on Thursday. It is about balance and fitting things in, though I did also manage to do a run I had never done before.
“a critical part”
Getting a long run each week is a critical part of my marathon schedule. I think it is ok to miss out other runs, but I really try and ensure the long run happens, and so far I have not missed one out. This week was due to be eighteen miles, one of the longest runs of the whole programme, but that was not going to be possible. Instead I began to formulate a plan where I could do a long run on Thursday night, working it in with my JogScotland group, where I was leading the five and a half mile group.
My initial plan was to head out for about an hour beforehand, which would get me around six miles, then do the group, then finish off with another couple of mile to take me up to half marathon distance. I am due to run half marathon distance next weekend, so I thought I swap the runs around, doing a half this week and then the eighteen next weekend.
But then a work call came in and I was not going to be able to get out for the hour beforehand. The plan then changed to do a couple of miles first with friends, then do the group, then run about the same distance again to get the miles in. I had to formulate a route where that would work and I came up with a really rather loopy course, where, even though I would run half marathon distance, the furthest away I would be from my house was only around two and a half miles.
Now you might notice that I actually ran more than fourteen miles, rather than just the thirteen point one needed for the half distance. For part of the route, I paused my watch in error so I got so annoyed with myself, I ran the extra mile. The run was not fast, that was not the point, what was much more the point was putting myself through the mental test of running the last six or so miles on my own having had company for the first part of the run. Being mentally strong is such a big part of distance running for me, that this was a good test to get through.
The eighteen mile run will now be the focus of next weekend. I could, of course, just revert to the plan and do the half distance, but I want to tick off this distance, getting past it as another stepping stone to the start line.
“entirely uphill!”
The reason I could not run long this weekend was that I was away in Dundee. Now I have run there a few times – in fact doing the half there last summer – but where I had never run was over the Tay Bridge, the structure which links the city to Fife, running for around a mile and a half across the River Tay. Once I managed to figure out how to get onto the walkway which sits between the traffic going over the bridge it was pretty straightforward, even if the route to Fife was entirely uphill! It did mean, however, that the route back was downhill, even if it was into quite a chilly breeze, but it was worth it for the lovely morning views, both of Fife and the city, and the symmetrical elevation map which I got for doing it!
The rest of my running during last week was very standard – hill reps one night, hilly run another night – and I am hoping that this week I will be able to get back to my usual routine. Rest days on Monday and Friday, running Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, long run Saturday, recovery run on Sunday. And that is what I need to continue doing for the next seven weeks.
In two weeks time, there is the Inverness Half Marathon and it will be great to have a race to break up the long weekend run routine. In reality though, it is just another distance to tick off. I am approaching the part of training now where it is really serious, every weekend is just one long run after another, building all the way up to twenty miles or so in only four weeks time before tapering down for the race itself. I feel confident in myself that I can meet the challenges ahead, but I also know how hard this next stretch will be. Seven weeks to go.