Thursday, 25th February – 59 days to go

The snow from yesterday has thawed leaving the ground very wet. It’s a murky day and the sun never breaks through. Unpleasant weather seems to be a recurring theme for Thursdays and it looks like Mick’s attempts to get us doing stretches and pilates will be thwarted again.

The focus for our distance training today is a long tempo session. Mick’s version of a long tempo run is a seventy minute effort, sandwiched between a ten minute warm-up and a ten minute cool-down. The intensity for the seventy minute bit is "moderately hard". Mick describes this as “you can talk, but only in short sentences”. I have to admit that is how I talk anyway. The intensity should be no faster than marathon pace plus fifteen seconds. So for me I’m aiming for no quicker than 7:45. In theory we should all set out together, run thirty five minutes at our own chosen pace and then get back to the start at the same time. We did this same session two weeks ago and although the route was fairly simple, due to a series of unfortunate events I managed to get lost. I got back to the starting point late after running the return leg considerably quicker than my intended pace.

We do a ten minute warm up by running from Undercliffe Cricket ground to Gain Lane by a circuitous route. After we’ve all gathered and set our watches we set off down Gain Lane, onto the A647, down Galloway Lane/Waterloo Road through Pudsey, up Swinnow Road, over Stanningley Bypass and up past Bramley Railway Station. Turn round somewhere in Bramley and head back. 4.4 miles out and the same back. Got back just after the thirty five minute mark. It was definitely uphill on the way back, in fact the whole run was hillier than I’d anticipated. Averaged 8.01 per mile, so slower than I was aiming for. Put this down to the hills, the weather, puddles, chatting and general tiredness in the legs.

It rained throughout the warm up exercises and run and for the first few minutes of the tempo run. When we were thoroughly soaked it let up. If it rains or snows in the London Marathon I will have had plenty of practice.