Monday, 8th March – 48 days to go

Rest Day. I feel I need it. No running today, but have a gym session with Tony. Liz works on her dodgy shoulder again while I concentrate on upper body circuits interspersed with some stretching. I’m much more flexible than I was expecting as I thought the body would lose some stretch when I upped the mileage as it has done in the past.

I’ve been reading “The marathon and half marathon – a training guide” by Graeme Hilditch. It seems to cover all the things you’d expect in a reasonably straightforward manner. There are loads of photos and charts to break up the text which is pretty dry. The explanations for many of the charts (and how they apply to me) are inadequate (or perhaps I’m not on the same wavelength). The photos are great though. I particularly like a photo of someone hitting the wall on page 105; the person looks fitter than me, is wearing a bona fide club vest (Westbury Harriers) and it appears to be at the end of a half marathon. So real runners have hit the wall at lower mileage than me.

I seem to be doing most of the things that Graeme suggests, but he can’t tell me why I can’t get up to pace on my long runs. Guess I’ll have to keep reading.