Saturday, 27th February – 57 days to go

Off to a bad start as either my alarm fails to go off or we sleep through it. Woken by Liz’s back up alarm twenty minutes later than intended. I have my cuppa and a double breakfast. Slice of toast with beans followed by a small bowl of porridge. I’m trying to follow the advice of the Lucozade guy on Marathon Talk and avoid the wall. I don’t want to run on a full stomach, but I don’t want to run out of fuel either. Liz mixes up a couple of bottles of Lucozade Sport as I set off.

Today’s long run is supposed to be “2 hrs 30 mins easy”, but will be in three stages and will incorporate parkrun in the middle. Eighteen miles with eight prior to parkrun and seven after. I run to Dyneley Arms and back and pick up my bottle from where Liz has left it for me in the front garden. No problems on the run into Woodhouse Moor, just a nagging anxiety that I may not make it to the start on time. In the end, I arrive about five minutes before the start and stow my empty bottle. I run round parkrun on my own and get a little swept along by other runners. 22:30 was definitely a couple of minutes faster than I intended. Make a mental note to watch my speed when other runners are around and run my own race.

I was going to give my bar code and number to someone else to process, but the marshals are on top form today and soon have our details on their laptops. A quick drink, pick up a fresh bottle that Liz has brought down for me and I’m off heading for home. The run up Otley Road was pretty awful. I just couldn’t seem to get going. Coming up to the Ring Road I virtually ran myself to a stand still. In retrospect I should have walked some of the way. I think it must be a man thing the not walking, but it’s pretty silly when you reach a certain level of tiredness and your pace slows considerably. I walked the steeper uphills when I did the Great Langdale Half Marathon last year and felt that that benefitted my overall performance. Similarly, in the Calderdale Way Relay I had to walk some of the steeper bits (sorry Adrian) and felt that taking the opportunity to get my breath back helped me go faster on the level and downhill bits.

I managed to pick up the pace beyond the ring road, but still seemed to take an age to catch and overhaul the octogenarian who we occasionally see running down Otley Road. I also struggled to overtake the guy walking along reading his newspaper and the lady carrying two carrier bags full of shopping from the Co-Op. I was mighty relieved to drop my bottle in the front garden and run the final half mile out and back to take me up to eighteen miles.

After a smoothie disaster I ran cold(ish) water over my legs and collapsed into bed for a kip. I understand that chilling the legs after a long run aids recovery by flushing lactic acid through the system. I’m never brave enough to get the water freezing cold, but I like to think I’m making the effort.

I ran the first eight miles in sixty three minutes, the middle three in 22:30 and the final seven in a disappointing sixty seven minutes. I’m going to have to plan my last three runs better as the schedule has me running the last bit faster than the first bit. I’ll need all the help I can get with that so will try and make sure I end up with a downhill run to home.

Oh no! When I check the parkrun results I find that Tony Audenshaw has been running. I’ve missed an opportunity to hear some of Tony’s Trials straight from the horse’s mouth so to speak. To be honest, I wouldn’t have recognised him as I haven’t watched Emmerdale since Archie and Seth used to have an entertaining double act before the Great Disaster.

When I consider my progress, I feel I’m getting closer to where I need to be in order to get round 26.2 miles, even if I don’t seem to be able to run at a pace that is close to my marathon pace.

Here’s how things look at the end of this week.

Weight 72.5 kg
Total Mileage 57.8 miles
Long Run 18 miles
Long Run Pace 8:28
Days without alcohol 12

Mileage has doubled from last week (28.5), but this is deceptive as there are two long runs included in this Sunday-Saturday seven day period. Pace on the long run has improved, but is still one minute slower than my target for the day itself.