It's been almost two weeks since my last update, so I'm going to try to keep this blog fairly brief. After completing the Bedford Clanger I rewarded myself with a bit of a rest week. But, of course, my interpretation of a rest week might be different to most people.
The day after the marathon I found myself running with a new personal training client. On the Monday morning my legs felt a lot stiffer than they had from the previous two marathons, but I knew that I'd be able to get them to function after a little warm-up. So I arrived at the park where I was due to meet my new client in plenty of time for a walk, building to a brisk walk and then a jog. My legs creaked and complained at first, but once they were moving everything seemed fine. Not that I wouldn't have preferred a day on the sofa.
I also ran with my marathon client on the Tuesday. Once again my legs were a bit creaky in the morning and another warm-up was required before meeting with my client. But again, once things were moving my legs felt pretty good. Just as well. My client is showing considerable improvement. When he first started his training with me his fast run was a little faster than my jog (no offence Matthew!). These days I have to do some proper running to keep up with him. I can see our regular Tuesday evening appointments growing in intensity for me as the year progresses and as the marathons build up.
It was also on this day that my final race day instructions for the London Marathon arrived. I'm sure that many thousands of people up and down the country would have been opening the same instructions on the same day, all with varying degrees of excitement and nerves. Many of my friends immediately updated their Facebook status with news of the arrival of their race day information packs. I'm sure some people would have been trying to read significance into their allocated race number (it's the same as my date of birth - must be lucky, and that sort of thing). Out of interest (or perhaps not) my number is the very memorable 32795.
It's impossible to think of London as just another marathon. Even though I've known I've had a place in London for months, the arrival of the final instructions was very exciting. There are many marathon runners out there who consider London to be too big and too crowded to be really enjoyable. I say bah humbug to you. No other marathon in this country generates anywhere near the same level of excitement. I've run plenty of other marathons that have been friendlier, or prettier or more rewarding in terms of sense of achievement (i.e. they were really bloody tough), but London tops them all for atmosphere. Also, and this is rather unfortunate, but in the eyes of non runners you gain far more kudos for completing London compared to any other marathon. This will be my fourth London Marathon and I am very excited about the prospect of lining up on Blackheath Common ready to run around our capital one more time. Followed by meeting with friends to share our race times and stories in Horse Guards Parade. Your heart pounds with excitement as you pass crowds of spectators at the busiest landmarks: Cutty Sark, Tower Bridge and then the entire length of Victoria Embankment for the last two miles to the finish. I can feel my heart rate rise just thinking about as I write this. Bring it on! Of course, there's still plenty of training that needs to be done before the big day.
By Wednesday morning following the Bedford Clanger my legs felt like they were back to normal. That evening I was running with the Sweaty Betty Running Club. So, as you can see, my supposed rest week began by running on three consecutive days. I then followed this by having a kettlebell workout on Thursday and my hour one to one Pilate's with Holly on Friday, before finally having a complete rest day on Saturday.
And how did I spend my rest day? Saturday 19th March felt like the proper first day of spring. The sun was shinning and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. It would have been great to have spent the day outdoors. However, it was also Super Saturday, the last day of the Six Nations Championships. With three marathons under my belt I felt I deserved some R&R in a pub with friends whilst watching all three games. I also found that I actually had an interest in all of the matches. The first game was Scotland versus Italy. As Italy had only just shocked the rugby world with their win over France the previous week I was really hoping they would also beat the Scots, just so they could go out with two wins to their name. The result was 21-8 to Scotland. Doh!
Next up it was Ireland against England. England had so far won all four of their previous games. A win would mean a Grand Slam victory and their first in eight years. I had a horrible feeling before the game that Ireland would raise their game to beat England, especially as the match was being held in Dublin. Result: 24-8 to Ireland. Double doh!
Finally, France versus Wales. Could Wales provide further humiliation to French pride? No. Result: 28-9 to France.
So after a day in the pub, all three rugby games resulted in a loss for the teams that I was supporting. Never mind. It made a change from running and I got to spend a lot of time with friends that I rarely see these days.
I've been back into proper training since then. In brief, a mere 6 mile run last Sunday, followed by 8 miles on Tuesday and 9 miles on Thursday. I'm aiming to run about 18 miles tomorrow. I did also do three runs with clients or as part of the Sweaty Betty night, but I'm not including these as parts of my training this week. I'm selective as to when I add these to my weekly total! I was going to go to Park Run this morning. But I woke with a tiny hint of a hangover after having 3 pints last night. I'm such a lightweight.
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