I'm pretty sure that almost everyone running the London Marathon next weekend will be thinking the same thing about the recent warm weather, i.e. "Very nice, but can it be a bit cooler next Sunday, please?". This is the biggest problem with training for a Spring marathon. You train all through the cold of winter, and then the big day itself can turn out to be a scorcher. Great for spectators, miserable for the runners.
The weather has been great all week. Temperatures have crept up just as the weekly mileage totals are tailing off. In an attempt to acclimatise I went for a 7 mile afternoon run on Thursday, running at a speed slightly faster than my marathon pace. I started my run from Brooklands Avenue and ran alongside the River Cam through Grantchester meadows and then on through Grantchester and Trumpington back to my starting point. I practically had the meadows to myself. I felt very liberated bounding along the river banks, dodging tree roots and ruts in the baked earth, and practically skipping over the footbridges due to the degree of bounce in their wooden structure.
I was fairly lazy earlier in the week. I did a bit of kettlebelling on Monday. Then on Tuesday I had an early morning sports massage and used this as an excuse to rest for the day. My old personal training tutor, Mike Power, has just set up a sports therapy practice very close to home, so I've started seeing him for my massage treatments. He's currently teaching part-time whilst his business takes off. I can highly recommend him to anyone nursing any sports injuries. You can find him at Greens gym or check out his website: http://www.optimise-fitness.com/.
On Wednesday I squeezed in another kettlebell session in the sun just before meeting with a client, which was then followed by a run with the Sweaty Betties. I had my usual Pilate's session on Friday. As the weather was so great I also took my kettlebell in to the garden in the afternoon and practised the Turkish Get Up over and over again. A very tough exercise to do that works the whole body.
Earlier in the week I had wondered whether I should take part in Cambridge Park Run on Saturday and to run it at marathon pace. However, I knew that I'd never be able to achieve this and that instead I'd run for a good 5k time. So I reined myself in by volunteering to be a marshal instead. It was actually lots of fun seeing the race from a marshal's perspective. I was giving the task of helping with the time recording. They have a very clever system. One person holds a device that records the finishing times. As runners cross the finish line they simply press a button. I was then one of two people who would pass a tag with a barcode to runners as they crossed the line. We'd have to be careful to ensure we handed the tags out in the correct order. Not as easy as it may sound, as sometimes runners would come to an abrupt halt right on the finish line before they even reached us, and other times runners would sprint right past us without taking their tag. When you have a group of five or more runners finishing very close together it can be quite frantic making sure they get their correct finishers tag. Once runners have their tag they take these along with their own personal barcode to the registration desk where all the barcodes and tags are scanned and results automatically collated and uploaded to the Park Run website. All very efficient.
This morning I wrapped myself up in a long sleeve top to go for a 9 mile run at marathon pace. Once again I was hoping I could run in warm conditions and wear warmer clothing than I'll be wearing in the marathon next week to help acclimatise to the heat. Unfortunately, I went running before the temperature really picked up, so my plan wasn't too successful. Once again I ran along the Cam towards Waterbeach and back. The river was eerily quite making me feel as if I was out earlier than I actually was.
So now there is just six more days before the biggest UK marathon of the year. I hope to get out for three more short runs between now and then continuing to practise my marathon pace. Following last Sunday's 21 mile run, I've decided that I'm going to try and stick to a 7 minute mile pace. This will have me finishing the marathon in 3 hours and 3 minutes. So far, I've failed to maintain this pace for any more than two miles. I keep finding my speed creeps up. So on Tuesday I aim to run 6 to 7 miles at marathon pace and to do my best to stick to my target pace.
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