So after the Yorkshire marathon I took some time off to
recover. Perhaps too much I was certainly out of action for longer than most of
the people I know, but I wanted a rest and there didn’t seem any particular need
to rush it. I took two weeks completely off, and didn’t run again until the
Friday of the third week where I did 1.3 miles at 10 minute miles. It was
another eight days before I ran again and I gradually started to build up the
distance with a few short runs, before going to the club interval session for
the first time almost 4 weeks after the race.
I think this all did me good. I felt like I’d done a lot of
running and needed a rest so it was good to take some time off.
To get back into shape I decided to do the Marcothon, where
you run every day in December for at least 3 miles or 25 minutes. I was keen to
get to January in good shape to do some serious training for the fling so this seemed
a great way of easing back in.
It was all going so well too. I made it to day 21 before I was
forced to stop having done something unpleasant to my back while bending down
to read the joke on a yoghurt to one of my children. This was extra maddening as
I had a cold and had dragged myself around the night before in the rain just to
keep the sequence going, and the joke wasn’t even that good. It was better in a
week or so but the Marcothon spell was broken. That said I think it achieved the
goal of getting back into shape.
The club offered a few interesting runs during December that
are worthy of note. There was the festive half marathon. I’d intended to turn
up dressed as santa and amble round, but sadly my santa suit didn’t arrive so I
had to turn up dressed like a runner and actually run. I did this quite well
for me, and were it not for a small navigational faux pas this would have been
a comfortable PB. I was running nicely when the people who were close behind me
suddenly vanished, I didn’t think too much of this at the time. It was 10
minutes later when I found myself running towards one of them down the road I realised
something had gone awry. Sadly it was me, and I ended up running 13.05 miles in
1h37. But the fact that I had sustained a
sub 7.30 pace for pretty much a half marathon felt like a bit of a step
forwards and I was pleased.
The was also the festive intervals treasure hunt, which was
great fun, where my local knowledge rather than my speed meant I finished
second, ahead of some much better runners who I’d never beat in a straight
race.
And on Hogmanay the Black Bun run. A 1.3 mile dash starting
and finishing at a pub. Not the kind of thing I’m supposed to be good at, so I
was pleased with 9:48 and 8th place, and also pleased to be the last
in the pub.
So now I need to start getting more seriously ready for the
fling. I’m up to 15 miles for my long run, and will take this up steadily over
the coming weeks introducing some elements of back to back. My aim is to build
to a longest session of 20 + 30 back to back. Logistically getting over to run
on the route is proving a challenge so I’ll be training in the Lammermuirs and
hoping this is similar enough.
