21 weeks to the Lausanne Marathon.
29 weeks to the Phedippidations World Half Marathon Challenge (at Henley on Thames)
15 weeks to the Robin Hood Nottingham Half Marathon.
Well this was a pretty good "week" all in all. An easier work schedule decided by some pretty torrential rain meant that I could fit in a couple more runs. In seven days I managed an eight miler, a four miler, two sevens and yesterday an eleven miler - that's 37 miles! Far too much in a week on the state of my fitness, but until yesterday afternoon, I was really feeling no ill effects.
Right now I'm reaching for paper tissues every 30 seconds or so and have just succombed to some of those "night and day nurse pills". Yes - I know that a dramatic increase in mileage stuffs up the immune system and I got plenty of colds back in the eighties when I was a more "serious" runner. I have suddenly taken a much more active interest in the nutritional aspects of increased training loads and the other day re-discovered a weighty tome on my running bookshelf that I had purchased in a sports bookstore in Virginia in 1998. It is Dr Michael Colgan's book on Sports Nutrition. At the ripe old age of 50 and with several years of neglect to my running body, I thought I might need a bit of help this time around. In particular with the pounds beginning to slough off, I don't want to lose more muscle mass than I need to - so the Glucosamine Sulphate and Omega 3 Fish Oil for my joints have now been added to by a Chromium and l-Carnitine supplement and some Probiotic Multivits. Goodness knows I've never been a pill popper, but with the cold cures I've just counted 9 pills today before 2 in the afternoon! There remains considerable controversy about the value of these supplements and I have an open mind at the moment. We'll see how it goes for 6 weeks or so with this and I will try to increase the complex carbs in my diet, particularly fresh and raw fruits and vegetables. Wish me luck!
I think my comfortable training pace is now up to around 9 minute miling and although much of my running is based on guessed distances, I do run on a couple of measured courses around the village. My challenge is going to be to run long runs slower than marathon pace as I build mileage. I've glimpsed at the Hal Higdon programme I intend to start following in about 2-3 weeks tim and I see the long run each week follows the "hard" run - a cunning device to ensure lsd is just that on the long run. Long, Slow and Distant! I'll be shuffling around on dead legs I'm sure!
I can see I may have to invest in some form of exact measuring / pace indicator / hrm device before too long so I can track progress. The idea is forming in my head that I should really be aiming to better my marathon pb of 3:46 in Lausanne, even if I have to back off on the day based on conditions. In particular the altitude (about 350m) and the rolling hilly course may be something I will underestimate the effect of until the half way mark. Obviously running without injury and illness and dropping quite a lot of weight will be key to running this type of time, but my long runs are more promising at this stage than I had expected. Yesterday's 11 miler was admittedly on more or less totally flat terrain around Spalding in Lincolnshire, but it was cold and windy and I had few difficulties keeping up a good pace. The self-awareness of slipping "into the zone" after about 45 minutes was a nice sensation. No niggles, no soreness, no twinges - just the common cold flooding my system hours later!
I see the Steve Runner's podcast is on vitamins this week. No run today, but I think about an hour with the headphones in on friday afternoon would be good to clear this cold from my system, don't you?
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