“Lew-Who, Za-Her!”

Ace Ventura, Ace Ventura: Pet Dectective

Bored of these yet? Well, social media reactions and reader stats points towards the answer to that question being ‘yes’, but thankfully for everyone, it’s nearly over.

We’ve reached the 4th and final block of Marathon training, which means it’s 4 weeks till Belfast, the day of reckoning. The big miles are now done, and we’re into Taper time.

After my decent paced moral boosting 20 miler on the Sunday morning, scrolling through social media on the evening I’m reminded that running a Marathon ain’t no picnic.

Brighton Marathon takes place in the morning, and by all accounts it’s a warm one. As a consequence, race plans go out the window. Lots of runners struggle, from disappointment of coming in much slower than their target time, to the extreme of dehydration and sickness.

It’s a stark reminder that, as much as I’ve bitched and moaned about the cold weather these last 3 months, it could be the heat that will ultimately kick me in the bollocks on the day. I’m utter shite in the heat as well, although much better than I used to be.

With that in mind, I’ve started to take a look at the long range weather forecast. One is predicting around 13 degrees, which I’ll take all day. Of course, this means diddly shit, but it’s another thing for me to get obsessive over before the day.

The only negative of that big Sunday run, is that I’m creaking a bit on the Monday. Still, both in the Yoga and the Weights session I feel quite strong.

Tuesday is track night. Looking at the plan, this will be my last intense track session until the Marathon. It’s a Pyramid ‘Unsettlers’ session, with some random distances. 500-700-900-1100-900-700-500. The unsettling bit is that they are all either just over or just short of a full lap of the track.

I organise meeting up with a few other club runners who are Marathon training for the warm up. Again, this helps make the 5 miles tick over just a bit quicker. We’re all in the final block now, and it feels like morale is up. You can almost feel the sense of relief in the air.

The track session is fast. Like, really fast. One of my miles is sub 7 minutes. I mean, what the fuck. By the end, I’m hanging on. But hang on I do. I also feel quite strong by the end. It’s a great start to the week.

My Easy 6 miles on Wednesday evening is my usual route around the coast. The first 3 miles I’m plodding along like I’m cock of the north. The last 3 are spent dragging my arse to the finish. The only saving grace is my playlist, which includes this absolute banger that I haven’t heard in ages..

Wednesday was a dull so-so evening, but Thursday is a timely warm weather test. It shoots up during the day to a tropical 17 degrees.

It’s still 15 degrees in the early evening when I pop out. It’s a lovely night for a run. That’s a sentence I have’t uttered on this blog for a while. It’s 3 x 3 miles Intervals, 2 at Threshold Pace, 1 at Marathon Pace.

As it’s so nice, and also lighter in the evenings, I’ve got so much more options for routes. So I head down the Wagonway, come off at the Dene, through Holywell, then back down to the coast and along to home.

My Threshold pace is good, but my Heart Rate is high. It doesn’t bother me though, for two reasons. Firstly, I feel fine. Secondly – cheese. That’s right, cheese. I had cheese at lunch time, and it’s a bastard for putting your HR up.

Heart Rate aside, this is a good run, and definitely the last of the stinkers. I’m knackered, but in a good way. Productive pain and all that.

Friday morning I’m still a bit tired but want to get the 4 easy with hill reps out the way. I noticed earlier in the week that my usual hill is out of action. The work going on down the Prom has now seen this fenced off temporarily.

So, it’s back to the Quarry. This is a slight cheat, as the hills here aren’t as steep, but I’m past giving a shite. I just take a longer run at them. It’s another of those autopilot runs, but I feel like I could run forever on tired legs. I probably can’t, but if I THINK I can then I’m obviously winning the mental battle.

Saturday is rest day. I say rest, I get up to do my Weights session and then spend the rest of the day sorting the yard and the garden out. I would have been less knackered running.

In fact, Sunday morning, I am a bit sore. Run 20 miles? No bother. Cut the Hedge and do some weeding? Broken.

Sunday is forecast to be another sunny Spring day, so for the first time in forever, I’m going to run in my vest. Amazing. No layers, no gloves. Fuck off Winter, don’t come back.

I also don’t have to run 20 miles today. I can do 18 if I want. The plan gives me the choice. But I thought, if I’m doing 18, I may as well do 20. Not only for time on feet, but also for the psychological boost getting another 20 pluser will give me.

I also want to try and polish my Marathon Pace now. So aim to sit in and around 9:20 miles.

This is exactly the same as the last big run I did on this route. Heading inland (Westerly) is straight into a slightly chilly wind. Then when I turn at 11 miles, the wind disappears and it feels like the temperature goes up 5 degrees.

Also like the last time, the legs are feeling it a little bit. I’m not too bothered by that at all though. This my 6th 50-plus mile week in a row, it’s been a tough block, and I’m surprised I’m not more knackered to be honest.

I hit 20 miles at 3:04:51, keeping an average of 9:14 /mi. Not bad. Not bad at all.

That’s it then. The last ‘big’ run is done, the last shitter weeks are out the way. I’m going into Taper feeling strong physically and mentally. This is all going too well..

Mood: Suspicious