Excited.com

Another week down, 14 weeks into my training plan and all is good.  Well, despite the need for sleep which STILL doesn't seem to be happening!  Tonight, I plan on staying asleep beyond my usual 6am get up time for it is, after all, the school holidays and I simply don't need to wake so soon.  Yes, I have now officially broken up for work for a couple of weeks and although I have plenty to do, I am able to relax into my break and then get in the 'final preparation for a marathon' mode!  It has been a long tough half-term but I've survived it and managed, by and large, to stick to a reasonable training schedule that should see me survive the first of my marathons.  More than that, I've really managed to get some miles in (by my standards) and am looking forward to the next two weeks and beyond.

Other than a bit of school work, really enjoying being with my children, decorating and training (albeit the next two weeks will see a steady decline in terms of the distances and hours on my feet), I am simply going to enjoy life!

My training this week has been regular and actually rather fast but lacked the longer run that I had wanted to get in.  That said, I've really noticed the speed improving at long (long) last.  So, my week that was:

I swapped my nights in terms of the children around a little this week so ended up being child-free on Monday so only managed a 5km run.  Partly due to having tired legs after the long 22 miler at the weekend and also feeling a little rushed due to going out on Monday night (actually, mostly due to having tired legs from the long run).  Tuesday was a rest day for me and well needed.  Wednesday and Thursday saw me hitting the treadmill for reasonably fast 8 miles on both days (62 minutes on Weds, 63 minutes on Thursday).  I was quite pleased with these times... although as anticipated, my legs HURT on Friday so took another rest day.  I ran with a friend around Norton on Saturday - a fast-ish 6.5 miles in 49:30.  I was really pleased with this given just how tired the legs were only 24 hours previously.  Sunday however, after a late night, poor sleep and simple tiredness meant that I cried off today's long run.  I managed nearly 8 miles which felt comfortable and averaged 8 min/miles but I wasn't up for any more than that.  So, not quite the 35 miles that I had expected or wanted but still got in nearly 34 miles this week and am actually not unhappy with that.

I do however need to think very carefully how I play this week.  I still want a longer distance at the start of the week to compensate for today's shorter (if nearly 8 miles is short) run but need to be mindful that the next two weeks also involving winding the miles down a tad, so the plan:
Monday - 15 (I hope) slow/steady miles.  Perhaps 8.45 pace, I'll see how the legs feel given how hard I ran today/yesterday.
Tuesday - 5 easy-ish miles.
Weds - rest day plus being mum!
Thursday - 10 miles if possible although time permitting with the children etc, this may only be 8 and even spread out over two shorter runs. 
Friday - rest day as I have the girls with me.
Saturday/Sunday - resting as I have the children at home but I'm hoping that I may be able to get 10km in if I can rely on my parents to help out.  I definitely don't want to go much over 35 miles and would ideally like to be thinking of only 30 but want the longer run on Monday.

Thereafter, I'll really be in the week that counts... the first of the marathons! Excited.com!

I was trying to convince myself that running 2-3 marathons within 2-3 weeks is a much bigger challenge than I've given myself this year but upon thinking about it, it SO isn't.  So much of my challenge is to be able to adhere to a training plan for an elongated period of time.  50 weeks is FAR greater a challenge than 16.  Being able to start, build up and sustain 40 miles per week, nearly 2000 miles this year is a MASSIVE challenge for me (perhaps a walk in the park for so many of you).  It's also a challenge that really requires thought, energy and discipline to stick to it.  A challenge that, by and large, I'm loving although some days and weeks are better than others!  Although I'm REALLY loving the fact that I simply cannot get enough food inside me. 

The only other thing to think about is just how my body shape and physique are changing so drastically.  More to follow on that one!  For now, it's late and I'm looking forward to the sleep that I've been craving all day.