Where were all the other veteran women, last Saturday? Down by the seaside, at Poole parkrun, this one managed to trot in as first V60 (30th woman) out of 816 runners. I ran a modest 24:38, which is not fantastic for this fast, flat run. I am usually trumped by at least two other impressively speedy mature women. Still, I’ll take that.
The Saturday run was bookended by long, slow miles, as has often been the case in this marathon training block, as my plans have been scuppered by events banging into each other and the ideal of the long, marathon-style Sunday run, with its careful early breakfast and what the running media call ‘fuelling strategy’ fades into the middle distance. I’d imagined that if I could just protect the March Sundays for my proper long runs, all would be well, but this new month (coming in like a lion, if a slightly bedraggled one) looks to be as busy as the last.
March is considered Monster Month in marathon running circles, when the weekly mileage goes up to peak distance before the (in my case) longed-for taper down the other side. I may be forced to do some monstrous long runs to set my mind at rest, at odd times of the day and week. It’s reasonably challenging, but not impossible, and as the laryngeal lurgy of last month seems to have abated at long last, there is no reason to hold back on the distance, speed and hill training regime, so long as the sleeping and eating is equally prioritised.
This past week has seen five running sessions completed, some more enjoyable than others.
Sunday was a day off, owing to travel and work, but Monday’s outing was a fun one: one of my Secret London Runs clients, usually a trail runner and wild swimmer, had been awarded a place in the London Marathon by the charity she raises funds for, so needed some long tarmacadam miles along The Actual Route. On a blustery Monday morning, with the traffic relentless on the Woolwich Road, we jogged the first half, with me urging my companion to visualise this urban hell cleared of traffic, lined with wellwishers and enhanced by a continuous, bright blue line, which denotes the most efficient route over the 26.2 miles. The organisers go out in the small hours on Marathon Eve to paint it on the road. It is everyone’s best friend and seasoned old hacks like me stick to it with some determination; after all, nobody wants run even a single yard further than they need to.
After Monday”s fun run, it was track on Tuesday with tired legs. A group of us did the session while fretting gently to each other about the Paddock Wood half marathon this coming Sunday. Maybe it was me fretting hardest. After the slightly slower-than-hoped time in Tunbridge Wells, owing to the previous week’s malady, I feel I need to do better on this one. It would be great to be a few minutes closer to my PB (all right, it was seven years ago, so that’ll never be repeated, but a 1:48 would be fine).
Wednesday and Thursday were solitary, rainy, unpleasantly achey ‘easy’ runs. Toiling up to Blackheath on jelly legs, I tested my new trainers, wondering why the transition from one comfortable, old, worn pair to a new, identical ones in a pleasing sky-blue (in fact the old ones, in iron grey, were more representative of current skies) would prove so unyielding in the sole department. Thursday afternoon’s work was a pleasant stroll around Bloomsbury, singing praises to the likes of Jeremy Bentham and Alice Ball. Sometimes my job is much more fun than the loneliness of the long-distance runner.
Monday 26 February
Tuesday 27 February 6x400m speedier, 2miles wu/wd
Wednesday: 45 min easy run/walk
Thursday: 45 min easy, with a mile or two practising marathon pace
Friday: REST
Marathon Gran 