99 days

So less than 100 days to go, and I start my official training next week. I have been getting out 5 times a week so far, so I was feeling well prepared for what's coming up. The schedule that I'm going to be following has been safely saved on my computer for the last couple of months, unopened after one quick reading when I first found it. It's taken me till this week to actually sit down and have a proper read of it, and it makes for some scary reading. The weekdays don't seem to be too bad, with a couple of short (anywhere between 5 and 8 miles) mixed with some sprint or hill training. The weekends ask for a short 25 minute burst on Saturday (which will coincide nicely with my Parkrunning, more of which in a moment), and then the long runs on Sunday. Week 1 starts off at 9 miles, and only increases from there. The longest will be 20 miles 3 weeks before, but this is the weekend that we're in Paris, so I may have to jig the timetable a little. As much as I love running abroad, I don't think I'm going to be great company after running for 3 hours or so! All in all, it looks pretty hardcore. I knew that training for a marathon was going to be hard, but the reality of it seems much more daunting than my imagination! I'm going to need a lot of support to get me through this, I think.

Having mentioned Parkrun before, I should bring you up to date on my progress. The first week I ran 24.15, without music and without a hoodie, the second week 24.45 with water, hoodie and music, and last week I ran 25.36 with water, hoodie, glove and music. To be fair, in the last run, I was very conscious of the fact that I tend to run fast at the beginning as my competitive tendencies to overtake other people kick in, so I deliberately put my head down and tried to keep a sensible pace. This meant I could pretty much sprint the last lap, which was satisfying, but coming in that far behind my fastest time makes me think I could run a bit faster for the first half. It's also got me thinking whether, contrary to my current belief, I actually run quicker without music. I've just been out sprinting up my hill (when I say sprinting, I mean just about managing to run to the top), and my headphones stopped working after the first rep. Whilst music makes the time go quickly, without it I'm more in tune with my breathing, and I try to keep my breathing and my pace in sync. With this in mind, I'm going to try tomorrow's Parkrun without music, to test my theory out! Wish me luck!