Janathon 2011

[marathondan]

Week 9 of 19

Wednesday:

3.3 miles lunchtime fartlek, over bank, hill and dale. I forgot my hat and gloves (neither of which were really needed) and water bottle, and packed leggings instead of shorts by mistake. Other than that, it was well planned. 22 sec slower than last week overall; the mild time disappointment continues. Hopefully it's not an early warning sign - I'm feeling fine.

Then in the evening I road-tested the costume. I say road-tested, but I'm still too chicken to go out in public in the thing. So I ran up and down the garden for 10 minutes. The wind caught it a few times, which was interesting, but everything felt comfortable and seemed to stay in place. There are still a few refinements needed (e.g. internal shoulder straps) and then considerable decoration required. But the basic conclusion is that the project is GO, the dream is alive, etc etc. Photos to follow, when I'm actually home in daylight - it's too tall to stand up in indoors...

I guess the worst that could happen is for high winds to cause the fabric to rip, or (worse) a pole to snap. Fortunately there are no long, exposed stretches of road, or risks of high winds, in Brighton.

Incidentally, it looks like I won't be able to make the pasta party beforehand. Having failed to secure city centre accommodation early on, I've decided to travel down on the day - drive to Redhill and then get the train to Preston Park. Thus I get the comfort of my own bed, plus it minimises the amount of driving with seized legs I have to do afterwards.

I consulted the "race day" chapter of my training bible in an attempt to validate this decision, but actually Lord Hal states that even when the start line is as little as 45 minutes from home, he stays at a hotel to ensure that he is as rested as possible. Ah well, what does he know?

On a related note, I see that His Royal Higness has embraced "Less is More" by introducing a 3-sessions-a-week marathon training program(me). From the introduction, it sounds as though it could have been written specifically for RCers:

"Marathon 3 is designed for experienced runners, those who have been running for several years, who enjoy running road races between 5-K and the marathon, but who find it difficult to run more often than three times a week. Perhaps it is because of a lack of time or perhaps it is because too frequent running raises their risk of injury."

He still includes two sessions of cross training per week though, the old bugger.