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It’s only six weeks until the marathon, and, with the taper, it means there are only three more weeks of full training. I’ve decided that I’m finally fully mended – the achilles hasn’t troubled me unduly lately (it hurt towards the end of Tuesday’s long run, but not too badly) and the pain in my left quad is better as well, so I’ve decided to return to the full schedule of five runs a week rather than the four I’ve been doing for the last 4 or 5 weeks.

I did 11 miles on Friday, which went pretty well, apart from the fact that it was quite windy. I wanted to run along Caragh Lake because that route is much hillier than the alternative ones, and as the marathon will be on a very hilly road, I don’t want to lose my strength on those climbs. I didn’t have to worry, I felt very well on all sections, and completed the run without feeling tired.

Today was supposed to be a relaxed 5-mile recovery run. I ran a bit too fast for it to be a recovery run, but it was still easy pace. But despite the fact that I ran shorter, slower and over flatter course than the day before, my average heart rate was higher – go figure!

I’ve got a 10 mile tempo run planned for tomorrow, and Monday will a day off – let’s not overdo it.

10 Feb: 11 miles, 1:34, 8:32 pace
11 Feb: 5 easy miles, 44:23, 8:52 pace