36 mile week

This week contained the highest weekly mileage in my marathon training plan - 36 miles. And I managed to complete them all - lunchtime runs of 5 and 8 miles in Dulwich on Tuesday and Thursday, 18 miles in the rain in Greenwich yesterday and another 5 in Dulwich today.

While I still have a couple of long slow runs to do: 19 miles in 2 weeks time and 20 in 4 weeks time, the weekly totals start to decline from here - a sign that I'm getting close to the end of the hard training and the start of the "taper" towards marathon day itself.

My body seems to be holding up relatively well considering the extra mileage - a few aches and pains of course but nothing which a couple of days' rest doesn't fix.

I think my main concern on race day is going to be my calves and hamstrings stiffening up. Apparently this happens to all marathon runners, even the elites, and explains the "marathon shuffle" familiar to anyone who's watched at the finish of a mass participation marathon. Over time your leg muscles tighten up making a normal stride impossible, and this is the second main reason why marathon runners slow down in the last few miles of the race (the other reason being hitting "the wall" when the body runs out of easily accesible carbs to burn and starts the less efficient process of burning fat instead).

I won't be able to avoid the stiff legs issue happening to me but I hope by doing regular stretching sessions between now and race day I might be able to postpone the problem for a few extra miles.

I've been reading this book, which I got as a birthday present (thanks Sally and Phil) and while it's aimed at more serious (and better) runners than me it contains a lot of useful hints and tips on marathon preparation. Rather than just giving a bunch of standard training plans, it explains a lot of the theory behind why you should do a mixture of long slow distance runs, tempo runs and intervals in your training, and what benefits each type of run brings. It also gives guidance on nutrition (to help postpone or hopefully eliminate "hitting the wall") and on strength and flexibility training (including a set of exercises which I plan to do regularly to reduce the risk of stiff legs towards the end of the race).

So, another good week's training brings my total for February to 92.2 miles, and for the year so far: 181.22 miles.

This week I also entered the ballot to run in the Royal Parks Half Marathon in October. Fingers crossed for that one - I've spectated at the race twice and it would be nice to run round the course, particularly since Practical Action have people running for them there every year.