The last big week - a round up

23 September

Last week was the last big week of training before the taper - and I went into it a little apprehensively as the Friday before last I'd had knee pain on a 10k run...

So - it was a joyful experience on Monday (16th) to head out after dropping the kids off feeling fresh. It was a lovely day and I headed off down to the river at Deptford. The plan was to run to Greenwich and then pass under the river and do my normal marathon loop. But running by the river was so peaceful and pleasant I just carried on, heading further along the Thames path imagining I'd do a half out and a half back. But I felt so good at about 18k that I decided to be a little more ambitious and attempt the full loop from the Thames Barrier out to Eltham and back through Crystal Palace. I stopped for about 45mins for lunch at a café in a park and got going again afterwards without problems. In all 46k in 4hrs 30mins of running. And it all felt calm, pleasant and just fun to be out exploring and running through mostly nice scenery.

Then on Thursday I went down to see Mum and Dad after Mum's stomach surgery for her reflux condition. I drove down early and left the car at Wye, near Ashford at 6.45am and ran the 21k (it's actually a perfect half marathon) from Wye to Hythe to check I know the route for the big run. It was glorious running, despite having a bag on my back with clothes to change into. Took it nice and gently and covered the distance in about 2hrs 15mins, walking up the biggest hills and taking it very easy on the loose/stony stuff (no injuries now!!). Still - it illustrated that my aspiration to cover the full 120k in 15hrs is a little fanciful! 16-18 hours more likely.

A gentle 7k with on Friday and a fast (18:11) 5k on the treadmill on Sunday rounded out a 79.5k week (my goal had been 80k) - bang on track. My knee hasn't bothered me at all, everything has felt strong. Now to tapering for a couple of weeks - thinking 40-50k this week and 30ish the week after...