Alex's London Marathon adventure by alexalder

A week of highs and lows, and I have been a bit too knackered to manage to keep my blog up to date...

Thursday 4th I did 5.5 miles, Friday 5th I did 11 miles, all at race pace - hurray! Then I read some rather challenging advice on Monday about the need to do lots and lots of long runs which rather panicked me as my training plan seems to be a bit light on those... Decided to bring my 18 mile run forward and did it on Tuesday 9th.

Did 8 miles around the marathon course (from 15 to 23 miles), met Jem at Tower Bridge and ran to Lewisham with him - it was very nice to have the company! A bit miserable doing the last 4 miles alone in the dark back to Beckenham but I was chuffed to do the full 18 miles and at race pace again - 8 minute miles.

I did rather cripple myself in the process though and have started taking a 4-pill combo to try and keep my joints going for the next 6 and a half weeks...

My training plan called for a 10 mile race but I didn't have anything scheduled - so settled for 10 miles at race pace... soon found I was a bit crippled still from yesterday's Fartlek session!

I just ran home from work, but, with the evenings being so light, couldn't resist taking a detour through Greenwich Park, I really felt the ascent up the hill. After that it was hard work but I averaged a respectable 8 minute mile all the way to 12 miles (and home). If I'd done that for one more mile I would have beaten my half marathon race time which is a really good feeling.

Extremely stiff after that although I am beginning to get some movement back!

Just done my first Fartlek, "a fun way to introduce different challenges" according to the website I was looking at! I'm not sure it was fun but it was certainly hard work... 6 miles of sprinting, resting, hills, and more sprinting than resting. Thank goodness - looking at my training plan - I don't need to do another one for a fortnight!

Introduced a new feature to my training today... I ran while Annabel, who's nearly 9, cycled along next to me. She was very cheerful and chatty and managed 6.5 miles at my pace without needing to stop or refuel!

We ran to Lower Sydenham station and then got the train back home - and she remained cheerful even when, half way home, I realised I'd forgotten her bike and left it there! Amazingly it was still there when we got the next train back (we prayed hard!)