Saturday 27 March 2010

four weeks to go!

With less than four weeks of training left, I'm still pretty much on schedule with my training. 20miles last weekend with the Garscube ladies, then 18miles at the weekend just passed. Its strange how my brain works on these longs runs now with me strangely looking forward to 'only 18' this weekend... never thought I'd see the day! (For ultra-marathon Debs 18 must be like a 5k in comparison!)

18miles proved probably more torturous than the 20 the week before, and I'm convinced Steve might have been trying to kill me off with the hilly route he had planned - Anniesland, over Langbank, round the reservoir, then 8 miles out & back on WHW, where we were joined by Anna (our psychological support). Despite an all-time-low around 14miles, I completed the 18miles - though I do think the prospect of hot chocolate and cake in Milngavie may be solely responsible for pulling me through that final four miles (and of course Anna and Steve's chat, thanks).

I did love this little "motivational" quote in the marathon newsletter this week:

"Anyone can run 20 miles. It's the next 6 that count"
~ Barry Magee, 1960 Olympic medalist.

Firstly, is this really meant to be motivational when most people only train up to 20miles in the marathon programme? And secondly, if your an Olympic athlete, you'd know it's an extra 6.2 miles, surely?! ;-)

Sports massage scheduled for today - wish me luck :-) and then its the final long run this Saturday before the taper begins.

2 comments:

  1. Good luck with the taper Emma. Sometimes it can be worse than the training. :-)
    Marco

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  2. I've only ever run 20-miles for my longest marathon (specific) training run. They do say the marathon is a race of two halves - the first 20 miles and the last 6.2...and it's VERY true.

    Good luck with your LAST long run this weekend! Your dedication to training has been outstanding. Think of us running 33 miles tomorrow %-)

    Debs xx

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