This is part of a series of posts reflecting on my experiences in the run up to the Yorkshire Marathon in October. I’m currently on week eight of a twelve week training programme. The idea is to write a post every week charting my progress and reflecting on my training.

I had a bit of a panic this week.

Whilst aimlessly scrolling through my Instagram feed (as you do) I stumbled on this post under the #YorkshireMarathon hashtag:

The Yorkshire Marathon’s Instagram feed.

Flippin ‘eck indeed.

I say I had a panic, but a good kind of panic (we all know that panics can sometimes be good, right?) because it forced me to question my readiness for the task ahead. A month isn’t long. In fact, I’d already done two thirds of the training and the last part of any marathon training involves a week or two of tapering in order to give your body a bit of a rest before the big day.

With that in mind, I only really have two or three weeks of hard training left – flippin ‘eck, blimey and any other Yorshireism you can think of. That isn’t very long at all!

Am I ready? (I think so).

Have I done enough training? ((Well, I’ve kept to my programme, most of the time…).

Will I have the mental fortitude for the slog ahead? (Hmmm, not sure).

The distance and mental fortitude required to complete was niggling me this week. I was having a chat with one of my parkrun friends, Charlotte, on Saturday and we discussed how it was odd that most marathon training programmes didn’t actually involve a training run at marathon distance. This was certainly true of my programme. The furthest I’ve run is about 28km so far – 14km shy of the full distance.

Sure, on the day I’m sure adrenaline, the atmosphere, pure bloody-mindedness (call it what you will), will carry you a little bit extra. But 14km?

I’m not convinced. In the two or three weeks I have left I’m going to have to up the miles on my long run. There’s nothing else for it.

That’s why this has been a good panic – it’s forced me to reassess and adapt before it’s too late. It’s only two or three more weeks after all.

It will be worth it!

Training Programme

Overall this has been a fairly solid week without any distractions or health niggles.

• Monday: This was a rest day from running on the programme. Monday did see a long overdue return to the gym though. It’s been a little over two weeks since I last went so I did a fairly short session to break myself in gently.
• Tuesday: Easy run.  I’ve noticed though that the easy runs are getting longer in length the further I get into the programme, which makes sense. I covered about 15 km at a comfortable pace. I called in at the gym too and did a full workout.
• Wednesday: Rest day from running. Third day in the gym – go me!
• Thursday: The return of the Yasso 800s in the park. Doing twenty laps of the local park, alternating between a fast pace and a recovery pace is a somewhat surreal experience. You pass the same dog walkers several times and get looks of “Are you completely bonkers?” Yes, probably … I also had an appointment with the physio at Blizard physiotherapy. After three consecutive days at the gym my shoulder was a little sore, but I’m pleased to say the physio is having a positive effect. I also picked up a spiky massage ball to improve circulation and stimulate muscle reflexes in my back. It feels a bit weird using it, but I’m keeping it in my office next to my desk at home so I get in the habit of using it when I’m sat for long periods at work.

• Friday: Rest day from running. Quick session in the gym.
• Saturday: Supposedly a rest day, but couldn’t resist dropping by Clumber Park to do my local parkrun. As ever, it was good to catch up with supportive friends who understand. I knocked out a respectable parkrun – 17 seconds off my PB.
• Sunday: Long run day, except the good old British weather conspired against me. A quick look out of my bedroom window confirmed what I could hear from my bed: heavy rain. I really didn’t want to run for two hours plus in heavy rain and risk coming down with something this close to the race. There was only one thing for it – I returned to the gym and did over two hours on the treadmill. I’m not a fan of treadmill running. Mainly because it’s boring. Twenty minutes or so is okay, but over two hours is a real drag. I honestly don’t think I would have got through it if it wasn’t for Motley Crue’s greatest hits on the headphones!

Apologies to those of you who usually drop by for updates about learning technology – I tend to post about that kind of thing on Jisc’s Inspiring Learning blog. I intend to use this blog for more personal, non-related work posts in future.