Six weeks in, ten weeks to go - the weeks seem to be racing by! At times it feels like I am getting through my training plan well and am in control; but at other times how quickly time seems to be elapsing sends a small wave of panic over me as I debate if I really am going to be ready to run a marathon again!

MONDAY: some light cross training and gentle stretching, combined with some harsh foam roller work (I am inflicting bruises on myself at the moment!) before my Body Pump class. 

TUESDAY: today hurt, a lot. This week's intervals switched from being fast bouts of work, to uphill efforts which really tested my legs. I ran 10k, planning a pretty uninspiring route which included 5 loops of the same circuit. This circuit featured a long, steep incline (Lindum Hill for anyone familiar with Lincoln!) which drew every ounce of my motivation to make me want to run up it five times. Each time I had to keep setting myself very small targets, breaking the hill into small sections such as the next lamppost, rather than facing the whole stretch as one big incline. At one point I wanted to quit; but I literally said to myself - this is the difference between a 4hr and a sub 4hr marathon finish - and with that I powered myself up the hill once more!

WEDNESDAY: I welcomed today's slower run; my quads were sore from the hills, and I also had the onset of a cold trying to take hold of my body which was making me feel a little lethargic. I still managed 7 miles and my Body Pump class afterwards, and actually felt better for exercising than I had during the day.

THURSDAY: I did not feel great again today, a cold still trying to take control of me and leaving me feeling energy-less. I ran though, telling myself to get it out the way today in case tomorrow I felt even worse! Again, once I was out running I actually felt a lot better; I ran 6 miles with 4 fast paced miles in the middle, which at times were against a very strong headwind. 

If my Park Run time got any slower this week I think I would have thrown in the towel...! I am only joking of course; as you can probably gather from my running exploits and commitment to training, I am a very determined and dedicated person. However, if my time did get any worse, I think I would have be severely questioning where on earth my speed had disappeared to!

Thankfully I am pleased to say my time improved - finally! It was still not a groundbreaking finish, but at 24 mins 6 seconds (nearly 30 seconds faster than my last Park Run attempt) I was happy. It was certainly my favourite Park Run visit of 2016, and gave me more hope that I can return to running 22 minute times at some point this year! 

My plan for this week's trip to Lincoln Park Run was to pace myself. I had in my mind the splits I needed to run each kilometer at in order to get a 24 min finish and vowed to stick to this. Initially I went off fast to create some space amid the hoards of other Park Runners (nearly 400 at Lincoln was such as wonderful sight!), but I quickly settled down into my own more natural stride. I also took on something my friend had said she frequently does at Park Run, which is to find someone who looks to be running at the pace you want to be at, but also looks like they are running comfortably. I pinpointed my man, who was just ahead of me, and seemed to be effortlessly taking on the course, and kept him in my sights.  

For the first two laps of the three lap course I ran comfortably hard; my splits exactly the same for the first 2k and only slightly increasing for the third kilometre. I felt so much better than in previous weeks, when after the first lap I have found myself questioning how on earth I was actually going to get around, and by the second my legs were screaming to stop!  

As I entered Week 5 I noticed my plan for this week was little lighter (if any marathon training week can really be described 'light'!) than the past few weeks; I presume to give my body a chance to adapt to the first four weeks of mileage and running. I both enjoyed this and at the same time found it a little scary!

MONDAY: gentle cross training, stretching, some time spent with every runners best friend - the foam roller; followed by my Body Pump class.

TUESDAY: this week's interval session was less prescriptive, and merely stated on the plan that after a 1 mile jog warm up, the remaining 5 miles should be fartlek (aka 'Speed Play'). I am well accustomed to this term having first been introduced to it in my GCSE PE days, when one of the frequent exam questions was to describe this method of training. I made a rough plan in my head of what I would do and went for it. I mixed in short 5k type intervals with jog recoveries, and then some steady 1/2 marathon pace running. I enjoyed it again. 

WEDNESDAY: today the weather was cold, damp, foggy and dreary; and it thus made my slow 6.5m run feel a bit of an effort. I desperately wanted to speed up just to get it over with! I stuck to a steady pace though, still a bit faster than my plan suggested, but I am not beating myself up over that! My calves were niggling throughout - a sign I need to get a sports massage booked as soon as possible. Body Pump class after. 

THURSDAY: Rest Day

FRIDAY: my calves continued to plague me throughout today's run, but I managed to override the annoying pain, hitting the suggested speed of this moderate paced 8k right on target. It was also much warmer weather than it had been recently, and it served as a nice reminder of how pleasant running can be when your fingers are not numb or your thighs red raw!

I was a little shocked when I realised that by the end of this week I would be a quarter of the way through my sixteen week marathon training plan. The difference between my first and second ventures into marathon training suddenly seemed apparent. Comparing my two training diaries seemed to reinforce that I feel more accustomed to running further and harder now, in contrast to last year when I was training for the London Marathon. It was actually quite rewarding to feel and read how a year had changed me.

MONDAY: No running Mondays meant some gentle cross training in the gym, stretching, foam roller work, and then my Body Pump class. 

TUESDAY:  I shocked myself today by actually enjoying my interval run. The plan was for a 10k distance featuring 5 x 800m fast efforts, with 2 minute recoveries. On paper I was dreading it, but when I got out there I much preferred the shorter, sharper intervals compared to the last couple of weeks, when I have been running what seems an epic 1.5 mile intervals at a fast pace. My legs felt good and I think I even added an extra interval on than the plan suggested - unheard of!

WEDNESDAY: a midweek 13k which literally just felt really long. My pace was steady so it was not an especially hard run, but it just seemed a little never ending on a week night. Body Pump class after.

THURSDAY: today was very, very cold. Sleet had been blowing most of the day and I was beginning to dread running outside. Luckily for me I only had a very small time window between finishing work and an evening meeting in which I could squeeze in a run - so I literally had to go! I managed a fairly quick 5k, bracing myself against the cold, icy winds and sleet flurries which were attacking me. I ended my run as the sun was setting over Lincoln (see image) which made the harsh weather a little more tolerable!

Back to back Park Runs - a rare occurrence for me, but after last week's very poor time I wanted to try make amends. Did I manage to...er no! I will not beat about the bush, I ran a 24.30 time, so a further two seconds slower than the week before, and even further away from my 22.37 PB - was it actually me who ran that time?! I have realised that I am not in PB running form; I can feel I am not as fast I was in the Summer, when I was running 22 min Park Runs, and when I felt at my speediest. However I am trying to get closer to my 5k PB, so this week was not a good week. I will however try and find some positives...

I entered into this week's Park Run with a new strategy, not trying to keep up with my friend as she is too fast for me at the moment! I wanted to try and run a steady pace throughout, one which felt manageable but would also edge me closer to my PB mark. Doing some mental math as we waited for 9am, my friend and I worked out my goal kilometer split time, and I thus lined up at the start with the notion of sticking to this. I went off too fast, but this week's event was very busy and I wanted to get towards the front. I settled into the run though and felt comfortable. As we finished the first lap of the course, I glanced at my watch and was shocked to see I had only ran 0.6km.... then realised I had not switched it from miles to km! Pacing strategy was now thrown out the window!

I carried on and ran the second lap reasonably comfortably again, yo-yoing in front and behind a fellow female who seemed to be running around the same pace as me. Then the third lap arrived and my legs suddenly felt sapped. They didn't hurt or feel as heavy as last week - which I will take as a good thing! - but they just lost their drive.

MONDAY: Monday is supposed to be a non-running day according to my plan, but I swapped things about a bit to allow me to take part in my usual Body Attack class on Tuesday. So the week started instead with a gentle 6.5k recovery run followed by my Body Pump class. Body Pump was tough today for some reason, everything felt like a massive effort, and the penultimate track focusing on the shoulder muscles absolutely finished me off, so much so that by the end I was stood bent over, hands on knees, totally spent!

TUESDAY: After carefully planning my plan to allow for doing Body Attack, the class was cancelled, and is likely to be off until the end of January! This left me a bit thrown what to do today, but after playing 45 mins of Badminton at work I decided to keep the day a cross training day, and headed to the gym, going on the Vario Cross Trainer and stretching. 

WEDNESDAY: an 11km run before Body Pump. My plan suggested this run be completed at a slow pace, a very slow place in fact, which proved just impossible for me to stick to - I did try! I therefore ran faster, but still kept it steady. 

THURSDAY: Another 11km run, but this time featuring intervals. I actually reverted back to using miles to complete the workout, as I was to do 1mile at a fast pace, followed by 3 mins gentle running; repeated four times, with a mile jog warm up and cool down. Follow... ?! I found it tough going at first, with the first two fast miles being uphill and into a headwind, but in the second half of the run I felt stronger.

FRIDAY: Rest Day

SATURDAY: Park Run visit number two for 2016 - could it go any worse than last week? Full blog to follow. 

SUNDAY: Today I ventured out of my usual Lincoln surroundings for my 10 mile long run; my friend and I heading to Clumber Park, a short distance from Lincoln. I had only visited the park once before, to complete a Race For Life Pretty Muddy in 2014, so was looking forward to exploring a bit more of the surroundings. It was a beautiful winter's day, not too cold and with a low sun peaking through the tress. Throughout our ten miles we were met with mud, bogs, puddles, long never-ending hills, gravel, dirt tracks, headwinds, groups of cyclists, excitable dogs, nearly flooded footbridges and even more mud - and I loved all of it! It was refreshing to be running somewhere new, especially when everything around you is so lovely. It was tough going on the legs at times, but I was especially happy my calves did not hurt me one bit, and that we also ran a very good time of 1hr 25mins despite the conditions. A great morning which left us with a couple of pairs of very muddy trainers and mud splattered legs (see images) to show for it!

What better way to kick start the New Year than with a Park Run! My friend and I ventured to our local Lincoln event to start 2016 as we mean to go on. We have set the target of doing at least one Park Run a month this year, and also want to be tourists in some new locations close to Lincolnshire. 

I headed to Park Run with my usual optimism of getting a PB. My friend and I have decided we never go to Park Run in other other mindset really! A PB would be a great way to begin the year and set a target to be beaten over the next 12 months. The weather was favorable, not too cold, not too windy, and no rain. It was slightly wet under foot, but thankfully this only really affects a small part of the Lincoln course - unlike some of the other Park Run photos I have seen from around the UK where people are very, very muddy!

My tactic was to aim to keep up with my friend. She has a faster PB than me so technically if I could keep close to her, and she ran within her usual time region, I could do it. Within about ten seconds of setting off the plan was out the window; she jetted off, and although I was not too far behind her, I was certainly not keeping up with her either. I ran the first 2km fast, I was in third female position and could see that my friend was also in first place, now already leading by a huge margin. My run plan was out the window but things seemed to be going ok...

This was soon to change, as I passed the half way mark, a tidal wave of pain and heaviness hit my quads, and instantly I went from feeling in control to feeling in trouble. Each step was requiring increasingly more effort and I knew I was slowing. 

Runners began to overtake me, and this made me feel a little demoralised, and also a little naive for going out so quick. I kept going, not really paying attention to the time and just hoping I could salvage something respectable.

​As I neared the final section I looked at my watch and knew from that brief glance I was on for a poor time. My pathetic sprint finish, in which I felt like I was dragging ten tonne weights instead of running with my legs, meant I stopped the clock at a woeful 24.28 - virtually two minutes over my PB. Even more embarrassingly, the time was slower than my Park Run before Christmas which I completed after 13 hours of drinking and five hours sleep, and nearly threw up during.

I have no excuses nor can I put my finger on why my legs gave up so catastrophically - I simply just could not run any faster! So my benchmark to start the year appears to suggest I have some work to do to get back to my own PB of 22.37, before I even begin to think about trying to beat that time. During marathon training this may be a tall order, but I will try nevertheless! In better news, my friend finished first female, putting nearly a minute gap between herself and the female runner in second place - a much better way to start the year! ​

Week Two of marathon training has felt a bit odd to be honest. I think in general there is the feeling of being a bit lost and out of sync with what's going on during the 'crimbo limbo' period between Christmas and New Year; so I had this to contend with, plus the added stress of moving house this week - which has totally thrown me out any form of normal routine!

MONDAY: Rest Day

TUESDAY: an early morning interval run before the house move began. I am not a morning runner, so intervals at this time of day was an extra challenge. I ran using 'miles' as my reference as is detailed in my plan; usually I convert things to 'km', but sticking with miles helped make the intervals more manageable, neater and easier to remember! I still had to write notes on my hand though in case I needed to jog my memory, which made me feel like I was back at school! The run involved a 1 mile warm up followed by  3 x 1.5 miles at a fast pace, with 3 minute recoveries in between, and a 1 mile jog to finish.

WEDNESDAY: today was a bit manic sorting stuff out with the house, so I only had time to fit in a 7k treadmill run before my Body Pump class, instead of the scheduled 10k run. Even squeezing this 7k in resulted in me running a lot faster than suggested in my plan - whoops! Body Pump hurt, even though it had only been a week since I last did the class before the Christmas break!

THURSDAY: a gentle 5k loop to make up for the missed miles yesterday. 

FRIDAY: back to the tempo running today and also back to working in miles. I may be converting...! 4 miles involving a 1 mile warm up and cool down, with 2 fast paced miles in the middle. I hit the suggested paces in my plan bang on, helped by the fact that for the majority of the 2 mile fast section I was following hot on the heels of a fellow male runner who had overtaken me at a set of traffic lights. He glanced nervously over his shoulder the whole way seeing if I was catching him up as I ran hard, determined to keep within touching distance of him. We acknowledged each other when we eventually parted, both appreciating the challenge we had given one another.