Brighton Marathon Training: Week 12

Otherwise known as the week it was permanently windy. It has not been ideal conditions for the highest mileage week of my training programme to say the least. Lets just hope the weather has provided some additional training gains - that's about all I can say!

MONDAY: Rest Day and a day in London with work enjoying a rare time being in the Capital and not actually running!

TUESDAY: it was very gusty today when I woke, and naively thinking the wind would not persist all week, I switched to one of the easier runs on my plan - a comfortable 10 miler. The wind did indeed make it feel a bit more like hard work at times. I also had slight soreness on the inside of my ankle; it had felt tight after my long run on Sunday but I assumed this was fatigue. It did not affect my running too much, but just felt like each time I planted my foot the impact was like knocking against a bruise. 

WEDNESDAY: lying in bed I could hear the wind howling outside; it was even winder than yesterday. I postponed intervals again - surely tomorrow would be better? - and headed out for 8 miles alternating 1 mile easy, 1 mile hard. The hard miles were tough, especially if they fell facing a headwind, and even more so when this was mixed with any form of gradient. Good training I just kept telling myself!

THURSDAY: more wind, and no escaping the interval run now. I had 8 miles with 15 x 400m reps and 200m recoveries, and at times I have to say it really was not fun. Some reps were almost draining, trying to run at speed into a swirling wind. I just had to tell myself to stick at it, not focus on pace but just try and keep my effort levels high. My reps were quite varied, ranging from 7.20 min/mile to 8 min/mile, literally depending on the conditions I faced. Body Pump class in evening and I also saw my Sports Therapist today and had some cupping treatment on my ankle. 

FRIDAY: Rest Day

SATURDAY: still windy - I was truly fed up of it now. I found parkrun tough today (see image); I think I was just tired of battling the conditions, and when the wind hit me I just did not have that extra 'umph' to push through. I ran 21:25, which is by no means awful, but after a couple of 21:00 runs I think it shows the impact the conditions had on me both physically and mentally. 

SUNDAY: with the long, long run of 22 miles ahead of me I was relieved that the wind had finally eased a little. It was still apparent, and probably on any other day I would have moaned about it being windy, but compared to some of the conditions I faced in the week, it was much improved. I aimed to keep today's miles steady; on my longest run of the plan I did not want to 'race' it;  it was all about the miles. Mother Nature still held a few surprises for me, and the conditions ranged from windy, to sunny, to wet and then some rather painful hailstones, but I made it to the big 22 with an average pace of 8.29 min/mile. The only minor niggle was that my ankle on a couple of occasions went a little tight again, and I had to slow my stride until it eased off. I will keep monitoring it and hopefully as the training load gradually starts to ease off now, it will too.