Manchester Marathon Training: Week 16

Strictly speaking this is not a full week, as I still have the actual 26.2 miles to run on Sunday! But as the Manchester Marathon is not actually 'training'  then I am sure you will let me off...!

MONDAY: I completed another Spinning class today before my usual Body Pump class. I know you are probably thinking - not much of a taper, two exercise classes! But, I kept the resistance relatively low whilst Spinning, focusing on keeping with the beat of the music rather than making my quads burn! I also considerably dropped the weights I normally use in Body Pump for all the leg based exercises, again to offer them some rest. 

TUESDAY: a four mile interval run with 10 x 200 metre efforts, with 30 seconds recovery in between. Thank god it was only four miles as this felt really hard! I tried to give my all on the short sprints, and thus the 30 seconds rest felt like absolutely nothing. It was quite disjointed, but my new Garmin 220 watch helped so much; I was able to programme in the workout I was doing and it buzzed and alerted me when the intervals were starting and finishing - I am used to trying to monitor this myself!

WEDNESDAY: a steady 5k before my Body Pump class, which again I completed using markedly less leg weights than normal. I felt a bit more confident on the run than I have been recently. I allowed myself to relax without any time pressure, and in doing this I found myself naturally running around my target marathon pace. 

THURSDAY: Rest Day - which I spent enjoying some of the wonderful cakes my friend made for me (see image) - aren't they just perfect! 

FRIDAY: a very steady 2 mile leg shakeout run - quite possibly the shortest run I have ever been on!

SATURDAY: Rest Day - travel to Manchester

SUNDAY: The Big Day - full blog to follow, clearly once I have actually ran the thing! ​