Or, 4 and a bit weeks and counting...
Cutting the training week at this point, as Sunday is the Great Scottish Run half marathon in Glasgow, which I'm running as pure race preparation. First 10 miles at target marathon pace (8:30 miles), then last 3 at as fast as I can manage.
The training this week included a first. Harking back to my old Saturday afternoon hobby of refereeing, I was asked to ref a Charity match between SAIC (ex-employers) and Accenture (to whom most people I worked with transferred after the loss of our major contract). Suffice to say that after a few seasons exclusively running the line, it's something like 4 years since I refereed. A fact those unlucky enough to be taking part must have recognised pretty quickly. I did manage to have an excuse to wear my luminous yellow kit, though. As a training exercise though, it was very interesting. Stuck the Garmin on to see what sort of effort I put in - the result is here. Basically just over 6.5 miles of running at a constant sprint / stop. Completely different from a normal run - different muscle groups, intensities, etc.
Fun though it was, the legs were tired and sore in some odd new places for a couple of days afterwards, resulting in Sunday's planned 20 miler being cut short at 13, especially with a slight tweak in the calf.
A decent recovery on Tuesday, done at a slightly higher pace as I'm aware that I haven't really been stretching myself. Today was supposed to be a Tempo session at Scotstoun, but with the race imminent on Sunday and the weather scorching, I decided that something a little lighter was in order and took myself off round the loop at the bottom of Glen Fruin. It's been an absolutely stunning day here, about 24 degrees and despite my aversion to heat, combined with the hilly nature of the route, this was a great, great run. Not awesomely (or even slightly) fast, but just a wonderful day to be outdoors in unbelievable scenery doing something I'm gradually learning to love again. One of the best runs since London.
In such circumstances, the only possible music choice is my favourite running song. There's something about the way the music (carp pun, sorry) swoops and soars and crescendos that makes it perfect, and on days like today, the "Yeaaahhhh's" get serious laldy. Life affirming. Used it before, but make no apology for using it again.
There may be a short race report on Sunday...
Week's summary: 4 runs, 33 miles: Long run 13 miles
Miles since entering Le Mans: 214
