March has arrived and suddenly it feels like we have moved up a gear from the comfort of winter training. Ok comfort is maybe a strange word to use when you are running in the rain, snow and wind, but there is a comfort in the fact that the race season is far away and there is no great pressure to perform.
The winter months have been good for me. I have managed to put in 3 consistent months of training, clocking up 650 miles since the start of December. This is quite high mileage for me. I usually start to break down after a couple of 50 mile weeks, so to average 50 miles every week since January has been a big step forward for me. I suspect that building a base by doing Marcothon which involved running every day in December has played a big part. I have also been quite cautious in building up mileage gradually. Finally I think I have to give a lot of credit to Spirulina. I started taking this disgusting supplement after reading Scott Jurek’s book, and since I started I do seem to have more energy and seem to be able to tolerate a greater workload than previously so I am convinced it does have some benefits.
March brings win it the panic that we are now getting to the pointy end of things. It is now only 7 weeks until the Boston marathon which for me will be the culmination of 6 years worth of transition from couch potato to something a bit better. That means there are really only 4 training weeks left before taper starts. There is always a fear that you aren’t ready, but I think this year I am more prepared than I have ever been.
Even more frightening is the realisation that it is only 3 and a bit months until the West Highland Way race and there is still a lot of running to be done if I am to get through that in one piece.
For the remainder of march I shall be focussing on sharpening up my marathon pace, while at the same time putting in at least one long run of 35 miles just to make sure I am we’ll placed for the Highland Fling race which is 53 miles long and takes place 2 weeks after Boston, and which marks the start of the WHW specific training.
The biggest challenge this month will be to increase he training load once more while staying healthy.
Oh yes, and the small matter of staying sane and not driving my dear wife to distraction by over obsessing.