Monday 3rd March: 45 min spinning class
Tuesday 4th March: 1 hour circuit training, 5km run (gym)
Wednesday 5th March: 10km run (running club, home from Headingly), 3 mile walk
Thursday 6th March: rest
Friday 7th March: 35.5 mile run (Thames Path and Richmond) Wooooooop!!!
Saturday 8th March: 1000m in Olympic swimming pool
Sunday 9th March: 4 mile walk (Lee Valley)
Total: 51 miles
Forgive the excessive punctuation and capital letters, but I'm quite EXCITED!!!! (sorry, enough now). 35.5 miles in one go is 5.5 miles longer than I've ever run before, and I loved it and honestly felt good all of the way. Also, to be honest, that was a surprise.....
Up until now all long runs I've done I'd kept quiet till after I'd done them, just in case I couldn't do them, and then no one would know, so I wouldn't be embarrassed. But several people had been asking me lately what the rest of my training was like before the race, so I'd kind of mentioned that I was going to do a long one this week, as it's only 5 weeks away now till the race, and I thought it was time to get serious.
So I was slightly nervous when I woke up on Friday! But excited, like I was about to do a race, I've really missed that feeling since not doing any since the last marathon last Nov, 4 months ago now!!! Breakfast = a bowl of porridge, and a bowl of Cheerios, for good measure, some coffee and plenty of water. I borrowed Andrew's GPS watch, because mine is fixed but is stranded far away in Chorley for now. This is a MASSIVE gift....35 miles on the clock for free!
It's a beautiful day! As I walk to the Boris Bike stand with Andrew so he can get a bike to work and I will start running, I feel like we're walking to the start line of a race! Slightly less glamorous than all that once I get started, but maybe it's the weather, or being back in London, or the thought of doing something I haven't done before, but I feel a little bit electrical inside, if that makes sense, like today is a day when something is going to happen.
It's so warm that I ran in only a vest. Well, trousers too, obviously, but what I meant was no hat, gloves, jacket malarky. You have no idea how happy that made me!
So this was my route:
It was 35.5 miles and took 6 hours and 17 minutes. And really honestly I felt really happy for every single minute and enjoyed the whole run. That's never happened before on a long run! Although I genuinely love running and get a huge buzz out of it, if I'm completely honest there are usually at least a few miles during each marathon where if you ask me what I thought about running, I would say it sucks big time, and I want to stop. Now. And forever. Hey, sometimes it even feels like that the whole flipping way. But I think that's important though. When things are tough, it forces you to figure out what it is that keeps you going. If every run in your marathon (or any race) training was easy, well that would all be great and lovely, but what happens if you get to race day and you have a bad day, how will you know how to deal with it and keep going? Also, realistically, you probably aren't going to cover the whole of the distance of your race in training, so on race day you're going to have to run further, and probably harder, than in training. That will be tough, and of course you can do it! But it might be difficult, and you need to be able to cope with that. So, in summary, after that lil' old pep talk there, it's great to run well, but having a bad run is useful too! I have had, in my opinion, plenty of those already this winter, and so I shall relish enjoying a whole run in the sunshine.
In a scientific experiment I have plotted my moods (in pink) from this run, and compared them against my moods from my last 30 miler in February. That must be an improvement, right?!
Ilkley 30 miles (Feb)
London 35 miles (March) 
I am, however, aware that London is flat. Yorkshire isn't. London is sunny (sometimes). Yorkshire isn't (at least, not since I've been there). Which may account for it feeling easier. Shame the race isn't in London hey.
Food (always at the front of my mind) stops:
6 miles (Battersea Park): 1 x packet (2 biscuits) Morrisons milk and cereal breakfast biscuits
12 miles (just after passing Putney): 5 x jelly babies
17.5 miles: HALF WAY!!!! Had a sit down for a few minutes on a handy bench by the river just before Richmond: 3 x oat cakes with peanut butter, 4 x jelly babies
23 miles (Richmond Park): 1 x packet (2 biscuits) Morrisons milk and cereal breakfast biscuits
29 miles (on Thames Path on way back to Putney): 1 x strawberry Nutri-Grain bar
Plus, 1.5 liters of water
Am getting used to eating 'proper' food while running, rather than just sweets. It seems that eating around every 5 miles stops me from getting really hungry, and I've read that you should have something even more frequently than that in an ultra. So I'll try that next time. It's just a faff carrying stuff in a rucksack and having to stop to get it out, but I know it's important, and I can really feel the difference in recovery if I've eaten quite a bit during the run. Peanut butter oatcakes don't travel too well though while running. But hey, at least it wasn't an onion bagel, like last time. Big improvement.
Other things that happened this week..... I went to a lecture by Malcolm Brown who coaches the Brownlee brothers (the triathletes) with Kath and Liga from running club, then we did a 10km run back home, around all of the hills in Leeds! I swam in the Olympic swimming pool at the Aquatics Center with Andrew. Amazing! What it must feel like to be a champion!
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