Week 11 - The road to London… via Brighton?
It is safe to say we all started this week in need of sleep. Daz and Wee woke up feeling tired but surprisingly fresher and more pain free than expected after their 20 mile run. Lissi didn’t cover the distances that Wee and Daz managed last week as she was still recovering from the Ofsted effect, but still ran the furthest of all three runners this week!
So we all were not exactly jumping for joy at the prospect of another week of running, strength work and general marathon madness!
Daz and Wee had at least completed their long run and had a recovery week to look forward to. Wee spent the week in “active recovery” mode and planning out the next couple of weeks. (Just to make is clear, although he was recovering he still managed to grind out 40km!) At this point in the training plan he was working out how to use his long runs to best prep for race day and to get the most out of his training. We’ve left him in charge of planning the last 32km run which we will all potentially be doing, so he has been busy using his expert local knowledge and running expertise to plan out an interesting route so that we don’t have to do multiple laps of Draycote - and potentially even with a medal at the end!
Lissi started the week panicking about running 27km. After last week she couldn’t face multiple laps of Draycote so instead she opted for a town based route plus a couple of hills, culminating in one lap of Draycote. The near fatal error in route planning meant she ended with a significant uphill run, made worse by needing a speedy finish in order to keep her physio appointment - that was definitely going to be needed after the last couple of weeks! After starting late (#standard) in cloudy 5 degrees she finished in a balmy 16 degrees, in full sun and skins, made it a warmer, slightly more stressful, and pacier jog uphill for the last km than the extensive planning accounted for! (This concludes this week’s weather report by Lissi!)
Cliff notes- she completed the 27km in a respectable time, with both feet strapped and some serious leg pain, but completed it all the same AND made the physio appointment! This marks her longest run to date so a great achievement. Now if only she’d focus on that rather than the fact she felt like her legs might explode for the last 3km!
The other big news this week is Daz’s potential U turn on his Brighton Marathon place. Those of you who see Daz regularly will know that back before he landed a London Marathon place he signed up for the Brighton Marathon. The plan was to join Lissi in her preparations for London (that and he had a serious case of FOMO!) Once he landed a place in the London Marathon though he intended to bench Brighton, as no one is crazy enough to run their first marathon 3 weeks before their second…. right….. ?
Well after the post 20 mile high from the weekend, Daz has revisited the possibility of Brighton and has spent the week going back and forth between these two options. To Brighton or not to Brighton?? That is the question! This has not been helped by the arrival of his race pack and the realisation that he paid for a t-shirt too. That’s right, Daz, never one to feel like he has wasted money, wants his t-shirt, even if he has to drive for 6 hours in one day and run 42km to get it!
So the question is, should he ditch the team TCS group 32km run (our first and only whole group run in this marathon training plan!) carefully planned by Wee, to run a full marathon in Brighton…. Or not….. ? Comment below!
KM Counter:
Weeman: 40.19
Lissi: 41.13
Daz: 26.99
Weekly Total: 108.31
Total: 1122.27