#Marathon "monkey on my back" - PT4

See my blog 4th August - "Monkey on my back".

So another 6 weeks on. Well where am I - a good question to ask myself  - ha!?

In my last blog about my preparation to run my first marathon in Paris April 2017 - I got a bit technical. 6 - actually nearly 8 weeks further on things have greatly simplified in my head. I have cut to the chase. No more bulls..t! At my level it comes down to this - 1) you have to run ever longer distances in preparation and it is time consuming and very tiring. 2) it is almost entirely about a mental test. Determination is pivotal - because there is pretty much always something in your head challenging you not to start or to give up! Here are a few more thoughts and observations.

• While I have been committed to my running there have been a couple of weeks where for circumstances largely outside my control I was not able to put a normal weeks running in. This is very bad news. I have found at my age (of 62) you very quickly lose the benefits you have built up - ie a break of a week feels like you are starting again. This might be an exaggeration but I am sure you have to keep the momentum going otherwise it becomes a bit soul destroying. (a dodgy analogy - I have an allotment - turn your back for a week or two and the weeds start to take over rapidly!) 
• I read a while back that a simple way to prepare for a marathon for an average person is to run one increasingly longer run at the weekend and do whatever you can in the rest of the week to tick over. This approach has suited me.
• Over the last month I have done a weekend run - started at 7, followed by a 10 and yesterday I did 2 laps of the 7 to make 14. In the week I typically do a 2 mile and two/three 4 milers. All the runs are off road in the main - on bridleways, fields and lanes. The advantage is it is easier on my knees - there is no traffic (wow you really can smell those cars - not good!) and it is definitely more spiritual being out on your own in the countryside. The down side is there are several significant hills. I have in mind that when I do the Paris marathon - which I know is flat - I will have put something extra in the bank stamina wise.
• I have found lactic acid build up in my legs can be a problem shifting but I have always scoffed at warm downs as a bit "poncy". What I have found is the benefit of jumping in a hot bath as soon as I have finished a long run. It makes a huge difference in getting rid of stiffness.

Yesterday morning I set out at 8.30 to do my 14 miler. This was the culmination of my weeks plan. I was looking forward to doing it in a perverse sort of way. I was doing it as two laps - so I could have a bit of banana and especially some water as I passed by my house at the start of the second lap. Doing laps is an extra mental test for obvious reasons. I felt tired at the end of the first lap - I didn't fancy the second one at all - but then something kicks in your head. You said you were going to do it. You have to do it. Gradually you start to chalk off the miles.

This is my thought for this blog. I ran 14 miles. I was seriously tired. (I was out so long my Forerunner GPS watch ran out of charge!). The thought that this is only a shade over marathon half distance is scary - I was so slow and I was out on my feet. However my over riding feeling - and not to over state it - ha! - is a feeling of elation - of deep quiet satisfaction. It is a great feeling. It really makes the effort worth it. I have the bug. I like the drug - or is it I am a high level masochist?

I am going to do 3 more 14's and aim to get to 20 before Christmas.