Wednesday 7 December 2016

Marcothon week 1

Day 1: Had my work Christmas lunch today so this was going to be the day on paper where it would be the toughest day to fit in a run.  But the venue was so close to the train station and I just boosted off after lunch while others went onto pubs. So I ended up getting back at 7.30.  So it was straight out for an easy 3 miler to kick things off.  The only challenges I now face are my fitness and the weather. I really shouldn't struggle with time for the rest of the month.

Day 2: Working from home today and I wanted to try and get as much rest as possible before parkrun tomorrow. So I did the unthinkable and ran before work.  Now I don't think I have ever done a training run so early in the morning before. But I woke up and was off out the flat just after 7am. My legs were feeling a bit stiff after the night before but that went away after a mile. Another 3 miles in the bag.

Day 3: Today I went to Strathclyde parkrun.  This was my 24th time at Strathclyde since I started going there in August 2014. But I haven't actually ran it since June. Even having run 2 days previously I was feeling pretty good going into the run.  I got into a good pace and managed to run each mile quicker than the last. I was following the 27 minute pacer for most of the run till the last km when I pulled away. I finished in 26.27 which I was pleased with considering I haven't done a parkrun in 3 weeks, meaning I wasn't as use to running at that pace.

Day 4:  Usually Sunday would be my rest day after parkrun the day before. But rules being rules the marcothon does not accept rest days!  So after a nice long lie I got out and got this done.  I decided to go for mile laps today and was 30 seconds quicker on each mile than the previous. Felt so much better after I finished.

Day 5:  Plan for today was to run a 5k at lunchtime round Gogarburn with Andy. That plan went out the window at 6.40am. Trains cancelled and further trains delayed meant I decided it wasn't worth the hassle going into work today so I just worked from home instead.  On the plus side this meant that I was logged on for 7.30am and logged off at 4pm. But during the day it wasn't quite as simple as that. I had one of those "can I really do this" days. I was sore from yesterday but in the end I forced myself out the door in full winter gear.  I decided to go for a new route today. Basically an out and back with a loop round Newlands park at the turning point.  I just took it easy but I found on the way back I was actually feeling really good and all in, managed 3.7 miles.  I'm hoping to keep edging this mileage up every now and then.

Day 6: This will probably go down as one of the most controversial marcothon runs of all time.  Today I ran round Gogarburn with Andy. I didn't take my watch as it takes too long to get a signal round there. Andy has his phone but it ran out of juice.  I found it tough underfoot going round the trails but as always good fun.  In the end I mapped out the route when I got home and we did 2.5 miles. Now how fast was it? was it below 10 minute mile pace?!  I don't know for definite but I'm saying it was above that pace meaning I ran for over 25 minutes lol.

Day 7: Working from home today so straight out for an easy 3 miles after work. I say easy but it was actually quite warm so was sweating buckets by the end of it!

So that's the end of week 1.  Overall a solid start to the marcothon and probably my longest streak of running I have done since I last did the marcothon back in 2010!

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