Weeks 3 & 4 of 12 - (13th Aug-26th Aug)

WEEK 3
Mon - 10 miles easy (7:17mm)
Tue - 9 miles - Reps Session 7x 1km @ 3:16 av. (final rep 3:09)
Wed - REST
Thu - 8 miles (7:09mm)
Fri - 8.4 miles inc. 8M Tempo @ 6:24mm
Sat - 15 miles (7:56mm)
Sun - 10 miles easy (7:24mm)

TOTAL MILEAGE = 60.4 miles

WEEK 4

Mon - 5.6 miles treadmill inc 5km in 16:53 (5:26mm)
Tue - 12 miles easy (7:17mm)
Wed - REST
Thu - 12 miles easy (7:22mm)
Fri - 12 miles inc. 9M Tempo @ 6:20mm
Sat - 3 miles easy (8:25mm)
Sun - 20 miles easy (7:32mm)

TOTAL MILEAGE = 64.6 miles

"My weakness as a runner is kind of giving myself outs. Telling myself, 'Oh, all I really need to do is this.' It's a really mentally weak way of running, and I do that a lot. But the [Olympic] Trials is so easy for a guy like me to run - you don't have that out. You run probably the way guys who are really good run all the time.

There's almost something missing from guys who can do that. They're able to run stupid. You can spot them. Guys who love to get drunk. These kind of crazy guys. It's what we're all trying to do, but I'm just too cerebral. It's really gotten in my way ...

... In running, there's just not really luck. It's about putting yourself in this place where you're willing to push in a way that's not normal."

Ian Dobson, US 5000m Olympian (Beijing), talking about the mental side of running and racing

I love this quote. It reminds me that snazzy training programmes** are no substitute for being able (and willing) to absolutely bury yourself in the hard sessions. A couple of months ago I basically committed to myself that I'll try and do that in at least one session per week. Find that red line, and then try and run along it. It's a great feeling when you've really left it all out there, whatever the numbers on the watch say, so I'm trying to embrace that and find some improvement with it.

It's been a busy couple of weeks but thankfully I've been a bit better at fitting in running than I have been at writing a blog about running! At times it's felt like I didn't even know what training I was supposed to be doing, which is kind of why I started doing my 12 mile course day after day last week; but I've been getting the mileage in as well as two quality sessions per week (now handily highlighted in red).

Firstly then, mileage. These last couple of weeks have taken me to 6x consecutive weeks of increasing mileage now (think that's a personal record, if you can have records for such things) averaging 60ish for the last 3. That's encouraging especially as my legs don't seem to be complaining and makes me feel like I'm more likely to peak at the right time this time round, within a couple of weeks of the marathon hopefully. Yes, the mileage chart is indeed a thing of beauty at the moment.

I've been tracking miles since London against my 2010 numbers as the end of that year included my current 10K and Marathon PBs (36:03 and 2:59:41). I think I'm comfortably ahead of where I was for now, I just need to keep the work load high and consistent through this next 8 weeks to stay ahead of that Abingdon build-up (I ran it in wk41). That said, keeping this upward trend going for a 7th week is going to be difficult now as I carded a couple of zeroes to start wk35. Good miles today (Wednesday) but I'll still need to average 13+ miles a day for these five days to do it. Should be an interesting test for me and for Lyndsey's tolerance levels.

The quality sessions have been just that over the fortnight, particularly the short speed work. 3:09 is the quickest km I've ever run I'm pretty sure (5:05mm) and the treadmill 5km is certainly a PB for that 'format' too - if only that translated directly to the road (it really doesn't if you're wondering, how much it differs by is open to debate). Both long tempos were tough for their own reasons, the first one run in 28 degree heat (definitely my 'red line' session of the week, thought I was going to faint at the end!) and the second one over a hilly course. Well pleased with both sessions and I feel confident that the pace will come down to the 6:10-6:15mm pace I was hitting for these back in March as and when I run one in decent conditions on a flat course.

So, it's all coming together nicely. With all the summer fun and frolics behind us we now have a string of quiet weeks and weekends which give me a fair chance of getting in all the training I need too. And, I'm back on the 'no booze' wagon after Sunday's hungover twenty miler reminded why that's a good idea.

No. Honestly, I am. I really mean it this time. 

**and believe me, I've read them all.

Mileage so far: 46, 57, 60, 64,

Week 2 of 12 - (6th Aug-12th Aug)

Mon - 10.5 miles easy (7:14mm)
Tue - REST
Wed - 10.5 miles inc. 7M hilly tempo @ 6:17mm
Thu - 7 miles (6:58mm)
Fri - 7 miles inc. 2 x 1M (5:39, 5:30 - a bit downhill though)
Sat - 22.34 miles (7:46mm)
Sun - REST

TOTAL MILEAGE = 57.4 miles

"Running is a lot like life. Only 10 percent of it is exciting, 90 percent is slog and drudge."

Dave Bedford

Now that is starting to look a bit more like a proper week of marathon training! I think I was struggling with being stuck in holiday-mode still early in the week. On Tuesday I even got all the kit on, opened the front door... and stopped right there. I just didn't have the energy (probably mental more than physical) to go out. So I didn't. And vowed to man-up and get it done the following morning.

Which I did. I set out with a 7 mile tempo run as the plan, but knew it would be tough as the suffolk countryside (I was home visiting my folks) is pretty undulating. As such, I figured watching the mile splits on the way round might not be that useful so, with the HR strap back at home, I ran this one just on feel! Very pleased to walk away with a 6:17 average pace, I think that would have been worth a bit more on a flat course so it kind of puts me in the same shape that I was early in the London campaign (and I was in good shape then).

The other key run of this week was ticking off another solid long run. It was great to have company for this. Tom and me met fellow Amsterdam-er, Harry, at 8am at Hampton Court station. By which time Harry had already been running for nearly two hours! Three hours of perfect sunshiney running along the Thames and around Bushy Park later and we'd all ticked off our planned long runs for the day - Tom with 16, me with 22 and Harry with a nice round 35 miles! He's one of them mad ultra-running types, along with being pretty talented over the shorter distances and it was very impressive to see how ok he looked after 5hrs of running!

Anyway, nice to be done with the week's training by Saturday lunchtime. And to feel encouraged by the running done this week, especially that last day 4-day block. No outright reps session in their this week, but I'm already perhaps starting to think that a quality tempo section per week is more important. When I can though, I'll get them both in.

Target for this week is extending that tempo run to 8-9M, and getting the mileage into the 60s (that would be the fifth weekly increase in as many weeks)...

In other news this week;
* As my mate Rob pointed out, Alistair Brownlee's name needs to be added to my heroes T-shirt; for his Gold, and for finishing with a 29:07 10k. Which included a fair amount of dicking about with a flag at the end!
* On that note, Mo's name will now be underlined and expressed in Italics on the aforementioned garment, for sealing a legendary 10000/5000 double with the gutsiest final 800m of running that any of us will surely ever see.
* My 2 weeks of holiday draws to a close today, as does the Olympics, and I'm dreading the come-down tomorrow. I kind of forget that work existed and have gotten very used to the cheerful gold medal-fest that has filled my days more recently. A cheeky pre-work 10-miler tomorrow morning should set me on the straight and narrow, ready for the return to normality...

Mileage so far: 46, 57,

Week 1 of 12 (30th Jul - 5th Aug)

Mon - 10 miles (7:20mm)
Tue - 6.34 miles inc. 6x 300m av. 53 secs + 1M in 5:39
Wed - AM  5.1 miles (7:31mm) / PM  5 miles (7:23mm)
Thu - REST
Fri - 20 miles (7:18mm)
Sat - REST
Sun - REST

TOTAL MILEAGE = 46 miles

"There is almost a slight melancholy. I realised on the podium that that's probably it for me. I don't think anything is ever going to top that."

Bradley Wiggins on winning Olympic Gold in the time trial, just 9 days after winning the Tour de France

As marathon training creaks back into action I thought I should get the blog back up and running too, let you all know how much training I am... and am not doing.

Since London I've basically been doing whatever running I want to, but that's levelled out as a pretty decent amount (averaged 48 miles a week) with a fair few races in there too as I've been competing in my club's Trophy series. No times to write home about, but some solid performances over the summer, including sub-37 for 10k and a lumpy 10-miler in 60:45, which suggests that I've carried some of that fitness out of the spring marathon campaign.

That said, over the last few weeks I've probably been fitting less running in, with other things filling up the calendar (as they tend to in the summer!), so the 12-weeks-to-go coming round has been a useful reminder that I should probably start running a few more miles again and drinking a little less beer.

So week one done and 46 miles is a solid if not remarkable total. Three non-running days is too many but an amazing weekend of Olympic action kind of got in the way.The main positive from the week is that it included a proper long run of 20 miles which felt manageable if not easy - even though it did include 18x round a 0.9 mile loop. I wasn't feeling particularly imaginative that day and it's gotta be good mental toughness training right? I also got in another good speed session; I've been doing a fair few shorter, harder speed sessions over the summer, kind of in place of tempo runs. Anyway, this was 6x 300m programmed into the garmin as 0.19M, done on the road, and I felt good and fast averaging 53 seconds for the reps (4:39mm). I'm keen to keep in a true quality speed session through this marathon build-up to see if sharpening my top-end running translates to feeling easier and more able at actual race paces.

For this next week though, I'm planning to put in a longish tempo run to see where my speed endurance is at. I fear probably not where I want it to be, but if I can get one under my belt along with another solid long run and a weekly total that starts with a 5x at least, then that'll all be a step in the right direction.

Aside from my own running, this week has been punctuated by some of the most memorable running, and sporting performances, that I will surely ever witness. My first live experience of the 2012 Olympics was watching the time trials in Esher on Wednesday which was amazing. That day I wore a T-shirt which said 'Wiggo is my Hero'. No doubt even more true by the end of that day, but I now need a new t-shirt which says 'Wiggo, Jess & Mo are my Heroes'. Being in the stadium on 'that Saturday' night was just Epic and I feel very privileged to have been able to watch it all unfold first-hand. Being off work for the Olympics has been great fun, I think Lyndsey and me probably watched 10-12 hours of it one day last week. Just need to make sure I'm actually getting out there too and doing some suitably inspired training mixed-in with all the TV-watching...

Mileage so far: 46,