Week 3

Distance: 23 miles
Time: 2 hours 47 mins

Two very easy runs, one fast tempo run and another relatively easier (but longer) run. Have now topped 100 miles in the 3 weeks since I started again. Will see how it all works out next weekend!

11th run

Day 20: 8.3 miles: 1 hour 1 minute

Final run of any decent length that I've got planned. Felt sore of course, but ok despite my quite fast run on Thursday. Rest now - just a couple of short jogs next week is the plan.

10th run

Day 18: 4.9 miles: 30 mins 49 secs

Wanted to have a final blast out, just to see if it is anywhere near feasible for me to run at 3 hour pace next weekend. Felt pretty heavy at the start but once I got going I felt better. Was running hard and breathing hard, and to be honest I thought I was not running that fast. But ended up running around 6'20" pace for nearly 5 miles. Much faster than I expected. As I'd need to run around 6'50" pace in order to duck under 3 hours, I guess hope springs eternal...although I am knackered now.

That said, have managed 10 runs in two and a half weeks, covering over 90 miles in just over 11 hours.

9th run

Day 16: 4.9 miles: 35 mins

Another day of sore legs, so decided to have another easy jog out. Felt much better than yesterday, although still stiff from football. Ended up being 5 minutes faster so all good I guess. Day off tomorrow, then probably one tempo run and one medium length run to round off the week before tapering down for next week.

8th run

Day 15: 4.9 miles: 40 mins

Just a very slow easy run to try and get the lactic out of my legs following football yesterday. Felt pretty bad but hung in there. A few blisters but felt better by the end.

Week 2

Distance: 41.3 miles
Time: 4 hours 53 mins

Still short of time, but felt much better in terms of pace and distance this week. Also played 90 minutes of football on Sunday so probably a few more miles in there including quite a bit of sprinting. A few blisters but feeling ok overall.

7th run

Day 13: 17.5 miles: 2 hours 4 mins

Did the same route as last weekend, but shaved over 8 minutes off the time. Wasn't trying to run any faster in particular and, in fact, it was pretty windy today. Knees felt pretty sore for the first couple of miles but once I got going they were fine so am hoping I'll be ok for the marathon.

6th run

Day 11: 11.1 miles: 1 hour 18 mins 51 secs

Planned to do about 9/10 miles at a relatively easy pace but, without looking at my watch, ended up going a bit further and actually running a bit faster. Good pace and knees felt fine really, a little sore but nothing terrible. Feeling a bit more positive!

5th run

Day 10: 6.5 miles: 42 mins 22 secs

Started off planning to do a bit of a longer run, but ended up getting faster and faster until finishing around 6.15 minute mile pace. Felt good and knees not too sore.

4th run

Day 8: 6.1 miles: 46 mins 40 secs

Just a nice and easy jog out after the long run on Saturday. Knees still a bit achy but nothing too bad.

Week 1

Distance: 36.3 miles
Time: 4 hours 28 mins

Sore knees but got a good long run in. Not enough time!

3rd run - 1st long one

Day 6: 17.5 miles: 2 hours 12 mins 30 secs

Long long run going round parts of the marathon course which should be a good one as long as it's not windy. Knees a bit sore but otherwise ok. Tired obviously.

2nd run

Day 4: 9.8 miles: 1 hour 9 mins

Similar sort of pace, bit longer. Felt ok.

1st run...

Day 2: 9 miles - 1 hour 3 mins

Felt ok, quite cold though and definitely still jet lagged.

Jet lag...

...can't start running yet for fear of falling asleep while running!

So, day 1: zero miles!

Training for a marathon...in a month?

Arrived back from my very short trip to Japan today. Covering over 20,000km in a few days is not very good for the soul - especially coming back alone. However, a good way to distract myself is to try and train for a marathon. I have exactly 27 days to do so before the Manchester marathon on April 29th.

Training for a marathon usually takes about 16 weeks by all accounts and I'd say that's been my experience so far. But always good to experiment! So here we go...