So the training ‘plan’ changed a lot in the run up to marathon #1.

I originally had quite an intense plan, that involved losing quite a bit of weight, and completing 3 x 20 mile training runs before tackling the Phoenix Excalibur One marathon on 27th Jan.  So that would pretty much match what I had done before when I trained hard for London last year.

In the end I thought better of it, and decided that doing that level of training for marathon #1, was going to be too much, too soon.  When I did that at the start of 2018, I had the luxury of taking a break after I had run the marathon (well after the second marathon).  This time I won’t be doing that, there is a long year of marathons to conquer.

So the new thinking is that marathon #1 really is considered part of the training for other marathons to come this year, hopefully some of which can get back down around the 4 hour mark that I managed last year.

So on the run up for marathon #1, I did manage to get my mileage back to something sensible, putting in 80 miles for November, 90 for December.  January should be back over the 100 mark again, which is where it needs to be.  I’ve manage to shake off half a stone of where I’d got to after spending last June and July eating, drinking and not running much.  I did manage 1 x 20 miler, around new year.

My last significant training run was this week, 6 days before marathon #1.  That was 11.6 miles at around the same pace that I did the first half of my sub 4 marathon in, really as a bit of a test to see where my heart rate would be at and how I would feel.  So Sunday will be a bit of an unknown quantity.  I need to start out slower than the test run, but how it is going to feel after 20 miles, who knows.  I’ll find out at about lunchtime on Sunday!