3 weeks to go - omg !

 Only 3 weeks to go. Where has the time gone .
I think training has been going ok although I have been suffering with a cold (man flu) this week so I have had to take it easy. I was reading an interesting article today from a respected expert on running and didnt realise that when you do a long run it can take a day a mile to recover ,e;g a 20 mile run can take 3 weeks to recover from , no wonder I cant run as fast as I want when I do my shorter runs in the week. Now I know why the taper period starts 3 weeks before the marathon .
 1 more long run on sunday ,the oakley 20 in bedford. Apparently it's a tough race and a bedford harriers member told me that if you can do oakley without too many problems you can do the marathon . Hopefully I will make it round ok .  Unfortunatlely my friend Karen has a foot injury that wont go away so has had to defer which is a great shame . Not sure if I will be doing the marathin next year ! on the plus side my friend manjit is going well and should go sub 3 hours in the marathon taking into account he did a 20 mile run in under 2hrs 15mins the other week, wow !
 Please check back in when you are bored to see how I go on sunday .
Grant
p.s The orion was a good training run . I did 2 miles befoe the start and was going ok until I lost a shoe in the mud at mile 2 and had to stop a few times to retrieve the shoe and empty out the mud and stones at various points . Never mind , some tough hills  and muddy sections provided some good training .

The end is in sight

It's still a struggle to find the time and energy to keep to my training plan but I am just about managing 50 miles a week with at least 2 days rest per week . My training isn't exactly orthodox but is anything I do orthodox ! I have a nagging doubt that I am not doing enough really long runs but this week I have managed a fast 10 ,16 on wednesday around the elr club run and 15 today at the forest . Just over a month to go till the marathon with about a month of hard training to go with the taper at the end . The finishing line is in sight . I am looking forward to getting my life back again  .

oh my god only 42 days to go

This time in six weeks I should have completed the marathon ! Time is flying by now and apart from being knackered half the time and thinking I haven't done enough training for the other half , things are going ok !
  Going back to 25th feb I did ok in the serpentine 5k . I went under 21 and a half minutes to record 21,28 which is one second over pb for the event  . To achieve good times you really have to have fresh legs and with a week of hill training beforehand I didn't have the extra spring at the end for a sprint finish.  The roding valley half marathon went well with a load of elr runners doing well , in particular my training partners Manjit with his time of under 1.22 and Karen winning 3 medals after running it in 1.30 .  I ran it in just over 1.41 which was another p.b . Conditions were good and I have came to realise that I prefer a few hills to a flat half marathon and you dont actually run much faster on the flat .
 Following last week's efforts I did an enjoyable recovery run with Mary and Dave from elr .Then on wednesday a long run with Jimmy and Tricia in the forest ,thanks for the company guys  . Friday night had about ten of us at track . I think people are improving with the track sessions which is good . I ran about 56 miles for the week , with two rest days which is my best yet and no junk mileage .
Next race is the orion 15 which is supposed to be extremely tough . I will let you know how it goes . Last race is the oakley 20 and then it's the marathon ! bring it on