Two Weeks Notice

April Fool? Not according to those I run with...

Two weeks. In just two weeks time it will be April 21st and I will be in London attempting to join the top 2.9% of runners who finish in under three hours... With the exception of the numerous toilet stops, I've hit most of my training targets, put in the long runs, included a few longer distance races, gone way outside my comfort zone by running hard, high-tempo, track sessions, strengthened my cardio-vascular system with numerous swimming sessions,  and, as long as the taper goes well then there is no reason why I shouldn't achieve my sub-three marathon dream.

The week began on Monday the first of April. A Bank Holiday, a day of rest, and also April Fools Day. As the next Bank Holiday is not until May 6th, we had to put this one to good use. No matter as, in the baldy household, however, there is rarely such a thing as a day of rest. This was the day designated to put more of my assorted collection of Bristol Rovers football programmes and memorabilia  into boxes and store them in the attic, complete with notes to my kids saying things such as "sell this on E-Bay". This is being done systematically in order to make the space necessary for our impending arrival - there's only another five months to go...

Tuesday consisted of my usual coached training session in the Keynsham pool. My usual Coach was away so his replacement put us through some very different efforts, which left me quite out of breath. A change is as good as a rest, so they say, and when I finally climbed out of the pool I was glad of the rest as I was quite fatigued by it all. Funny how I have the stamina to run mile upon mile, yet struggle to do an hour in the pool...
The evening Whitehall track session also had a touch of the 'short, sharp, shock' about it. Five 300m efforts, with a walked recovery of 100m, leading straight into twelve 200m efforts..!! Now, as a long distance runner, this hurt me - especially with an icy cold headwind to be found on the top bend... Concentrating more on form (head up, body straight, arms and legs going through full motion range) than on speed, I actually surprised myself with what I did manage, managing the last 200m effort in a, for me stunning, 33 seconds!

Mangotsfield before the arrival of the cycle path

Wednesdays lunchtime run was, once again, a group affair. I met up with MattEll and JaykeeBoy, who also set the route, and thus the three soon to be London Marathon runners trotted out of Keynsham into an all too familiar cold headwind. We headed up the ring road path uphill towards Warmley chatting as we ran at a fairly easy pace. Once we reached the old station platform at Mangotsfield we turned right, heading back towards Bitton and, ultimately, back to Keynsham. A very pleasant 12.2 miles that passed all that much quicker by the incessant banter that flowed throughout the run. As I've said before, get a group of runners together and they'll chat all the way throughout the run...

Strangely, on Thursday lunchtime, when I went for a rather pleasant, short, and, as always, freezing cold, five mile jog with MattEll, my legs made a complaint. There was evident discomfort in my calves and my hamstrings. It was as if the muscles had tightened overnight, causing them to shorten, and therefore not allow me to fully extend my lower limbs. Why? I have no idea. All I know is that they were tight and painful. It was only a short run but I was glad when it was over. So were my limbs. Thankfully I already had an appointment for a sports massage, later that very afternoon, so I was able to ask for extra attention to be paid to specific places.
In order to give my legs as much rest as I possibly could, and despite it actually being quite nice outside due to a drop in wind speed, I elected to miss the 5 mile run scheduled for Friday lunchtime. Instead I put in a swim, with pull-buoys to allow to rest my legs further, and spent a pleasant half an hour giving my upper body a relentless workout instead.

Weather forecasters had predicted a warmer, less windy, Saturday; and they were right. Unfortunately, at 7:30am, when I went out for an 11 & a bit mile run, it was still bloody freezing. I really cursed the schedule, the earliness of the day, the loss of yet another Saturday morning lie-in, the temperature and, the tiredness of my body, as I left the house and made my way towards Hanham. I also had cause to demonstrate my extensive non-politically correct grasp of verbal utterances whilst out for my run. There was the driver in Keynsham High street who pulled up onto the footpath in front of me in order to get to the cash point, then opened his car door just as I was going past... There was the cyclist who nearly mowed me down at Bitton Station... There was the anus of a dog walker who tried to admonish me for calling him rude names when I became entangled in his stupid effing extendable dog lead... Then, best of all, was the taxi driver, in Kingswood High Street, who pulled out of a side junction in front of me, then stopped and tried to execute a three-point turn, whilst completely blocking the road, and only stopped reversing at me when I hit the boot of his car & question both his eyesight and his parentage... Apart from that, I was quite happy with the run, especially the seven-minute average mile pace. (I wonder if I can get a part in the next series of Grumpy Old Men..?)
Talking of being old, here's a tip for you - never go looking at prams & pushchairs with both your partner and one of your teenage kids, as I did on Saturday afternoon. It confuses the crap out of shop assistants who don't know who's buying a pram. "Is it for yourself?" they ask, whilst looking from wife to daughter and back again. Then they turn to me and ask, "or are you shopping for your grandchild..?"

Because lie-ins are for 'normal people'

Sunday equals run day, and the taper was in full view this week as the mileage took another drop. Just 17 easy miles were on the cards and I was to meet up in Brislington, once again, with JakeeBoy, who had put the route together. It was freezing cold when we started out, as it always seems to be of late - I can only hope that the mornings will become a bit warmer over the next 14 days. From Brislington it was a short 2 mile run to Keynsham, where we met up with MattEll. Strange to think that in just two weeks from this run the three of us would be lining up on the London Marathon start line on Blackheath Common. We jogged through Keynsham, through Willsbridge, and, after getting onto the Bristol-Bath Railway Path at Bitton, we headed towards Bristol. What I love about running with others is the wide range of conversations that are to be had. During this particular run we covered subjects such as 'nimbys' not wanting a pub to be built, the weather, marathon start lines and pacing groups, types of prams & car-seat, extendable dog leads, osymetric/elliptical chainsets, Lance Armstrong & Marco Pantani, rave parties, and the narrowness of Adidas running shoes... Once we reached the end of the Railway Path we looped around Temple Quay, Castle Green, Welsh Back, & St Mary Redcliffe Church, before heading along the Greenway Path alongside the river back to our starting point, whereby both Jaykee and myself curtailed our 17.25 mile run in a time of 2:05:57, whilst MattEll carried on back to Keynsham from whence he had come.

So, that's it; another week over, another training week complete, and every step taken is another step closer to London. Bring it on.

Weekly totals:

Run miles: 54.13

Swim lengths/metres: 82/2050m
Sit-ups: 640
Press-ups: 320
Gorgeous Gravida: 1