“Time on your feet” or “Dying on your arse”, the Jury’s still out.

Following the respite of having to do “only” 6 miles at the Chichester 10k on the 4th (that seems so long ago) the long runs have been arriving with all the regularity and monotony of a Tony Blair platitude………“Our boys will be home for Christmas, honest”.

This weeks HJ schedule saw the 2nd of the 16 milers and as I had plans for my graduation to Vet status on Sunday this meant that it had to be done on Saturday. Now I know I’ve said this before but I am constantly surprised by the shifting perspective which the long run gives you. At one point I went over all of the dreadful runs I had in 2006 and almost without exception they were the stupid short 4 or 5 milers, and here I was doing the equivalent of 3 Fittleworth 5’s back-to-back plus a bit more.

One of the recurring mantras (aren’t mantras recurring by definition?) which you hear from marathon vets is “time on your feet”. To date I’ve had no reason to quibble with this particular piece of advice, indeed I’ve invoked it myself a few times to beginners, but as I approach the 3 hour mark in training I am tempted to ask for a re-phrasing, hence the title of this particular blog entry. At the conclusion of last weeks run I couldn’t have managed another yard and this week I even had to resort to some MP3 support, my first selection of Morcheeba was altogether too mellow so I stuck it on random and what did I get? “Hell ain’t a bad place to be” by AC/DC! Methinks I shall stick to Groove Armada in future, the word you're looking for is eclectic. Which brings us neatly to 17 miles this Sunday, 2/3rds FLM distance and another landmark at the Mudchute, we shall see(try this link for photographic tour of the FLM route).

Weekly mileage: 28
Long run: 16
Weight: 97kg
FGI: 8

Quotes of the week:
Let's think the unthinkable, let's do the undoable, let's prepare to grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after all. - Douglas Adams

Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb. – Winston Churchill

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