10 weeks and counting

I am now entering week 9 of my 18 week training plan - almost halfway through, only 47 more runs til Berlin.
The mileage is starting to rack up now, although this week is a low mileage/respite week, so my longest run is only 11 miles.

Get me, only 11 miles. The madness of marathon training is that you can say 'only 11 miles' without any irony. And, of course, that you genuinely think 'ooh, only 11 miles'. It's a testimony to how bonkers the whole marathon training process is that is gets you to a point where you genuinely think 11 miles is quite short.

I've been experiencing real training boredom recently, as I mentioned in my last post, and I think the 5 times a week thing is still bothering me. But I suspect the real reason is not the fact I am bored of running just that I am so busy with non-running activities that I am starting to get a bit panicky about my time management, and turning that into resentment of running. It is difficult to fit your marathon training in, and I still look back on my last marathon experience and maintain that the training is way, way harder than the race itself.
Perhaps that is why the training is so gruelling. It's not just to prepare you physically, because of the challenge the marathon presents. But it's to prepare you mentally, to get your head ready for the length, the solitude, the mood swings that you experience while you run.

Despite the training boredom, I managed a 15 mile run without too many issues this weekend. I was out on the roads for a long time, due to two run breaks to shelter from torrential rain (I can safely say I have never been so pleased to see the M4 flyover in all my life as I was on Sunday afternoon). The first break was at Richmond swimming pools, and I made the mistake of taking a toilet break while it rained. I had forgotten the basis rule that soaking wet running tights are FREEZING cold when you pull them back up onto bare skin. It's July for god's sake, the whole point of me doing an autumn marathon is that I get to train in good weather, not the cold, wet and wind. But no, I live in London, therefore I find myself on a Sunday afternoon in July wrapped up in waterproofs and soggy knee length running tights, wishing I was wearing a hat and gloves. On the plus side, Beloved told me when I got back that I looked 'remarkably fresh, considering' and I strutted round like a soggy lycra-ed peacock for a good half an hour on that compliment.

One thing that is happening during this training that happened during my New York training is definitely the food cravings. Mad food cravings persist in any run over 10 miles, it doesn't matter how much stuff I take with me. On Sunday, at mile 11, I was overwhelmed with the urge to write to the Berlin Marathon organisers and ask them to make sure there was a stall at the end of the race selling spätzle with cheese on, because that is really what I will fancy eating when I've run 26.2 miles. Of course, I have no idea what I will fancy eating in 10 weeks time (well, apart from an ice-cold Coca Cola), but it helped me pass away a good two miles on Sunday dreaming of various German foodstuffs and deciding which one will be most desirable after the marathon.  At least it's not Arctic Roll and Birds Eye potato waffles - I've obviously got much more cosmopolitan in my food cravings since 2009!

Anyway, must run and send that Jim'll Fix it style email to the Marathon organisers. Mmm... spätzle...

LON