Training Nights
The training schedule for Horsham Joggers is below… to find out more do not hesitate to contact us
Tuesday 7:00 p.m: Broadbridge Heath Sports Centre, Horsham Winter: road runs from 5 to 8 miles Summer: mix of road and trail runs from 5 to 8 miles.
Thursday 7:00 p.m. Broadbridge Heath Sports Centre, Horsham. Winter& Summer: Track training (speedwork) & road runs up to 8 miles.
Thursday 7:00 p.m: Summer pub runs. In addition to club runs we have pub runs which are held throughout the summer months starting and finishing at a nominated pub in West Sussex.
Thursday 7:00 p.m. Night Time off-road Running Sessions - using Head Torches these runs start from varied locations at 7pm during the winter months.
Sundays: 9:00a.m Broadbridge Heath Sports Centre, Horsham. Winter London Marathon Training Runs, starting on the first Sunday in January and finishing the Sunday before the London Marathon. Distances 9 miles to 21 miles, on the road runs, fully supported with drink stations and maps.
Also on Sundays 9:00 a.m. from May to December there are regular 10 mile runs starting from Broadbridge Heath Sports Centre, Horsham.
Running for beginners
by Alan Swetman (L2 coach)
Whilst Horsham Joggers (HJs) look to cater for all levels of runner, if you are not currently able to run 5 miles at an easy pace you do probably need to do some easy running before joining one of the HJs running groups on a Tuesday evening. The key if you are completely new to running is to take it easy, little and often is far better than charging of out of the house as fast as you can and pulling a hamstring before you reach the first corner!!
Everyone is different and some, although not runners, will have a background in other sports. The programme below is a suggested 3 month programme for complete non runners, feel free to get through it quicker if you feel able but equally if you feel you need to take longer then it doesn’t matter.
The key initial aim is to get to the point where you can comfortably run easy for 30 minutes 3 times a week so a good start is to decide when each week you are going to run and mark these on the calendar, once they are on there you a far more likely to stick to them, it is a good idea not to make these consecutive days but to allow a rest day in between.
In week 1 you may feel that you need to start with brisk walks as opposed to any running, this is fine. One key point, if you know of any health reason why you might not be able to run, take the programme to your doctor and get their confirmation that you are good to go, just be sensible here.
The running should be at conversation pace so it is a good idea to try to find a running buddy to do the programme with you, if you can’t talk to each other while running you are going too fast! Make sure that you are well hydrated before a run and if in doubt carry a small bottle of water, remember though sip little and often no need to gulp!! You don’t need any special kit at this stage but once you have decided that running is for you and initial investment in a good pair of running shoes is highly advisable (See Mike in Up & Running in Horsham for specific advice).
Suggested Programme
Week 1 – 3x30 mins - brisk walking
Week 2 – 3x30 mins – 1 min gentle jogging, 4 mins brisk walking x 6
Weeks 3&4 – 3x30 mins – 2 mins gentle jogging, 3 mins brisk walking x 6
Weeks 5&6 – 3x30 mins – 3 mins gentle jogging, 2 mins brisk walking x 6
Weeks 7&8 – 3x30 mins – 4 mins gentle jogging, 1 min brisk walking x 6
Weeks 9&10 – 3x2x15 mins gentle jogging with 3 minute brisk walk in between
Weeks 11 – 13 – 3x30 mins gentle jogging
Finally – pick the run when you have most time (probably at the weekend) and each week or two add 5 minutes to the run until you are running for 50 – 60 minutes. Don’t rush the progressions and there is nothing wrong with spending longer at one level or moving on quicker but taking time at this level will pay dividends in the medium to long term.
You are now officially an athlete and can look forward to the following Tuesday when you can come along to HJs for the first time!!
Good Luck!
Marathon Training 2010
Horsham Joggers - London Marathon Training – 2010
Week No. Date Miles Organizer Race Alternatives
Week 1 Sun. 3rd January 10 Gordon Reay
Week 2 Sun. 10th January 11 Ian Mintram
Week 3 Sun. 17th January 13 Lucinda Graves
Week 4 Sun. 24th January 14 Alan Greig
Week 5 Sun. 31st January 16 Alan Swetman
Week 6 Sun. 7th February 14 Steve Custance Chichester 10K
Week 7 Sat. 13th February 15 Liz Pavlovic
Week 8 Sun. 21st February 17 Sue Simmons Brighton Half Marathon
Week 9 Sun. 28th February 18
Week 10 Sun. 7th March 19
Week 11 Sun. 14th March 19 Dave Sandham
Week 12 Sun. 21st March 16 Hastings Half Marathon
Week 13 Sun. 28th March 20 Worthing 20 mile race Worthing 20 Mile/Cran.21
Week 14 Sun. 4th April 20
Week 15 Sun 11th April 14
Week 16 Sat. 17th April 10 Gordon Reay
Week 17 Sun 25th April 26 London Marathon
Organizers Responsibilities
- Plan the course to the required mileage and check the route. We have routes from previous years already mapped, but please feel free to plan a new one.
- Map of the course with written directions – copies for runners on the day.
- Manned water stops (incl. energy drinks -Lucozade Sport is the London Marathon drink) at roughly 5 mile intervals.
- There must be a car on the course. Please drive round the course behind the last runner to pick up anyone injured or struggling.
Notes
- All Sunday runs start at the Broadbridge Heath sports centre, 9.00am start,
(except 28th March in Worthing).
- Note Saturday 13th Feb to avoid Valentines Run Sunday14th Feb.
- Park in the leisure centre car park by the bowls centre–not the Tescos car park.
- As in previous years, we intend to have a club minibus on London Marathon day for transport there & back. More details nearer the time. Expected cost £6 a head.
- Any questions call Gordon Reay on 01403 741260 / 07775 844351.
- Those doing the Brighton Marathon on 18th April drop to 14 and 10 miles on 4th and 11th April to taper one week earlier.
Beginners
- Please let us know who you are so we can ensure you are in the right pace group.
- Three weekly club runs (Sunday–long distance/slow pace, Tuesday–med distance /medium pace, Thursday–short intervals/fast(track or road) will give you your basic training miles starting at 23 miles a week rising to 34 miles a week. Add your own further sessions to tie in with your training schedule.
- We hope to have a Marathon feedback session in January to help with your preparation and training.
TRAINING LIFE
A few thoughts on the ups and downs of training for a marathon by Alan Greig
Sunday 25th April, London Marathon
It was not as hot as had been previously forecast, the crowds were great and I was feeling strong. At twenty miles I was still on target, at 21 miles I was passing people with relative ease and was looking forward to what would be for me a great time. At 22 miles I was crawling! It’s safe to say that the last four miles were not the most pleasant of my life. Although my shins that had plagued the early half of my training (I’m sure you remember those shins!) are now fine, they did enough to stop me doing the sheer number of miles in training that are necessary to get to the end of a marathon in one piece. And in the marathon there are no hiding places, it is too savage a test. Oh well, there’s always next year!
Anyway that’s far too much about me. Unfortunately I don’t know everyone who ran for the club both at Brighton and London, so if I start mentioning names I would be bound to miss numerous people out who ran pbs. I will though just mention Bryan Camfield who last year missed out on his goal of a sub 2 hours 45 minute marathon by a few seconds. This year he ran 2:44:43, achieving his goal by 17 seconds; a reward for sheer hard work and determination. And I know I could say the same about everyone else who trained so hard and who I hope achieved their own goals.
I have thouroughly enjoyed all the training runs this year and would like to thank everyone who has helped to organise them and in particular Gordon Reay who coordinates the whole thing and organises the minibuses to and from the London Marathon, it makes the day a whole lot easier.
I will leave you with one last thought. I was somewhere in the haze between miles 23 and 25, staggering along at an impossibly slow pace. I was cursing my legs for having given up on me and vowing never to step near a marathon again (don’t we all vow that at some point?). Everyone else seemed to be passing me by as my time flew out the window and then I glanced up and saw a fellow runner, I say runner, I think by then he was a long way short of that goal, being dragged to the side of the road by two paramedics. He looked to be virtually unconscious and they were understandably concerned for his safety. I’ve seen paralytic dunks who could have walked a straighter line than this chap and yet the two paramedics were unable to restrain him. He was going to complete whatever the cost and they were powerless to stop him. And that is what the marathon is, I’ll bet he’ll be back for another go sometime and so I suspect will most of us. I wish you all luck and look forward to running again with you some time soon.
Saturday 17th April, 10 miles
Sorry for the break in entries but I have had the stresses and strains of a holiday to keep me occupied (sun, snow, skiing, mountains, a few beers etc). I hope the last parts of your training have gone well.
Today was a novelty, an easy run! Sitting here now, 2:00pm Saturday afternoon, I have no tired legs. Oddly enough though I am feeling slightly guilty because of it. Tiredness has become such an integral part of training that it feels strange without it. But of course that’s good. Rest is all that is required now, the training is done and the big day is almost upon us.
I am no expert at running marathons, this will only be my second, and for those of you have run more the last thing you need is advice from me but if this is to be your first then perhaps I can offer a small amount of help. The best piece of advice I can give you is to keep to one side of the road. Water stops are on both sides of the road and if you keep darting from one side of the road to the other to grab a drink you will end up running further than you need and will find you are forever having to break your rhythm. Choose one side of the road and stick to it. Try also to avoid dodging around people who may be running slower at the start than you want. In the end this only tires you out and the few seconds gained could come back to haunt you in the last few miles. Finally, and this is important, don’t forget to enjoy yourself. Treat the day as a whole, submerge yourself in the atmosphere, relax and love the experience. Remember that the first half should be comfortable, so there is no need to stand quivering on the start line. Soak it up, enjoy and hoepfully we will all have a great run.
GOOD LUCK
Sunday 28th March, 20 miles
We had sun, seagulls and the sound of water lapping at the beach. The temperature was perfect for running and a great time was had by all; well, maybe. But twenty miles is still a long way and there were some seriously tired limbs at the end. As the course involves four laps there were many runners being lapped and at times it became difficult to work out whether you were lapping someone or simply passing a runner who had gone off too fast and was now paying the price.
Do not race, was the mantra running through my head, keep it steady and don’t kill yourself. And, amazingly that is exactly what I did. As those of you who have read this section over the previous few weeks might have gathered this has not been the easiest time for me. Sore shins have seriously dented my fitness and consequently my confidence but gradually, over the last couple of weeks things have improved and today I felt fit and strong. I kept to the pace I had intended (well almost, I was only a bit faster than I had planned) and did the second half in exactly the same time as I did the first. Finally I feel that the time I have in mind for the marathon is now achievable. For the first time in months I am actually looking forward to it! Confidence after all is such a big part of a marathon. Use these runs to bolster that precious asset and we will all achieve our goals on the day.
On a lighter note, how many paramedics does it take to change a puncture? Well, apparently it takes three. I’m sure we all noticed the very valuable assistance given by the St John’s Ambulence (apologies if it was in fact a different organisation) who were riding round the course on bikes, ready to jump to the aid of any runner requiring help. Unfortunately one of them got a puncture and it required another two colleagues to get him back on his way. A friend passed just as three heads were bent to the problem. I only hope no one was collapsing just out of sight round the corner!
I should have mentioned the Cranleigh 21 that was also happening today. I hope all the Joggers who did that instead had a good run. One more long run to go and then we can start easing back. I am away for a week from next Sunday but I will try to write something from somewhere about something. Who knows what, if there’s any snow it might even be about skiing!
Sunday 21st March, 16 miles
An easy week! We dropped back to 16 miles this week. It sounded easy after the previous few weeks but it was still sixteen miles and the temptation was to run faster. By the end there were a few tired faces. We have all now got a lot of miles in our legs and they do add up. The positive thing is that the end is almost in sight, with only two full weeks of hard training left before the start of the taper and only one for those doing Brighton.
Before that though is the Worthing twenty (or possibly the Cranleigh 21). The question in my mind is how fast to run it. It seems too far and too close to the marathon to race it flat out and yet the temptation to run it faster than a normal training run will be hard to resist. Too many runners, apparently, line up at the start of a marathon with legs that are still suffering the residue of hard training, I don’t want to be another. And yet there seems no point in doing it at a steady jog. Oh well, I will no doubt be ruled by how I am feeling on the day, going slow will probably be far too appealing.
On another note I hope we all made it back today. I was running in a group and we were following two others. About half way round they disapeared. Whether they took the wrong turning or intentionally added a few extra miles I’m not sure but I wonder whether they’re still running. I can picture them stubbornly plodding on, refusing to give in, heads bowed, trudging through the miles, twenty, thirty, forty, who knows! I have heard of these strange people who do these suicidally long races, perhaps they just got carried away! The truth is that they were no doubt sitting at home with their feet up long before we had even finished but the thought of their endless ordeal (and this is nothing personal, it was just two runners) kept me amused during the last part of the run. Perhaps I am a sadist by nature.
But its masochism we could all do with. Good luck next weekend, run hard but not too hard!
Sunday 14th March, 19 miles/ Grindelford Gallop 21 miles
I missed the training run this weekend, instead I took to the hills of the Peak District in a race called the Grindelford Gallop which is organised by my sister and brother in law. 21 miles, up and down. It was tough! But the weather was great and the views from the top were stunning. The only problem was getting up to them in the first place. Running round Horsham does not prepare you for real hills. But I made it to the finish. I learnt one thing though, I can’t run down hills. Every time there was a downhill section half the field seemed to come steaming past. I would catch and overtake some on the flatter parts and even passed a few going uphill, but as soon as the route began to drop down I was lost. At one point I was running with some guy and we were talking and I commented on the fact that I was struggling to keep up down the hills. We ran on and towards the end I began to pull away from him along a ridge that was relatively flat. The last part of the race drops down into the valley back to the finish at Grindleford. Part of the way down he caught me. His comment as he flew past was ‘You’re right, you can’t run down hills!’ Charming.
Oh well! It was only a training run for me so it doesn’t really matter but it was frustrating nonetheless. I don’t trust my ankles on rough ground and charging downhill feels like a recipe for disaster. Perhaps next year I should practice going up and down some hills first.
I obviously can’t comment on the club’s training run this week but I’m sure you all had a great time. Next week we drop back to 16 miles, a walk through the park! Have a good week and stay positive.
Sunday 7th March 2010, 19 miles
The infamous Grouse Road! With the joys of the undulating Hammerpond Road allied to the distance, this can be tough. But with the weather as it was this morning, with the sun cutting through crystal clear air and the views along the ridge of Grouse Road stretching away in either direction, it did not seem quite so bad.
We were reduced in numbers due to various races and pub runs—the Barcelona Marathon being perhaps the most exotic—but those who joined us were glad, I hope, that they made it out of bed, even if they might feel like to returning to it now (3:50 Sunday afternoon).
There is no getting away from the fact now, the big day is looming. So what time should we aim for? Obviously we all have different abilities but the question is the same; do we go for the sensible option and run at a pace that we are fairly confident of maintaining, or do we seriously commit and hope that are strength holds out? For those of us who have experienced it (which will be virtually anyone who has run a marathon before) there is nothing worse than the final six miles when your legs and/or mind have fallen in a heap and the end stubbornly refuses to put in an appearance. But to get to the finish and know you could have run harder is almost as bad. There is no easy answer but it is a question that has been occupying my mind, to be brave or to be wise? The line between the two is a thin one. I don’t have an answer to give you as yet but it is worth considering nonetheless.
Next week I am taking to the hills. My sister lives in the heart of the peak district and they organise a race called the Grindelford Gallop. Off road and about 22 miles in length, it takes in some spectacular scenery including high moorland before dropping down to the magestic Chatsworth House. I did it last year and it is tough but great training, so we’ll see how I go! For the rest of you it is another 19 miles. Enjoy and stay positive.
By the way, have you noticed? Two whole weeks and not a single mention of shins, impressive hey!
Sunday 28th February 2010, 18 miles
Rain and wind today and plenty of sodden feet. But at least it wasn’t as cold as it has been, although it felt it at the start. We’re into the serious territory now, the weeks of training that will really count on the big day. These are the runs that have to be done, there can be no cutting corners now. One benefit though of these longer runs is that the routes can take us to more interesting places, quiet little roads with picturesque houses and overflowing ponds that even the ducks have decided are too turbulent to risk.
So how do we stay motivated when the road seems never ending and your legs are imploring you to rest? There are days when these long runs can be a torment and others when they verge on the outskirts of pleasure. Today, for me, was a good day. Why? I’m not sure, perhaps I am finally getting back a decent level of fitness but I think it is also a case of how you approach these runs. I find that the days I start counting the miles are the days that the run becomes hard. Try and stay in the moment and only think about where you are at any one time. Look at the scenery, if there is any, and try to avoid thinking about how far you still have to run. If you can do this it helps you to stay relaxed and a relaxed runner will always use up less energy than a tense one. And energy is a precious commodity at these distances.
I am reading a book at the moment by a Japanese author, Haruki Murakami. (He is a famous writer, although some of his books are a touch weird!) As well as writting he is also a fanatical marathon runner. In the book he says that he is often asked what he thinks about when he runs. He claims that he doesn’t think about much at all, certainly not plot lines for his novels. And in a way I think I do much the same thing. For part of the way we chat but once conversation has failed, or we are too tired to mount a response, not a lot seems to happen. I spend a lot of time thinking genarally but not perhaps when I run. I wonder if this is the same for others? Just a thought.
Anyway another long one next week, 19 miles. So rest well and come back for more.
Sunday 21st February 2010 17 miles/ Brighton Half Marathon
We were split today with many choosing to do the Brighton Half instead of the training run. As I chose the Brighton Half I can make no real comment about the training run other than to say it was a long way. For those of us who made the trip down to the coast, we were rewarded with rain and a biting wind. There were, I have no doubt, the usual highs and lows; one Jogger shaved a staggering 6 minutes off his pb, whilst another was some 6 minutes slower than his previous half. Yes, before you ask, that was me, the slow one not the fast one I mean. Hopefully this will give me the proverbial kick up the gluteus maximus that I so blatantly need. Fitness is in the body but it is also in the mind and that can often be the harder part to train. Races are generally good for the mind though, so I hope this will have an effect.
For those of you who are bored by my continual moaning about my shins you can relax. As far as I’m concerned the problem no longer exists and now I can get back to some serious training. It is true though that the legacy of an injury can linger in the mind far longer than it does in the actual muscle. And running, like most things in life, is about confidence. We need a positive attitude, so let’s bin the negatives and welcome sore limbs and aching joints as long trusted friends.
How nice! A text from the Brighton Half Marathon has just arrived, congratulating me on my finishing time. There are days when I wish they just didn’t bother!
Next week is 18 miles and there is no longer anywhere to hide.
Saturday 13th February 2010 15 miles.
There are days when the sun shines and your mood soars; days with the promise of spring when the birds sing and your body bounces along with the ease of a gazelle and then there are others…With an icy wind and grey skies, Saturday was definately one of the others. For me, and I can’t speak for anyone else, the run was a chore. My legs felt heavy and my enthusiasm was absent, presumably tucked warmly up in bed. It was a day to get through, to move on and to forget. I’m sure we can all empathise with this.
This year seems, for me at least, to be a year of inconsistency. One good run, a couple of bad ones, never knowing exactly what will happen when you set off, whether you will fly, perhaps unlikely, or whether you will stumble round with the weight of ten sandbags strapped to your back. But the miles are done and we move on.
Next week is the Brighton Half which I expect many of us will be doing. It is a good chance to assess your fitness, either by giving you a kick up the backside if you run below par, or a boost to your confidence if it goes well. Remember that it is far too early to panic, that it is the end of April that you need to peak for and not a cold day towards the end of February. So learn from it and move on. For those not doing the Brighton Half it is 17 miles next week, time to get serious! So have a good week and stay positive.
Sunday 7th February 2010 14 miles
It was a smaller turn out this week as many were running the Chichester 10K and there was a Sunday pub run as well. Personally though I enjoyed today’s run, for the first time in months I feel as though my fitness is improving. May that continue.
The debate rages (an exaggeration perhaps) over whether it is better to run these long runs at marathon pace in an attempt to acclimatize the body and mind to what it will experience on race day, or whether it is preferable to start steady and then pick the pace up towards the latter stages. The theory here is to encourage the body to burn fat at the start so that it will be better prepared when the muscles store of glycogen runs out, often around twenty miles or so in the marathon, and it is forced to revert to burning fat. Which is best? Take your pick, I know people who swear by both methods. Last year I tried to do the runs at marathon pace, this year I am trying to start off steady and then pick the pace up later. Time will tell how effective this will prove to be.
For me it has been an up and down sort of week, or down and then up to be more precise. On Tuesday evening my shins were sore and I found it impossible to generate any enthusiasm and consequently jogged round at a pace little faster than my four year old daughter manages when pushing her toy pram, overflowing with countless dolls. My slow pace of course exaggerated the pain in my shins and I felt depressed at the end. By Thursday evening on the track I felt much better and ran round without any pain and today was pain free as well. So much is down to the power (or lack of it) of the mind. How easy it is, when the miles start stacking up, to think of an excuse, a pain here an ache somewhere in the gluteus maximus. The trick is to filter out the excuses and only worry about the ones that really matter. (Don’t ask me how to tell which is which, I’m still trying to work it out!)
Next weekend we are running on Saturday morning so that we are all free to help with the Valentine’s Run on Sunday. 15 miles next week. Have a good week and stay positive.
Sunday 31st January 2010 16 miles
My car informed me that it was -5 as I drove from my house this morning. Bed had never seemed so warm. With the cold of course came the ice, back this week with a vengeance and in places it was seriously precarious. I hope we all made it unscathed.
This is about the time that the enormity of what we have let ourselves in for really begins to kick in. You do not run 16 miles (or at least most of us can’t) without feeling it; today I felt it. It was not, fortunately, my troublesome shins that gave me so much grief but my legs and their relative lack of fitness. Rising from the sofa this afternoon (Sunday pm) I feel like an old man with all the muscles in my legs swearing and spitting curses at my masochistic cruelty. And with two young children keen to race me round the house or park without a trace of sympathy for my aching limbs, the computer has become a welcome retreat. Such are the joys of training for a spring marathon and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
It is, I’m finally begining to realise, as much about training the mind as the body, beacause once you hit about twenty miles in the marathon it is the mind that becomes your biggest enemy and, perhaps, your greatest ally. So train the mind and maybe then the marathon can be partially tamed.
We drop back to 15 miles next week or there is the Chichester 10K. I’m still undecided which to do!
Sunday 24th January 2010 14 miles
We’ve had snow and then ice, this week’s danger was the car. It was my turn to organise the run and in an attempt to come up with a different route I led us down a main road and for that I apologise. Fortunately everyone seemed to make it in one piece.
The miles are clicking up now and there were some seriously tired faces staggering past the second drinks stop at around ten miles. You see things differently when you watch others toiling. Determination, fortitude, stamina, bloody-minded resolution not to quit at any cost, some flowing easily, others limping and cursing but fighting on regardless, you witness a different side of humanity. Many will say it is pointless but for those of us who do it on a regular basis, we know differently.
For me it was a weekend of solitude, on the running front, as I ran the route alone on Saturday. I can run alone, as I’m sure we all can, but in company these long runs are a pleasure (well almost), rather than a chore. It is not so much nattering away endlessly to the people around you, although some seem to manage that with astonishing ease, but the fact that there is someone there beside you, enduring the same pain as you are, someone else who understands. So I look forward to some company next week (16 miles worth by the way).
Sunday 17th January 2010 13 miles.
After the frustration of the previous week it was good to see the sun and run on clear roads free from snow and ice (well almost, the first few miles were a bit dicey). The route took us round the traditional lollipop with those wanting to run further than the thirteen miles going dizzy as they trudged round and round the loop at the end. For most of us though it was the first dawning of what lies ahead. From here the road stretches on endlessly, or apparently so, until race day finally arrives, for most of us sometime in April. Motivation now plays a big part. How to keep going through the worst of the weather with tired legs and wavering mental strength? I am no expert, (as anyone who knows me will testify) but for me the best way is to take one run at a time. Ignore what is to come, that is for another day and another time. Try to concentrate on the present and let everything else take care of itself. Remember, the thought of a long run is usually worse than the reality, don’t let it eat into your willpower.
From my own perspective the run was good, which means no pain in my shin and no after effects as I sit here now writing this. (Time, 3:15 Sunday afternoon) So I progress to the next run. I wish you all a good week and will report back after next week’s run.
Sunday, 3rd January 2010. 10 miles.
Running on Ice.
There is a skill to running on ice: don’t fall and hurt yourself. Some seem to find it easy and glide over perilous tracts of ice with the grace and ease of a deer prancing through a summer meadow, others of us (and I include myself in this bracket) wobble and curse and pray to whichever of the devine running gods we believe are most able to keep us upright. Some choose the middle of the road, others keep to the edge; some speed up, apparently in the belief that if they move fast enough the ice might miss them entirely, whilst others slow to a walk and creep gingerely round the edge, holding their breath and lowering their voices to a whisper. But in the end we all made it back unscathed, (as far as I know) and will be back for more next weekend.
From my perspective the ice was not the only potential pitfall on Sunday’s run. Coming back from an injury (only sore shins I’m afraid but enough to force me to rest over Christmas, eat and drink too much and consequently swell in size by an uncomfortable amount) I found myself shouldering the expectation of pain with every stride. So, between ice and injury paranoia, I felt as though I were running on eggshells. Fortunately none seemed to crack too badly. I will keep you posted as the weeks progress, no doubt I will be swamped by a whole host of other niggles, but then, isn’t that part of training for the marathon?
I hope you have a good week training and will report back after next Sunday’s extravaganza.