I Drink, therefore I Run

Exercise-wise, a back end loaded week. I had to miss three training days through pressure of work. Sometimes that's not such a bad thing, as it gives you a chance to recover. All too often, we runners can run ourselves into the ground, if we are not careful. However, after two days you start to feel the lack of exercise, and imagine that you are ballooning up in weight. This of course is not true, though that is little comfort. This may also be a personal thing, however I usually find that when I take more than one day off, a number of niggles emerge - in this case a touch of plantar fasciitis (for you non-runners, a pain like a drawing pin being lodged in your heel - see the gloriously Heath-Robinson picture of the necessary stretching to help the recovery). Maybe the body is just seizing the day and bringing the bad stuff out that it has kept under check whilst you are exercising - clearly 3 days is enough for it to think "oh good, we seem to have stopped all this mad runn...

A late post, so my apologies. A game of two halves, this week. It is perhaps the lot of the runner to experience highs and lows, most of which are caused by over enthusiasm and failing to listen to your body (or the sound advice of others). The start of the week was mostly about recovering from the Bramley 20 - in theory it is 1 day a mile for full recovery. There is a lot to be said for that - and yet marathon training must go on. I headed back out on Tuesday for an easy 25 mins, and a steady 50 on Thursday. Saturday then went very well with a 12-miler at a great pace - all feeling fine - and then on Sunday the most ragged, disjointed run in a long time, a sad, halting 14 miles. So, maybe that thing about 1 day per mile was not totally wrong, eh? I've also come across a splendid podcast called Marathon Talk , which I can highly recommend. One of the two guys who make it is Liz Yelling's husband, Martin Yelling, and the other, Tom Williams, is a relatively recent running conver...

A big race week, leading up to the Bramley 20 at the weekend (yes, the picture is an apple called the Bramley 20! You know what a race looks like). I have to say that work has been one of the toughest weeks in my last 15 years at B&Q, so it was a blessing that I only had two easy runs to fit in - I just don't think I could have come home and banged off a tough interval session this week. The big race on Sunday was the two 10-mile laps of Bramley, near Basingstoke - a perfect marathon prep. race. My goal was to crack 2:25, which I nearly did, coming in at 2:25:46. The last 3 miles just nipped the 46 seconds out of me. The weather was hardly promising, with sleet as I drove up the M3, though for the race itself, the rain stayed off, though there were some biting winds in the second lap (not from me I hasten to add!). All in all a successful race, given that the last time I ran that distance was during the London Marathon in April 2009 - clearly 6.2 more to go on that day! I also ...

Trainingwise, not a perfect week. I didn't run my intended Frenches session on Wednesday, and opted instead for Cemetery Hill. I was planning for about 30 mins of effort, but at about 25 minutes I came across a cat that had been struck by a car, and was (not to beat about the bush) dying in front of me. Another car stopped and we got it ready to go to the vets, but it had clearly suffered too much. Not a great omen, and pretty horrible. I blew out my Friday run with a bit of a sore throat and a general feeling of lethargy- and so, I aimed on Saturday for a strong 10 miler with the same again on Sunday, to prepare for the 20 mile race on the following week - however, I had to work on Sunday from 7am to 5 and quite frankly a steady 40 mins was all I could muster up. All round a sorry picture - summed up nicely in this pic of me from the Clarendon marathon in 2007 Winewise also not a very exciting week. The most enjoyable drop was a bit of an oddity - Bricco Rosso Suagna Langhe Rosso ...

Getting back into the swing of Marathon training after the Romsey 5. Legs still tired on Wednesday, hence no speedwork. A couple of solid tempo runs on Friday and Saturday - those absolutely great days when the world feels with you, and to be outside, working hard in the cold air, feels just..free. Sunday long run a bit of a mixed bag - I met a really nice chap called John at the start of the run, and we went together for the first 5 miles or so. I held his pace (somewhat nippier than mine!) though it obviously took it out of me, as I found to my chagrin when the energy just drained from me in the later miles. Still popped in 14.5 miles at a 7.30 overall pace though, so not too bad! My own enthusiasm is the culprit here. Wine of the week is a New World one (at last I hear you cry, Martin!). Grosset Springvale Watervale Clare Valley Riesling 2007 . Oozing with limes, zingy clean notes on the nose, and a real freshness and purity of fruit on the palate, an abundance of flavour. Beautifu...