Johnny Hall's Travels and Travails

I've realised it's time to get a bit more serious about my training. During April and May I was usually training 4 days a week. I normally managed to run 3 times each week but if I want to meet my goal of running under 4 hours at Loch Ness, I'm going to have to get out a lot more often. So, I've rewritten my training plan and between now and October, I'm running 4 days a week and cycling 3 times. By cycling instead of running I should ensure that I build my aerobic fitness without increasing the chances of injuring myself. Generally, the plan is to run on Monday (hills), Wednesday (tempo), Thursday (easy) and Saturday (long) and to cycle on Tuesday (easy), Thursday (tempo) and Sunday (long). Friday is my day off, preparing myself for a hard weekend. This amounts to about 10 to 12 hours a week. Since this is quite a lot, every fourth week is a rest and recovery week, where I'll have two days off and the long run and cycle will be not be so, er, long. This makes it quite difficult to build up the distance for my long run with the time I have left before the marathon but I'll just have to grin and bare the increases in distance. I've trained for the last 7 days in a row (check my training log) and I'm feeling the benefit. This time last week, I was a little concerned because running was proving to be a bit uncomfortable but since I've started cycling, I'm feeling good. Tonight I ran 10k on a rolling course at a smidge over 8 minute/mile pace (I ignored my heart rate) and felt reasonably comfortable - a lot better than when I raced the Edinburgh Great Run. Tomorrow is my first double training day (running am and cycling pm) and then I have a nice big weekend - a 12 mile run on Saturday and a 50 mile cycle on Sunday. I'm looking forward to it.