Countdown

On Saturday it will be only 10 weeks to go to the Jungfrau Marathon. That's quite scary considering I started training for this last October, about 35 weeks ago. Apart from 6 weeks out for my calf strain I've been pounding the roads and tracks for 954km (600 miles) over 89 hours on 105 runs.

After my little trot around the lanes on Sunday I'm feeling quite happy with where I am with my training. My plan to get the basics right seems to be working. I've done a lot of reading and tried a few things that seem to work so I've now got a good platform to really get to work on. My basic approach from here on in is more speed, more strength and less weight. Not totally sure how I'm going to do that but at least it's a plan. More reading required.

I'm not convinced by these pre-marathon training schedules that they publish in the running magazines. I've always said that if I followed their schedule for a 4hr marathon I'd do it in 3hrs. I don't know who their target audience is but the mileage they put in these schedules seems a bit excessive. I can't see me ever getting to a 70+ miles per week routine just because of the time it would take.

My recovery from Sunday's run is nothing short of amazing. I didn't even get the tiniest cramp which is highly unusual for me. After a long hard run my feet cramp up and my calves are normally exploding with a million micro cramps. They normally look like a sack full of mice but not this time. That'll be the salt working its magic. My legs ache when I get up from sitting down but once I'm moving I forget about them. I thought I'd be hobbling for days. I might even go for a run tomorrow.

Energywise I feel fine, even though I couldn't face a meal directly afterwards (Tip: replenish your glycogen reserves by eating lots of carbs with a little protein ideally within 20 minutes of finishing your run and definitely within 1 hour. Your body is far more receptive to carbo loading during this period. This is a must for multiday events or heavy training schedules and recovery generally.) The lost red blood cells don't seem to have had much effect (hopefully).

Just booked our accomodation for the weekend of the marathon. We've got an apartment in a new swiss chalet up in Wengen. It'll mean an early start for me on the day of the event but I'll probably not be sleeping anyway. The picture at the top is the Lauterbrunnen valley from Wengen. How completely fantastic does that look? We run up the valley then back again before climbing up to Wengen and beyond. Bet you're all jealous.

10, 9, 8, 7........