The Long Good Saturday

There's a movie sequel somewhere in that title but my Saturday probably lacked audience appeal.

I'm well into marathon training at the moment and the long Saturday run has become a staple part of my weekends.  Went out with Tim and Tamsin on, what was originally planned as an easy 'longish' run, probably involving laps.  This was due to Tim shaking off the last of the lurgy and both myself and Tamsin not feeling 100%.

Well, as they say, all the best laid plans etc etc - we ended up running off towards Hastings, turned up Harley Shute, turned left down to Queensway and then 'enjoyed' the long long drag up to the top.  To be honest, I've never found Queensway difficult, just bloody boring, so it was good to have peeps to keep me company.  Our run took us into and out of the other side of Battle and off along to the Catsfield turn.  Into Catsfield, down and then up into Ninfield and back towards Bexhill.

All the time, we were concentrating on how we felt from a hydration and nutrition point and kept ourselves topped up.  The result of which saw us pass the traditional 17mile point without having to get past the dreaded wall.

I left Tim and Tamsin in Bexhill with Tamsin having just clocked up a new record distance of 20 miles.  Kudos to her, as that was a big psychological barrier well and truly broken.

Time I got home I had run 21.3 miles, all on an average h/r of 130.  This made me a VERY happy boy as this is the longest I've run since the Beachy Head Marathon and is also the lowest consistent h/r.  I ended the run feeling very strong, covering the last mile and  a bit in under 8 minutes.  I felt more than able to carry on and, this is the really good bit, felt absolutely fine the following day, albeit a bit weary.

Swim session on Sunday felt good and I have been riding to work since and still feel really strong.  I can't stress enough how beneficial I've found this base h/r conditioning.  It takes a lot of getting used to the fact that you have to run a lot slower than you normally would, but stick with it and it pays mega dividends.

Now ..., all I need to do is to be able to carry this sort of strength over to my biking which has really slipped since last year.  Am I concerned?  To be honest, yes I am a bit.  I know that there is plenty of time still, but you can't keep saying that or there soon won't be.  But this something that I will really focus on after the marathon.  Until then, plenty of riding to work and get in some turbo time.  I'll also chuck in as many long rides as I can too.

Until next we meet - keep up the good wossnames and remember, if anyone at work asks you what exactly it is that you do there is a stock answer that NEVER fails - "Stuff Sir, and damn well!"  This will always elicit the reply of "Oh good ...., carry on that man".

Enjoy