My gradual process of ramping up continues. My aim is to be ready for the start of marathon training at the beginning of December, three weeks away.

Monday – no run planned, but I did complete a strength session focused on core and legs.

Tuesday – Hill repeats. This time I went for the steeper/longer of the two handy short hills. It was a bit of a pain as I started on my bike so had to dismount, chain the bike up then reverse that process to cycle home again. It was also pretty chilly, I only packed a t-shirt so ended up running with my day-glo cycling jacket on for warmth. Anyhow, I did six hill repeats back to back at roughly 10k effort, jogging the downs.

Wednesday – No bike involved, I just ran home from the station on my way back from work. Five km completed as per plan.

Thursday – The start of distances increasing a little, this was the first 8km run of this 5 week mini-plan. I managed to get out at lunchtime to run along the Thames at Richmond. Co-incidentally this forms a (small) part of the 100k Thames Path Challenge that I will be doing next September. About 3% in fact! Consider it a recce. It was a nice run, cool but sunny, good running conditions. The only downside was that my achilles/heel was noticably sore while running, the first time I’d been aware of that mid-run. Hmmm. I did crank out another strength session in the evening.

Friday – I skipped the planned 5km run to rest the achilles after Thursday’s more noticable pain.

Saturday – No run planned, but 3rd strength session of the week done and dusted. I’m getting into a rhythym with these now, hopefully I will see the benefits of it next year.

Sunday – After a lot of umming and erring I eventually decided not to risk the planned 10k run. I went out for a 20k bike ride instead. As an occasional cyclist there are a few things I can report:

  • I was colder than I would have been if running – I did not factor in the wind-chill factor from moving more quickly and was under dressed.
  • Wearing my normal running shoes, they got soaking wet going through big puddles on the trail. This was great fun for about 2 minutes but then my feet stayed both wet and cold. My feet would have got wet if I was running too, but with the repeated pounding they at least get warm quickly.
  • I got a LOT muddier than I would have on foot.

In general, I enjoyed it, but not as much as I would have enjoyed the run the plan called for.

I have booked myself in to see a sports physio to get some advice/treatment for the achilles and the knee too while I’m at it. I am hoping he will tell me to run through it but give me some exercises to do to strengthen surrounding muscles. I am hoping he will NOT tell me that 2020 is FUCKED.

Fingers crossed, I’ll be back next week with a running update.