1-2 October: Park Life

It's October! So less than a month to go until the big day then. Far from being a restful and relaxing break from running, my two days' hillwalking seem to have brought their own problems in the shape of sore calves and a bit of a cold. I always have sore calves after being out in the hills, which is weird, as everyone else seems to complain about sore quadriceps, something I never suffer from.

On Monday night, I test my legs and lungs out with a short four-mile jog around the common, which only confirms that (a) my calves are sore and (b) I've got a bit of a cold.

Tuesday is silly run day, meaning that I start out on the bike in the morning, leave work, wearing my running kit, a little bit late and start training very early. Tonight, I head down the towpath to the lanes, and run through to Davenham. As it's just gone six when I get there, it's no real surprise to meet up with Colin and I turn around and run back to Rudheath with him. We bump into Dave and Graham towards the end of this extended (about 7 miles) warm-up, and after meeting a big training group at the leisure centre, I'm back at work again by about seven!

Work is at Gadbrook Park, where we're training tonight. I've never done this session before, which turns out to be 10 reps of a short circuit of just under 600m. I'm glad of the long 90 second recoveries, but it doesn't feel that hard, even though I later have a discussion with my watch which tells me that it's the hardest I've ever run in an interval session. After the reps, I do another 20 minutes or so before climbing back on the bike and scooting home for a curry. I wonder if I might be in decent marathon shape after all.