It's now officially only 5 weeks until my marathon. I have to say that my training has gone really quite fast and I'm surprised to be at the end of week 15.
The highlight of this week has to be my 34km run. I won't focus too much on my shorter runs, as once again, I felt a little lonely and although I ran faster paces, I can't say I was loving them this week. Having said that though, conditions were perfect all week, which made for beautiful running, but my heart was not in the shorter distances, I think I had my eye on the prize of completing the longer run!
I was planning on doing 33km this week, and was all set to do this with my run mapped out. But as I started my long run, I had a little thought about adding on an extra km. The reason I did this was purely to challenge myself a little, but also to give myself a mental edge. The Great Ocean Road Marathon is 44km, they throw in an extra 2km just to make it a little bit more daunting! So I sort of figured by running 34km, in my mind I know it's only another 10km to complete the marathon distance.
So I set out and once again, felt good right from the start. I had my typical early run loo stop - how many times do I have to empty my bladder! But once I got going, it was smooth sailing the whole way. it was another glorious morning, slightly on the warm side, but no wind.
The thing I find most pleasant about doing a long run is the people you encounter along the way. I saw a few people out walking, some running, some biking and some playing with dogs. Lots of people gave me a smile and said good morning. I saw an old couple I'd seen two weeks before, I am sure they recognised me and they gave me a hearty hello!
My running sound track today proved to be a great choice - my favourite is the song "I'm on top of the world", it just gave me little boost as I hit the 20km mark and I felt like I kicked into a higher gear - although, overall my pace remained consistent the whole way. Apart from a couple of hills, at one hill I slowed right down and ran 1km in 6:34! But my overall pace for the whole run was 5:55/km, so a little faster than some of my other long runs.
I finished the run strong and after a stretch and something to eat & drink, I took a dip at Eastern Beach, which I really find helps aid recovery. I also met 2 other runners in the pool which was really nice. We had a great chat about our training, they are both training for the Great ocean Road half marathon.
I've got one more long run to go in my training program. I am excited about this as it means the marathon is edging closer. This time in 5 weeks hopefully i will have crossed the finish line.
For now, though, I am focusing on journey along the way - it's good to focus on the finish line, keep my eye on the prize, but I don't want to be so focussed that I forget to enjoy the journey.
Until next time folks, travel safe, enjoy the journey and focus on the good things in your life xx
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