7 weeks to go...

And so another week ticks by. This week I must admit that it has been light on training. I have been putting the finishing touches to my final training plan so I know what I am doing over the next 7 weeks, how far I need to go, what I need to do to make sure I cross the finish line.

I've now done 16.6 miles twice (just finished one, did the same route last week) and I have to say that I have realised that the marathon is FAR! I think I am going to need all the cheering and help that I can get on the day... I have, however, discovered this evening that past a certain point it hurts less to keep running than to slow to a walk. This is a key discovery, and I think might become a mantra in the following weeks, no matter how tired I am I will repeat in my head 'this doesn't hurt as much as walking, this doesn't hurt as much as walking'...

And so, I now have four more long runs to go. I'd like to get up to 20/21 miles three weeks before the marathon, so that is Easter weekend, and I have four runs to make up the distance. This is great, it's a comfortable addition each week of about a mile, so I should be adding small distances and really feeling the benefit. I have to say, I might have suffered this week but last week I suffered a lot more, so I take from that that this is getting better and all the hard work is paying off!

Also last week I did a 6 mile run home on Thursday. It was great, really comfortable, a good speed, I felt really good about myself. I think it was perfectly timed, the 16.6 on Monday was a huge struggle and I really felt like I had taken a step back in training terms, but by Thursday I was jumping up and down and ready to hit the pavements again, and the rest did my knee the world of good, so I am improving, it just doesn't feel like that at around mile 14 of a long run!

Looking at the week ahead I have Mil Fit twice and another run, possibly 4 miles in the park, or 6 if I can fit it in, we'll see. I also need to decide on my final three weeks training, what distances I'm going to do and when. I think the internet holds the crucial answers to my training questions!