Wednesday 2 September 2009

Scotland and London - Thinking Ahead

Thursday 27th August. My last run in Scotland – a long one on the smooth sandy roads of the Balmoral estate; a beautiful early evening and I am surprised at how much distance I am able to cover. There is a bit of wind and it starts me thinking about the factors I shall have to worry about on 4th October: Salisbury-Winchester is an east-west route so hopefully the prevailing wind will be behind us. I shall need to take the gradients into account as well, even though Scotland has been good preparation for that. I shall plan to reconnoitre at least part of the route during September.

Wednesday 2nd September. A nice cool London day and I was able to get round my standard 4 mile course through woods and parks as fast as I have ever managed. That was a great relief as I found that I really struggled on a 2-hour run on Monday. It was much hotter then, and I covered about 11 miles, but I think that I was also short of sleep. One never quite knows how one is going to do, but it is certainly worth taking rest and nutrition seriously. I also need to think about hydration, and must remember to have plenty to drink at the start of the marathon. It was salutary to remember that the marathon is more than twice as long as my 11 mile run.
Adrian Thomas

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