Training Log Archive: Indiana Jones

A short goodbye jog before breakfast and the journey home. Fairly stiff legs as expected but nothing too painful and it got better throughout. Will be taking plenty easy days this week anyway.

Jungfrau marathon, my second time winning the race and after finishing second last year with a disappointing run.

As always it’s hard to predict how the later stages will go and how everyone else will run it so for the first 25km I stuck to my own rhythm and let others pull away or drop behind rather than trying to stick in a pack. Two guys pulled ahead after 7km and stayed around 50-60s ahead all the way to the uphill. The Italian guy I was running with some of the time kept attacking all the short hills in the first half so I let him get on with that and kept patient until 25km. On the steep climb I quickly dropped him and caught one of the lead runners, felt really good there. By 28km I’d reeled in Birhanu but he put in a big effort to pull away again at 30km to get the sprint prize, although at the time I didn’t know if he as aiming to keep that going until the end. It was a bad patch for me around there but I had a decent drink and another gel and soon caught him and found my rhythm again. From there to the end it was a case of trying to put in some harder kilometres in case any of the chasing runners were getting closer. There was another slight bad patch at 38.5km in anticipation of the steep final climb but once on it I felt good and ran the whole way. The final 1km downhill wasn’t fun as everything was stiff but getting to the finish straight with a nice lead made it all worth it! Really enjoyed it, probably even more than 2016. Such perfect clear skies and mountain views and I felt like I ran a good hard race.

C • congratulations 2

Easy run along the river before breakfast. Felt pretty fresh which was good considering the journey.

Easy run on the trails behind Kingswells. Didn’t have much bounce in the legs but was really hungry beforehand and hadn’t had breakfast.

Easy run around Kingshill adding in the more hilly parts. Not too bad, slightly tired from yesterday but nothing particularly tight. Two easy days planned then the final big race for the summer.

20' warm up around Hazlehead then cool down after. Bumped in to Ginie on the cool down and was going to join her for another 6-8km on her lunch run but decided it wasn't a good idea so went home.

Fartlek- 7 x 4' (2' easy) out and back on the trail. Each way had a few slight uphill/downhill sections and corners but it was a nice place to run fast. Enjoyed it and felt pretty good. Each effort was covering 1.27-1.29km. Happy with how the calf felt, was a little stiff after the last two reps but not bad on the cool down.

Bucksburn valley short loop, really easy effort. Legs a bit stiff from the morning but calf feeling good.

On the paths and playing fields in and around Bucksburn valley, mostly easy pace. Felt good today so ran a few sections with a bit more effort. Right calf was still a bit stiff before the run but didn't notice it during.

Easy short loop in the town then 8 x ~150m. Planned to do 6 but forgot to count them. Felt like I was moving well and actually going quite quick rather than the usual lack of speed.