2005 - November

[El Gordo]

Tim

I'm always delighted to get advice that tells me I might be over-exerting myself...

Seriously, you are absolutely right, and I'm well aware of the dangers, but thanks for saying it anyway. I always bear in mind Hal Higdon's advice that over-training causes more problems for marathoners than under-training.

As it happens, my normal midweek runs are pretty small beer - usually between 3.5 and 4 dead flat miles. Even then, I'm taking them very easily. I have been taking my GPS watch with me, but this is really just to have a record stored somewhere of date and time and distance, in case it's a while before I update my spreadsheet. I think strain, and with it, the risk of injury, come when you clock-watch too much, and do speed sessions before you're ready. At the moment I'm just doing what I call "fitness runs" which are nothing more than steady plods. If I need to walk for a minute here or there, I will. The idea is to get my head trained as much as my body; getting back into the routine of getting out there.

As for next year, thanks for prompting me again about off-road. Your previous messages have definitely filtered through. In the diary, I mentioned The Thames Meander, Compton Challenge, Ridgeway 40 and Dartmoor 32. The first 3 are off-road, not sure about the last one. I won't do all of these of course, and I may not do any, but I'll certainly aim to sample something like this. I need to try something different.

Thanks for the report. I'll read it later, when I have more time. Not sure if you've posted it before.