The Road To Richmond - 2018

[Bierzo Baggie]

The Beast has arrived. It's a cracking piece of kit, a proper professional fabric costume. Inside are hoops of tubing held together by John Guest Speedfit connectors. I know that they're John Guest Speedfit connectors, because I had to find a Youtube video to learn how to undo them. Rather touchingly, one of them had a London Marathon 5 hour pace band looped around it.

But by heck, it's heavy. Heavier than anything I've run in before, at least. Maybe not quite as bad as one of those rhinos, but getting on that way. Must be a couple of stone, I think. So this is going to be no gentle plod like last year. Even at 11 minute miling, I'm going to be under some serious strain. Tony Audenshaw says that sometimes, when you're in pain, you just have to BLEEP your legs. Where BLEEP is a word beginning with F, that rhymes with a species of waterfowl.

So I think I need to throw caution to the wind and step up the training intensity. I'm going to need every bit of strength that I can muster to complete that race within the 5 hour cutoff. Proper steel in the legs. So I will reinstate the interval sessions from tomorrow. The heel will have to survive as best it can. I need to feel some serious fitness and strength.

Yes, it's time to FOOSE the heel.

Has anyone told you that you’re ducking nuts?

We love you for it, but still...