Monday 11 March update ...
And we're now into Moyleman week itself. The taper somehow has mysteriously turned into doing more mileage than previously ... but legs feel fine.
I have surrendered to the fact that my trusty Inov8 ParkClaw 275 running shoes need to be replaced, before the Moyleman. So I now have a brand new pair of Inov8 275 Parkclaws - but this time in red and black (which I can claim to be Lewes FC colours).
Having done my weekday runs (one 6km jog and one 8km speed rep run) - Friday dawned bright and clear so I seized the chance to grab pics over the last 2 miles or so of the Moyleman. We've been posting from Twitter a pic a day over the whole course - starting late Feb and ending on day of run. The amazing mid-Feb sunshine had meant we had grabbed most of the course with the exception of Mt Caburn.
So Friday saw me do an extra 8km up Chapel Hill, down into Southerham Nature Reserve, and up and down over Caburn almost to Glynde village and then same in reverse - kind of like two big twittens done twice.
Weather was glorious - so the full set of 26 shots of each mile (plus start and finish) look glorious. Who knows what the actual weather will be come Sunday?
Saturday saw a trip to Coventry for niece's wedding - and opportunity for some parkrun tourism meant we took in the Coventry parkrun at War Memorial Park. A classic large city park, with flowering trees, wide grassy areas and decent undulating paths. Unusually, this parkrun attracts massive numbers. 880 on the day we ran: which according to stats is 4th largest in UK on that day ("Saturday 10 March: Biggest UK parkruns: Bushy Park (1371), Southampton (1054), Cannon Hill (959), Coventry (880), Chelmsford Central (798), Cardiff (722), Heaton Park (695), Black Park (695), Nonsuch (663), Sheffield Hallam (657).")
So it was a) impossible to hear any tannoy at start and b) quite a jostle in opening km. But after it thinned out a bit we settled into our stride at a 5 min per km pace and nicely eased past the median runners to finish at around 25:30, but in positions 231 and 232!
As we finised the heavens opened - and we drove back in a deluge, which took an hour to pass, but left the skies sunny for a fine wedding!
Coventry turned out to exceed expectations in other ways - with a remarkably good craft beer brewery (Twisted Barrel) just a mile from the wedding venue. It's tap room was a haven of craft beer and indie music at just the right volume for chatting. And decent wine selection for Paula who appreciates decent beer by not drinking it.
Finally, on Sunday having missed the twittens (and Tom AKA Beast of B's 49th outing) - we wanted a gentle 13km - so we made our way to the Cuckoo Trail (a former railway line that runs from Polegate to Eridge) and had a very enjoyably flattish there and back trot through beautiful surrounding countryside to complete last long run before the Moyleman.
This week consists of short runs Tue/Thu/Sat before the full 21km on Sunday. I do first half, Paula the second.
Training plan is therefore effectively over! I shall report back to the Asics plan folks and share my experience in full
Let us see what Sunday brings!
On, on ....
A Moyleman For All Seasons
