Marathon musings

One week out. Seven days to go. What has been going through my head lately?

It was a mental struggle getting ready for the last biggest week of training, but once I got into it, it didn't feel bad at all, and the last long (36km+) run was a doddle! Then three weeks of tapering. The first week started badly. After the Tuesday interval session the next day my knees were rooted. Stupid old shoes which I didn't realise were worn out. So the next week was pretty stressful worrying about what was wrong with the knees. Was it just runner's knee? Would it be fixed by new shoes and some rest?

I did rest up the next couple of days by taking the train to work and back, but then every person was coughing and sneezing and I started getting stressed about catching something! So got awawy from the train again and doing slow jobs to work. Knees alternately feeling better and flaring up again. That was the second week of taper. Ended up almost the same as the first, actually probably did a couple of km more rather than less than the week before (purely because of the two full days off the week before for the knees). Still did Pain in the Domain, still swam and rode the bike, only one day of yoga though because I felt like needing the rest Friday morning. Also didn'really pay attention to my diet so much and ate more crap than good carbs. Just a case of winding back the mileage so not always thinking about running and health.

One week to go and I'm in a pretty good place. Feel like I've done all the hard work. The tapering is on track (apart from the brain explosion bike ride - but I don't think that'll make much difference). I've got a nutrition plan sorted out, a pacing plan, I've trialled my race shoes, outfit, gels and sports drink and I have a plan for the weekend. It's just a case of making it healthy through the week!