So this week I’m starting my full training schedule. I’ve also decided, following my performance at the Paris Marathon, to use the non-linear periodisation system again. Hopefully I’ll be able to smash my marathon PB by running the Dublin Marathon in 4h30m00s – that’s my goal anyway.

Friday’s schedule called for 5 miles easy with 6 x 30 second fartlek intervals. The first time I saw what mileage I had to cover, I thought it sounded like a big ask. I’ve still got memories of how tiring this session used to be, especially with the fartlek intervals, which really knackered me out.

However, once I got out there I discovered I didn’t really need to put in any extra effort into running the five miles (except for running around the headland – the wind was quite strong and was a struggle to run against sometimes). What really pleasantly surprised me though was my peformance during the fartlek intervals.

The last time I regularly did this kind of session, I looked upon intervals with some trepidation because after each interval I was always exhausted. This time though I managed to breeze through them. I was even able to increase my pace in each progressive interval, which was something I definitely couldn’t have done last time. Previously I would start out running each interval really fast and then slow down through tiredness in each following interval.

So after the first week back to “normal” training, I’m generally quite impressed with my state of fitness. As usual, I seem to have underestimated my ability again, as I appear to be fitter than I give myself credit for. Using this training plan to train for Paris seems to have really boosted my general levels of fitness, aerobic endurance and stamina. Not bad!

I’d just like to thank those that have sponsored me again this time round.

I’ll be posting a full report soon, this time with photos and video clips. Stay tuned!

Unfortunately, whatever helped me fly around last time wasn’t there this time. From the outset my legs felt really heavy and my muscles ached from the start. I had to stop about six minutes after starting to remove a stone from my shoe, so I took the opportunity to do some extra stretches as well. I warmed up after the first three miles, but my muscles never totally stopped aching.

The lap system worked well again. I split the run into two nine-mile laps followed by a third four mile lap to bring me up to 22, around the South and North Bays. Running this kind of distance reminded me of just how demanding distance running is. At the end I was racked with aches and pains, which continued all right through the rest of the day. It took me all Sunday, Monday and Tuesday to recover from the effort.

Finally I must comment on the weather. I’ve been rather lucky this year with the weather, with each long run falling on relatively mild Sundays. After completing my first lap, I took the decision to dump my running coat, hat and gloves at home and the bright, constant sunshine rewarded me. The chilly breeze reminded me it was still technically Winter, but it was what I needed on this long run.

The first session of the week was on Tuesday. This intensive phase of my training plan called for a 9-mile run – on a weekday! I wasn’t sure if I could fit a 9 mile run in before work, so I decided to get up at 4:30am instead of my usual 5:00am start just to make sure I had enough time.

This plan backfired as soon as I woke up. I literally dragged myself out of bed and went through my usual routine. However, I just couldn’t get going and I felt like I was in danger of drifting back to sleep whilst doing my warm-ups.

It didn’t get any better once I started running. I was still tired from getting up so early and my muscles were in open rebellion, aching and painful from the offset. I felt like I was running with a sack of potatoes tied to each leg. I managed to complete it, but I felt shocking afterwards. So now, through that hard lesson, i know that getting up earlier than 5:00am to go training is just not an option.

After over-extending myself on Tuesday, Wednesday was a rest day, followed by my next session on Thursday.

This was a simple easy run of five miles, followed by four ten-second hill repeats. I completed it with no problems – it was probably the highlight of an almost universally bad week.

That highlight was followed by Friday’s session, which turned into something of a disaster. My schedule called for 1 mile easy (no problems there), then 8×1k at 10k pace. However, I didn’t measure the distances beforehand, so I had to estimate how far a kilometre was, which I now know that I can’t really do whilst running. Additionally, I fell for the common mistake of miscalculating how long the repeats would take (because I forgot to take into account the rest kilometres in-between). So I didn’t run as far as I should and I didn’t do as many repeats as I should.

I decided just to cut my losses and cut the in-between rest time from eight minutes to two minutes, which I could just about handle. After I’d finished I still felt like the running I had done was good, even if the session as a whole had been a bit disastrous.

So after a shaky start to the final month of training, I wasn’t looking forward to the twenty-mile long run on Sunday. I split the run into three laps: The first two were eight miles each, then finishing with a four-mile lap of the North Bay. I also tried out my new running belt, for storing my energy gels. For the first eight miles, my legs felt rather light, so the going felt surprisingly easy. By the end of the last mile, I was shattered, but I managed to do it in 4h 25m, which impressed me quite a bit.

When I turned around at the Sea Life Centre, I looked across to where the headland should be, but there was only a white fog. It was a total whiteout! This wasn’t any old snow either; the snowflakes were as big as a two-pence piece and stuck to me as soon as they blew into me. I regularly had to shake off the settled snow so my body heat wouldn’t melt it and soak through my outer layers.

I might as well not have bothered, however, because when I got back home, semi-caked in Scarborough’s finest snow, I was soaked through anyway, my inner layers from sweat and my outer layers from the snow.

Following my new plan, I ran a mile at easy pace, then switched up a gear into my half-marathon pace (about 12 minutes per mile) for two miles, then ran easy for the final mile. Unlike previous pacing sessions where I always ended them totally exhausted, I felt quite comfortable running the up-tempo section. Which means I haven’t lost as much fitness as I thought since the Dublin Marathon. Despite all that, I had a thoroughly fun time. The training session wasn’t bad either.

It was fairly low-hassle as well, as we had all checked-in online beforehand, so all we had to do at the airport was show our boarding passes and passports and wait at the departure gate. The most stressful part of the process was the stringent security, which meant I was restricted in what kind of energy drinks and powders I could take (and, I would find out, bring back). Oh well – I managed to cram my rucksack with all the essentials I needed.

On arrival at Dublin, the most tiring thing I did was the long walk from the arrival gate to the exit – a walk which never seemed to end! Fortunately we managed to find our way to a taxi rank outside, where a jovial Irishman took us to our hotel.

The original choice of hotel had problems with it’s water supply to our floor, so they moved us to their higher-rated sister hotel. Unfortunately for me it was also an extra mile away from the start line of the marathon, but at least that would help me warm up on the day!

Now our room wasn’t ready when we arrived, so me and my dad left our luggage with Alan and David and left for the marathon Expo. A fairly lengthy bus ride later, we arrived at the Royal Dublin Society main hall. The first priority was to collect my race number and timing chip. So we both went up onto the balcony and collected my race pack. The chip was attached to the back of the race number, instead of being tied to your laces, like in Edinburgh and Leeds. Then I had to walk over a special mat to “activate” my chip and saw my name flash up on a screen, which I still find a great novelty.

We spent about another hour walking round the rest of the expo. I was quite impressed by the scale and organisation, it was about twice as large as at Edinburgh. There were a lot of exhibitors and I came out with a whole heap of free samples and leaflets. At the Adidas stand I had my gait analysed, which told me that I had a neutral gait. This surprised me because previously I had been told I was a serious over-pronator. So I was left a little bit confused on that issue.

After me and dad returned from that, it was time to look for somewhere to eat. I was in the mood for something Irish and hearty and of course full of complex carbs like potatoes. Eventually, after wandering round a chilly Dublin for a while, we found a pub called O’Shea’s. It was busy, but we found two tables for the four of us. I had seafood chowder to start, but I didn’t realise chowder contained smoked fish, which I don’t really like. Then for the main I had braised lamb shanks, with mashed potato – though not a lot of it.

After that, we walked half-way across town to try out a bar with a reputation for serving top-quality ales. My support crew did their best to test this claim. It was a shame I couldn’t join in with the drinking, but if there is one thing which was going to adversely affect my performance, it was alcohol. So I was left drinking orange juice all night.

Eventually I decided to leave the beer-drinking to the experts and left to return to the hotel and get an early night before the big race.

Just minutes after completing the Dublin Marathon 2008

Just a quick note to say that I successfully completed the Dublin Marathon 2008 on Monday in a PB-smashing time of 5h:27m:47s.

I’ll be posting a fuller account later. In the meantime, I’d just like to say thank you to everyone who supported me and gave generously. If you haven’t donated, you’re not too late – my justgiving.com fundraising page will be accepting donations right up until the end of January next year.

Then the second mile was just as hard. Usually, it gets a little easier, the aches and pains wear off and I can concentrate on running the distance. Not today. It just got harder and harder. I was running my normal route of going round the headland, around the South Bay, back around the headland and along the North Bay and through the parks. When I reached the Sea Life Centre, I almost stopped as I turned around to head towards Peasholm Park, but I knew that if I stopped it would be twice as hard (and painful) to get going again.

So I struggled on, plodding away trying to ignore my aching leg muscles. By the time I was a short distance into the Peasholm Park leg, on the final mile of my route, I gave in and started walking instead. It wasn’t just my legs that were being tortured – my feet were on fire!

From there I walked the rest of the route. As I emerged from Peasholm Glen, I was started by a tremendous BANG! from the other side of the lake. It took me a few moments to realise that it was a television crew who were filming an episode of The Royal.

The exhaustion of this run has once again made my doubt my ability to run the marathon in my target time of 5h30m and rudely reminded me of just how hard and difficult running a marathon is.

I managed my six-mile run on Tuesday, but the fact I was wearing in a new pair of running socks (which are, ironically, supposed to prevent rubbing and blisters) meant new blisters formed over other semi-healed older blisters.

The whole reason I was wearing in some new socks in the first place was because my other trusty pair, which have protected me from the worst of blisters and rubbing since I started wearing them over a year ago now, have finally worn out. This is how I gained my first batch of blisters a couple of days ago.

So, to put an end to this merry-go-round, I’ve reluctantly decided to skip training until my blisters have healed to an acceptable degree. Unfortunately, this does mean that I will fall further behind with my training schedule. So the chances of me reaching my target time appear to be getting more and more remote.

You’d think by missing out on something so tiring I would be happy, but the lack of training played heavy on my mind. Mainly my concern was how missing out on a week’s worth of training would affect my ability to compete in the marathon. It may be several weeks away, but I don’t do enough training now, there’ll be no point competing, because I know I won’t have the strength or resources to complete it.