So this week is about continuing to taper and about carbo-loading until the big day itself.

My training got off to a tiring start on Tuesday when I ran one mile easy, followed by two miles at my fastest pace, another two at moderate pace and then a final mile at easy pace.

The fast miles were tough and very tiring, as my legs felt remarkably stiff and heavy and took a long time to warm up. Then my MP3 player crashed in the middle of one of my favourite running songs, which was helping me push on through the pain. So I had to stop and fix that, which interrupted my rhythm and which really annoyed me.

By the end of that run I was really tired – I had probably over-exerted myself if I’m honest. So I was glad my next two runs are fairly easy runs at a steady pace.

On Wednesday, I did four miles, with five “strides” – which basically means running at a fast pace for thirty seconds at different points during the route. I felt a little bit more flexible, but still heavy and weighed down by all these carbohydrate stores I’m building up.

Even though I’m running fewer miles now than at any time during the last four months, it doesn’t deel easier at all – in fact it feels like a bit of a drag to get going and slip into a steady pace.

It felt just like that again on Thursday when I ran one mile easy followed by one and a half miles at moderate pace, followed by another mile easy. The moderate lap was really tough because, once again, my legs felt like lead.

Still I managed to finish the last training session for this marathon in a respectable time, slightly faster than I predicted.

So that is the end of training. No more sessions before the big day. I can only hope it all pays off on the day. Wish me luck!

The first training session of the week was a four mile easy run. I’ve been getting a bit bored of continually running around the North Bay, so this time I decided to run down to the end of the South Bay then back again.

On Wednesday I strategically matched my music to the training. The schedule called for one mile easy, then three miles at half-marathon pace then another mile at easy pace. That sounds easy, but this combination of distance and pace has tripped me up before, hence the decision to run to music this time.

I chose Bloc Party’s new album Intimacy because it has a fast beat and sounds a bit mental. The result? Well, it worked smashingly. I ploughed through the miles and finished on a bit of a high.

I tried the same trick on Thursday, doing 4m easy then 2m moderate. I listened to the same music again, but it didn’t have quite the same effect as last time. Saying that, I still powered through the moderate section. For the first 4 miles, my legs didn’t feel quite as elastic and springy as I like, but they weren’t stiff, so I just had to work through that. I covered the first four miles aorund the headland and then ran down to end of the Spa again, then did the remaining two miles in the North bay.

The end of the week saw the return of the dreaded cold weather, bringing with it a light frost. Fortunately, that didn’t affect me much.

Last week I think the combination of taking Monday off as a rest day and my other recovery techniques worked rather well. On Monday I didn’t fell creaky and painful like I sometimes do the day after a long run and when training the day after, I didn’t feel like I was still recovering from Sunday. So I’ve decided that Monday is my new rest day. On Tuesday I felt more comfortable today than last week. I felt good all the way round. Afterwards, I didn’t feel totally exhausted like previous times.

Unfortunately, by Wednesday, the weather seemed to be getting a bit chilly again after the “mildness” of last week. Thursday was more like Tuesday in that I just seemed to run the four miles easy and two miles at moderate pace without much fuss. what made it memorable was the beautiful sunrise which rose as I ran around the headland.

Sunday

This week has just flown by. So when it came to this week’s long run, a mammoth eighteen-miler, I didn’t feel totally psyched up for it. In fact, I was even dreading it a little bit. Last weeks’ sixteen-mile run hurt, so adding another two miles onto that wasn’t going to make it any more comfortable.

To make the distance a little more manageable, I split it into two laps, each a nine-mile circuit of the South and North Bays. Basically it covered all the areas where I usually run, but with a few extensions to place I’ve run to in the past.

I decided to try and minimise the pain of this endurance run by taking my first energy gel before I had even set off, unlike my usual system of using them after the first six miles. Then I took one every three miles after that. Just a few hundred yards into my first mile, my leg muscles felt solid, like bricks. There was no elasticity or flexibility in them at all. It was obvious that my warm-up exercises had been somewhat lacklustre today. I had to find a wall and perform a few quick leg stretches in order to get my legs going. I was a little surprised as this was the first time I’ve ever had to do stretches after starting running. Once I set off again, they didn’t feel as stiff, but they ached really badly as they warmed up which was really painful.

By the time I had reached the Spa, they had stopped aching so badly, but the rocky start had shaken my confidence somewhat. I took my second energy gel whilst passing the Ocean Room and made my way to the most southerly point of my route. My muscles weren’t aching any more but they still felt as if they were not performing at their best, which filled me with apprehension about what the next fifteen miles would have in store.

Throughout this run I had a sense of stop-start regarding my energy levels. Each energy gel would come “on stream” about half an hour after I had eaten it, so there was a small lag between the effects of the last one wearing off and the next one kicking in. No matter how many gels I ate though, there was no distracting me from the fact that my feet and legs were all feeling tired and achy even in the early stages of the run. This made it much more uncomfortable than usual and I even contemplated walking at some points.

After I had rounded the headland in the middle of the first lap, about six miles in, the tide in the North Bay had gone so far out that I was able to get onto the beach from the most southerly steps (opposite the Albert Drive Cafe) – I don’t often get the chance to get onto the beach this far south because the tide doesn’t usually go out this far when I’m running. I was then able to run the entire length of the North Bay beach all the way up to the most northerly steps outside the Sea Life Centre.

I had managed to establish a rhythm which carried me through most of the nine miles of the first lap. After switching empty bottles for full ones at my home, I started the second lap. Naturally, it felt harder because I had already completed the first lap, but the energy gels meant I kept on having spurts of energy, which kept things interesting.

Coming back from the most southerly point of my route, I took an early detour into the beach, as the softer snad is more forgiving on my feet. It was the first time I had run outside the southern end of the Spa, which still has that feel of faded, dilapidated glory. Whilst I was running towards the lifeboat station and the end of the beach, I noticed how alone I was in the vast expanse of empty beach. Earlier on it had been quite busy, but now this section of the beach was much quieter. The headland was, as usual at this time of day, very busy with plenty of people around the South Bay end.

Coming around the headland for the second and last time and I was really beginning to feel the exhaustion creep up on me. I ran down onto the beach again, this time having to dodge the tide which was coming in quite fast. By this point I had equalled last weeks distance of sixteen miles, but the thought of doing another two miles was almost too much. I deliberately psyched myself up because I knew if I stopped now, I wouldn’t be able to get going again.

To my surprise, even though my legs were fatigued and I was generally quite exhuasted, I didn’t feel like my legs were going to explode like last week. It was more a case of just trying to run through the tiredness and try not to stop. When I finished, I could only half-believe that I had just completed the longest training run I’ve ever done. These long runs are also beginning to remind me of now much effort is required just to keep moving whilst running a marathon and how just much of a massive commitment it is.

Fortunately, my feet seem to have adjusted to my new socks and I didn’t get any new blisters from that. So  continued on Wednesday with a six-mile run, along the usual route, which was again, very tiring. I decided that in order to meet my target time of 5h:30m, that I would not train on Thursday or Friday, but instead give myself a chance to rest before the long runs of the weekend.

It was surprising just how much I missed running after just two days. When you get used to running five days a week, having a day or two off really becomes noticeable. On Saturday I did another six-mile run along the usual route which was again moderately tiring.

Sunday was a day I was looking forward to, but with a certain apprehension. Sunday’s run called for a ten-mile run – the longest yet in my training for Dublin. On each subsequent Sunday the distance will increase dramatically – next week is 12 miles, the week after 14 miles and so on. This means I’m finally moving out of the mild build-up section of the training into the hardcore fitness building section.

My route for this fairly epic nine-mile run took me from my usual starting point, around the headland and across South Bay to the Aquarium Top roundabout. From there I continued on towards the Spa and ran about as far as the old Victorian sea defences stretched, which is basically where the South Bay finishes. Then I ran up and down a gravelly hill and re-traced my steps all the way back to the roundabout, where I ran up Valley road, passing under Valley Bridge. A few meters after that I turned around and headed back towards the roundabout.

From there, I ran all the way back along the South Bay, around the headland and followed my usual route to the finish, where I started from. I had set out fairly late, having forgotten several things, including my energy gels, which I would use for the first time whilst training for the Dublin Marathon, which put me behind my desired start time, so by the time I was running back along the South Bay, the streets were getting fairly busy and I had to a lot of weaving and dodging, which I don’t like doing because it breaks my concentration.

I wasn’t feeling very tired at all at that point, but then I had only done about four miles. By the time I was running around Peasholm Park, with eight miles behind me, I was really feeling it. I’m talking serious exhaustion here, almost slowing down to walking pace. However, I didn’t let a little thing like fatigue stop me, knowing how i’ve suffered much greater exhaustion when running the Edinburgh Marathon, I could handle this. It wasn’t pleasant, but I stuck in there and made my home, an hour and forty-five minutes after I set off.

The worst thing about this run was the exhaustion. I could barely keep going in the final minutes, partly because I knew I was so close to the end. I really need to get some rest in order to keep up this pace and if I want to be fit enough to run in 9 weeks time.