Good marathon training... but very slow.

Andrew and I decided to do a 15 mile run this morning, right along the canal from Berkhamsted to beyond the Tring Reservoirs and back. It was a glorious morning for marathon training. No wind, dry ground, mild sunshine. However, I knew from about 3 miles out that it was going to be a slow one for me. I just didn't have any energy and I could only watch as Andrew easily pulled away from me, waited for me and then ran away again. I felt bad holding him up and I reckon over the 15 miles he probably would have beaten me by about 20 minutes. I finished the 15 miles in 2hr 28 min which is definately not fast enough but by the end I was absolutely knackered and have just lain on my couch watching rugby and sleeping (actually that's quite a nice way to spend a Saturday afternoon.)

Now the excuses. I've had a very busy week at work preparing everything so that I can go away on holiday on Monday for two weeks. This has meant that I am just tired and I do think it came out in my lack of energy today. Secondly, I forgot to take anything to eat so by the end my bodies resources were a bit depleted. It just re-enforces the importance of proper nutrition during the actual running of a race. I normally take either mini Jelly Babies or Juice Plus Gummies - recently more often than not I take the Gummies which are sugar free and full of fruit or vegetables.

I leave for Turkey on Monday morning and my wife and I hope to get in a bit of warmish weather training. We are running in the Oakley 20 miler on April 1st and by a piece of bad planning we don't get back from Turkey until the early hours of the morning on the 1st. We'll grab a few hours sleep and then do the race. Let's hope we can sleep on the plane or it could be a a long, hard morning's run. We are going to concentrate on speed work in Turkey and on getting a proper rest. I'll let you know how it goes.