Marathon training for Dublin has now begun in earnest. There's about 3 months to go.
I started nine days ago, with a long run in Richmond Park. (The powder-throwing incident, for those who've heard about it). Now it's no longer a case of "going out for a bit of a run". Every run has to have an objective. It's a "long run" to increase endurance (physical and mental) and fat-burning pathways, or it's a "tempo run" to boost lactate threshold and the ability to sustain speed, or it's "speedwork" to boost maximum oxygen throughput and get muscles used to moving fast.
It's not "half an hour's brisk run" any more; it's 5 miles at 8:50 pace, or 6 x 800 metres with 90 second walking recoveries.
My main failing is not getting enough sleep.
