With a nice easy 40min run!  What a nice way to enter training, a relaxed, easy paced run around in the sun for 40mins.

In reality this training will be difficult, my goal is a stretch at 3:15 for the Edinburgh Marathon. The last time I ran this was in 4:45 and it nearly broke me.  I was unprepared and it was a really really hot day, this was back in 2010, in 2011 I had another go at the marathon distance and did 2 in a month, Keilder Marathon – a hilly hilly trail one but I got my PB at 3:55 and then 23 days later, Dublin where I came in 3:33 which remains my PB.

You can say I did a marathon in 2013 but I don’t count the one I did as part of the Ironman, only because I had hardly ran in 4months and training was swimming and cycling.  Though some people might have been happy with a 5 hour marathon, I certainly was on the day, but not as an individual time.

So you might be wondering why 3:15?  Well my most recent half marathon was a 1:29 and this was achieved with relatively little training specifically for running.  Now I’ve put triathlons on hold, and focussing on running I feel that I can get faster and stronger with more run focussed training.

I’ve downloaded a plan on my Garmin and will be following it religiously, I’ll also cross train where I can, cycling and swimming but only as a relatively easy day.  The plan is 16 weeks and will finish 6 weeks before the marathon, which is ideal, as we all know injury, illness and whatever other blerch related reason will mean that I won’t be able to do a full 16 week run.

This run nearly broke me

My certificate from 2010