A week has now passed since the Paris Marathon, and I've spent the last 7 days reflecting on the experience and what I (and 40,171 other people) have achieved. Paris is one of my favourite cities having lived there about 20 years ago - so I was looking forward to a weekend in this special city. … Continue reading The 4 Ps: My Bitter Sweet Finale
Last Sunday I celebrated after my 22 miler - the longest and last of my long runs - was over. Mostly, because it signified the beginning of the taper - time to ease off the training in the last three weeks running up to Paris! But boy was that a mistake to celebrate so early... I woke on … Continue reading The 4 Ps: Taper Tantrums
...Down to the Paris Marathon. With a little over 4 weeks to go, I thought it would be a good time to reflect on where I've come and where I've still got to go! There are so many sayings and clichés about how running is a great metaphor for life - the ups and downs you experience, … Continue reading The 4Ps: One Month And Counting…
9 weeks down, 7 to go! It's a great feeling to be past the halfway point in my training for the Paris Marathon... and so to test my progress and see whether I'm on track for my goal (sub 4 hours), today I took part in my first race of the year... The Old Deer Park … Continue reading The 4 Ps: Race Ready?
7 weeks down, 9 to go! Over the last couple of weeks I have been thinking a lot about my pace and how I ensure I achieve my ultimate target of a sub 4 hour Paris Marathon... so, in the immortal words of Top Gun "I feel the need... the need for speed!" this post is focused on … Continue reading The 4 Ps: The Need For Speed
Week 5 of 16 was about building strength - through some alpine hill-training, and my longest run so far. Here are the highlights as recorded by my Nike Plus app: But the real highlights of my week were a couple of firsts... I participated in my first Parkrun, AND I had my screen debut at BAFTA … Continue reading The 4 Ps: A Week of Firsts
Week 4 of 16 was all about building a base... Appropriate as I write this overlooking a snowy Bruson, opposite Verbier in Switzerland, where the snow base is still building after an unseasonably mild winter so far. I arrived last night for a few days to celebrate 10 years of Bramble Ski - my brother's … Continue reading The 4 Ps: Building a Base
3 down, 13 to go! According to my Nike Plus Coach Programme, last week was about "Laying the Groundwork" for the remainder of my Paris Marathon training by increasing distance and taking on the longest run of my training so far. The highlights of my week's running was my tempo run with the BeaRCat Runners on Wednesday... and … Continue reading The 4 Ps: No Pain, No Gain
Week 2 of 16 complete! Week 2's Paris Marathon training was focused on the "Fundamentals", following the "Warm Up" week before. Although I only ticked off 11 of my requisite 29 running miles last week (during Sunday's long run), I covered many more than that on skis during an amazing ski break to the stunning resort of Söll in Austria. Given … Continue reading The 4 Ps: New Year, New Shoes!
Week 1 of 16 done! This week was considered a "Warm-Up" week, aimed at getting me back into the swing of training six times a week after some time off post Norwich Half Marathon in November. It was a tough week all-in-all - I felt quite stiff and achy at the beginning - and it's been hard … Continue reading The 4 Ps: #15WeeksToGo
Not The Mayo Clinic 