A great week of training!

Just under 5 weeks until I head to the Amazon!!!....

Its been a week since my last blog post and after a few tough runs I'd decided that I needed to up my mileage and hill training. Thankfully it's been a really great week and that's exactly what I managed to do... here's a quick summary:

Monday: 16km running up and down hills on the trails of Box Hill

Tuesday: 31km run along the Thames Path

Wednesday: 21km along the Thames Path

Thursday: Gym session with lots of squats (good hill preparation!) and then 13.5 km run

Friday: Rest day and Thai massage

Saturday: 60km along the Thames Path

Sunday: 8.5km slow run

Total distance: 150km

I set out in search of some tough hills on Monday and took the train out of London to Box Hill (Olympic Cycling venue). I was really pleased to find the perfect training in the form of the hills of the North Downs Way on Box Hill. I ran for 2 hours up and down the trails and it's definitely a run I'll be doing lots more in the Jungle Marathon build up!

Here are the Olympic rings positioned on the top of Box Hill and the great view from up there:

On Saturday morning I set out with energy gels, electrolyte filled water bottles and high energy jelly beans with the goal of running 60km along the Thames Path. The furthest I'd run up to this point was 50km and that was a real struggle. It didn't help that I'd had a deep tissue massage the night before and I was struggling to get out of bed as a result. 

I set off at a bit of a sluggish pace, but soon got into my stride. I was really happy with how I paced the run and I went through the marathon distance (42km) at an average of 12km/h (3 hours 30). However, shortly afterwards I felt a sharp twinge behind my left knee. I stopped briefly to stretch my hamstring and drank lots of water in the hope that it was cramp, but unfortunately the pain persisted. I managed to carry on running, but had to slow the pace. Then the rain came down... really heavy thunderstorms made the last 15km slightly unpleasant (the only good thing was that I had the path to myself!) 

I finished the run in just over 5 hours and I was really pleased to know that I could have carried on running. My average pace dropped to 11.5km/h because of the injury niggle, but I feel confident that I'll be able to do the double marathon in 7 hours, which is the pre-Jungle marathon goal I set myself. 

The last few km were so wet that it was like running through a stream... my feet took a bit of a battering, as you can see from the photo below. It's definitely time to start looking after my feet better!

I went out for an easy run this afternoon to see how my hamstring was. I only ran for around an hour, but could definitely feel that something wasn't quite right. The last thing I want is to get injured so close to the race and so my plan is to take things a bit easy over the next few days! I'll make the days productive by sorting out lots of the equipment and food that I need to take with me and do some more research into the race. I've been reading Mark Hines book about the Jungle Marathon- a fantastic read, especially for anyone interested in the competing in the race. I've got to a bit about lots of competitors going on drips and others dropping out of the race and being taken to hospital in the middle of the night- scary stuff, especially considering that the nearest hospital is 24 hours away!