Sunday 25th - 56 days til Marathon - 90mins 3 Parks run.

Janeywife and I have done nothing all weekend apart from eat well, take it easy, go bowling and go to the cinema. I've been feeling better daily and whilst I've still a mouth ulcer, i'm no longer suffering from the constant aching that punctured last weeks training plans. Ran for 90mins around the 3 parks and feel a lot better.

The somewhat scary truth that the marathon is 8 weeks today continues to dawn and I'm hoping that between now and Aprill 22nd I can maintain the healthy knife edge balance between exercising/eating/training and recovery.

It sounds cliched but Bison bought it up - so I'm compelled to use it!! - but apparently I'm a finely tuned machine - I guess he means I have to use supergrade instead of regular gas, keep my spark plugs clean and run regular diagnostics!

I agree - for the next 57 nights I've got to enusure early to bed, regular knee raises to combat sore patellas, plenty of greens with carbs and limited business trips. Apart from a trip to Orlando for CTIA Telecoms show March 22nd (competitor event not one of mine so reduced in demands) I'm training in the UK.

Have a 10k race March 11th, my 3hr / 21mile run Sunday 18th March around Richmond Park and then a 16mile race April 1st in Kingston.

March is going to be a busy, yet hopefully injury and sickness free month as I head towards April 22nd.

Tuesday 20th March - 40 mins around Hyde Park

Felt tired and lethargic, hoped a run would help but on the contrary - felt rough all the way around and have ached throughout. Slept poorly and whilst not ill enough to miss work, wish I'd been able to spend day in bed, take asprin and recover.

Woke weds morning with ulcer in mouth. I thought I'd cleared the run down period post barcelona but clearly not. Canning running until feel better.

70 min 3 park run - 18th Feb - 61 days till Marathon

With running Guru's Athers and Bison b4 cross country 10K race

Have been decidedly off running for a couple of days. Have spent the weekend sleeping and am only just starting to feel better. The last 2 weeks of trips to Barcelona and Amsterdam, combined with day-to-day juggling of business out of the office in addition to entertaining clients has left me feeling as if I'm running on empty, topping up the tank with food and alcohol instead of rest and exercise.

Managed to get a solid 12 hrs sleep last night and for the first time felt strong enough to get back into trainers and head out for an hour minimum. Its incredible how quickly suppleness can disappear over a week, being replaced by lethargy which perpetuates in a reduced desire to go running. I've definitely been tripped up by having my schedule played around with, however the good news is that now through until the end of March I've no business trips scheduled. I'm looking forwards to climbing back onto a structured regimen of sleep, work, exercise, diet and recovery.

Today I ran for an hour and felt good throughout - I think much of this reflective of good strong legs combined with plenty of rest over the weekend as well as eating like a hungry horse.

Looking forwards to building towards the 3hour run next weekend / following weeks long run. Have a race to look forwards to on March 11th - 10K road race, will be interested to see how my current 43min PB fares.

Come home and stretched like its going out of fashion.

Barcelona refresher 14th Feb - 65 days till Marathon

Managed to avoid the corporate entertaining cycle for a night whilst at the 3 GSM World Congress event in Barcelona in order to get out and have a gentle potter with Gavin. I knew that this week it would be a tough job finding time to squeeze in a run - every night is spent partying with clients/colleagues, walking all day and finishing late, with demanding days back-to-back.

Ran for 40 mins up to the Nou Camp Barcelona FC stadium and back to the hotel. Not really serving too much of a purpose other than sweating out the previous nights alcohol but did manage to keep legs reminded of who's boss.

40 mins weekly potter with Janewife 11th Feb - 68 days till Marathon

Nice sunny and lesuirely potter around the park with janeywife. Am practicing lunge running, (self created term) where my strides are over eggagerated and demand far more strength to push around the park. I think its some sort of stamina building excercise.

Nice and sunny weather and although Janeywife demands I speak/talk all the way round to entertain her managed to convince her that I needed my lung capacity to run, rather than natter. This running is serious business......

Half marathon Thursday 8th Feb - 135 mins - 71 days till Marathon

Went out for reverse leg of the normal 12 miles, added another 20 mins and potentially 2/3 miles. Ran well for 135 mins with no twinge and good pace throughout. Crashed once home though, legs shaking and poor nights sleep after rehydrating too much.

The first hour is proving to be the toughest at the moment, once I'm past the 60 minute mark I'm feeling warm and ready to push on knowing that I've potentially a 1/4 of the total running time already behind me. Applying this theory to the 2 hour point is also massively assuring, the glass being most definitely half full at the 2 hr stage, not half empty.

Sunday run with Janeywife - 40 mins - 75 days till Marathon

Pottered very gently around the park after not too much suffering post Thursday's 13miler. Janeywife ran with me - as leaving left the sun came out, for the start of Febuary we had a stunning 40 min amble in sunglasses. Hardly broke into a sweat yet came back and stretched out Thursday's aches. All good and triple AAA running. Nice.

Half Marathon - Feb1st - 115 mins - 78 days to marathon

I knew what was coming Thursday p.m. after spending the week looking forwads to pushing towards the 2 hour mark.
Mental preparation involved knowing what I was going to wear, where my route was to take me, and how to judge he temperature whilst walking back from work - (cloudy/overcast and still being mild, versus a clear and windy sky which would be pretty chilly).
A two hour run wold take a large chunk out of my evening so I'd also planned time to be home in order to get back at a respectable hour.

As with the best of plans, unfortunately Thursday work went on for 90 minutes longer than expected, throwing a spanner shaped curve ball into my nicely plotted evening.

Janeywife was out with work girls so not having to worry about missing the evening together helped work around the 90 min delay. Left home at 8pm instead of 6.30pm slathered up and with a full waterbottle strapped around my waist. This has become a mandatory for each long run as the water at hand throughout is not only an essential for hydration, but also good practice at taking on board liquid whilst running.

Did my regular long run route but tacked on a leisurely one mile detour down to Waterloo bridge and then back up the south bank, and a loop of Battersea Park, taking me back up Kings Road instead of straight onto Sloane Square, back around Hyde Park and home.

Felt good for the duration - I'm not going to kid anyone, especially myself - I'm still concerned about my knees as they were quite sore upon return, with the last mile requiring an 'ignore the pain' label throughout. I think they solely swell, and aren't damaged, irrespective,I'm hoping that the regular strengthening exercises combats future problems.

However, sore or not, 115 mins is a good climb from 95mins - I'm pleased with my progression. I'm looking to add another 20mins on next Thursday - taking me over two hours and beyond the half way distance mark. I'm a little concerned that the 13 mile run took me 1hr 55 mins - I'd like to shave 10mins off this to ensure a sub 4hr marathon. I'm hoping that as I increase the miles my half marathon time will improve too.

Home for a shower, stretch and soup before falling into bed and asleep before head hit pillow.