The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur News and Links for Wednesday, March 4

Good morning everyone.

For those of you who haven’t checked the hoddle these last few weeks, then you might’ve missed that I’ve begun documenting my training for my next marathon, which is on 4 April. The goal is to smash by personal best and see just how close to a 3-hour marathon I can get (pretty close, I think).

The whole point of this is to almost document my anxiety from all this training. It’s a big commitment to run a marathon. It’s sure as heck very difficult during the cold and dark winter months, and aiming for a new personal best is no small matter either.

Still, I carry on – literally one foot after another. One day at a time. One week at a time. Let’s see where things are.

(Catch up on Weeks 9, 10 and 11 here)

Week 12:

I am exactly one month out from Marathon Day. As I fill in each square on my training calendar – put together meticulously on a Microsoft Excel sheet – I can see the progress I’ve made since my training began back in December.

I’ve only got a few “serious runs” left. These I consider to be the longer Sunday runs, although I’m also picking up the mileage in my midweek medium runs. This Sunday knocked off the first of three long runs remaining.

This is also a period in training where I have to be very careful about fatigue. I’m running a lot more miles now, and that means it takes longer to recover between sessions. That means more rest, which I’m unfortunately not getting right now (as evidenced by this hoddle, which I began at 10pm). This is going to be a difficult month, I know it.

I just have to hold on a little bit longer.

Sunday: 16 miles

I actually felt really great in what was supposed to be a relatively light pace compared to the hard effort I put in last weekend. I was pleasantly surprised to see that an easy effort results in a 7:15/mi average pace. That same effort might’ve been 7:35-7:45/mi just a month or two ago.

I think that encapsulates the progress I’ve made. This was the eighth time I’ve run 16 miles or more in my training, and it shows. I nearly forgot to take my gel at the 90-minute mark because I was feeling so good. The welcoming weather certainly helped.

Monday:Rest

This wasn’t as restful a day as I had hoped for. And I’m trying to figure out just how helpful not having any alcohol these last couple weeks has been. The biggest change is my resting heart rate, which is back to 50 or lower most days.

Tuesday:8 mile recovery

My legs were a little more sore today than I had hoped they’d be, and I took a lot of care to make sure this was as easy a run as I could make it. There were lots of times when I’d have to almost literally pull myself back to not run too fast. I finished the run averaging 8:07/mi, or 65 total minutes, in the rain.

The weather’s been awful this year. I’m glad I’ve toughed out the worst parts of it because today’s light rain didn’t bother me too much. Who knows what it’ll be like on race day.

Wednesday:Bonus 4-6 mile recovery

The timing on this one is going to be weird. I’ve got a morning run scheduled for Thursday, so this means it’s probably not a good idea to push myself to do a speed workout the night before that. So I might do the mileage of the speed workout, but without the speed. Maybe I’ll throw in a couple miles at marathon pace.

Thursday: 12 miles

Now I’m really picking up the mileage in my midweek medium-distance runs. This is the first of three 12-milers I have sorted for the next few Thursdays. The idea is the same as any sort of running really – just to get used to the time spent on my feet and get those muscles and heart working. I’m at a point where, frankly, anything that is 16 miles or less is not intimidating to me.

That doesn’t excuse me to not stretch, though. I’m good at stretching, and I encourage anyone who runs to spend a lot of time stretching after their workouts.

Friday: Bonus rest day, part one

I’ll be travelling, so there’s no time for the gym today. Maybe I can sneak out to do some push-ups and light stretching, but if there’s a chance to sleep in for an additional hour or two I might choose that instead.

Saturday:Bonus rest day, part two

I hate the idea of skipping runs. Sometimes I don’t have a choice. An early-morning flight from Denver to Washington DC takes that choice away from me. No point in getting upset about it. I’m trying to reframe it as a “bonus” rest day where I can read my book on the plane. When I get home I’ll do some more stretching, cook some supper and get ready for my second-to-last long run of the training season.

Expected total weekly miles: 40-42

Fitzie’s track of the day: Basketball Jones, by Cheech & Chong

And now for your links:

Independent: “Wolves sabotage mission continues but Liverpool’s woes go beyond one cruel moment”

AP via ESPN: “Lifetime ban sought for coach who secretly filmed female players”

The Guardian: “Alessia Russo double for England sparks Women’s World Cup qualifying win against Ukraine”