With just a few weeks to go until the Paris Marathon, I needed to do my ‘long run’, the traditional 20 miler that is the bedrock of all marathon training plans.
I considered running it in Milan, where I was on business and the terrain was flat, as I also had a few hours spare one morning before meetings. However I thought that after 20 miles I might not be in much of a state to work for the rest of the day, so I left it until the Sunday when I was back home.
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| Sticking to the roads – but still a stunning view |
This meant that I was rewarded with a beautiful, crisp sunny day in the mountains in which to run. I stuck to the roads to minimise the hills, and ran round the local villages and hamlets, but several long climbs meant that my time was slow, and the going was tough. I kept the pace slow, but the effort was still high because of the gradient.
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| Hilly |
I took the opportunity to try out a new pair of running shoes – Brooks Adrenaline GTS 13 – I’ve been road running in various models of these for the last few years so ordered them online without trying any on. They seem fine, and it was great to have that spring ‘new shoe’ feel which I hope will still be there by the time I get to do the marathon. Apart from a blister after 17km, which I hope is just a case of wearing them in, the were fine.
Now its time to taper down, drop the mileage but keep the pace.
