Back on the straight and narrow - or closer at least.

Week #2 of my 24 week marathon training programme is a little closer to the book than last week. I'll have to watch myself as the commander across the ocean is keeping a close eye on proceedings (I could always fake it). I went out yesterday knowing I had to cover at least six miles with some 30 second hill sprints thrown in. I completed 6.7 miles with 2 x 30 second hill sprints with a 2 min jog in between (2 was on the cards last week so I assumed 2 was the number for this week - you know yourself - 24 week programme - plenty of time to ease into the hard work). I checked the programme on my return and if i'll be damned I should have done 6 x 30 second hill sprints. First of all I figured that I would do the remaining 4 today and then thought the better of it and reasoned that the 1 x 1 mile @ mile pace on Christmas day would cover it - so to speak. Anyway todays run could not be a hard session if the universal wisdom of hard day, easy day, hard day, easy day is to be adopted. I know some crazies do back to back hard days (and all sorts of death defying stunts - I think i'll be joining them soon), but I didn't want to deviate from the programme more than I had to and upset the commander even more. So todays scheduled 6 mile run at base pace was 8.6 miles at base pace (07:53). If the Commander will forgive me for adding on the extra mileage - think of them as the optional recovery runs - fodder miles if you will. I bought myself a little treat for my birthday - "Ultra Marathon Man" by Dean Karnazes - Now there is a crazy Guy that I'd like to be (crazy is a relative term - e.g. you'd want to be crazy to live a life without running). As he says all the trappings of the modern world won't give you the feeling of fulfillment/contentment/self realisation (call it what you will) that pushing your body to the limits of physical endurance will give you. If you want to know who you are then run 100 miles non-stop.