The first steps ...

After my successful trip to the pool yesterday I decided I should maintain my enthusiasm by getting on the treadmill again. The point of this exercise was to set my jog and walk speeds to meet my sub 5 hour marathon target. After some trial and error I have settled (at least for the time being) on a jog speed of 10.5kmh and a walk speed of 7kmh (according to the treadmill - will evaluate on a couple of other treadmills and then take it outside!), alternating each for 3.5 minutes at a time. By my calculations this should have me completing the marathon a few seconds under 4 hours and 50 minutes. Even better news was that it was so easy to do.

So that's it, the race strategy is now sorted and up to Christmas I will focus on getting lean again, building strength and doing plenty of core, stretch and flex activities. There will be 2 x 30 min swim sessions per week and 1 hour practising the jog/walk strategy on the treadmill and a long ride (2 - 3 hours) at the weekend. I reckon this will see me into the New Year in the best shape I will have ever been in. The New Year will see formal training resumed, focussing on developing swim endurance at race pace, bike endurance at race pace, and extending the time practising the jog/walk plan. I will also do longer walks (not runs) to get used to being on my feet for a long time; ideally this will happen after my long ride at the weekend to get the benefit of walking with tired(ish) legs.