Day 36: Late Mornings and Hard Efforts

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The Luxury of a Saturday Run

One of the true joys of marathon training falling on a Saturday is the chance to start later in the day. With no early alarms or work commitments to navigate, I was able to lace up my trainers after 11am—my favourite time to run. A proper night's sleep, a good meal and the daylight hours all make for the perfect combination. It’s a far cry from those early weekday runs, like the misty morning over the Medway Bridge a couple of days ago, where just keeping moving felt like an achievement.

The Perils of Pizza and an Anaerobic Session

Today's session, however, was never going to be an easy one. An anaerobic workout was on the cards, and I didn’t do myself any favours with last night’s choice of pizza. While carb-heavy, it always seems to leave me with a sluggish, food-hangover feeling the next day. I knew from the start this one was going to be a battle.

The plan: a 15-minute warm-up followed by 7x1-minute hard efforts at around 4:30 min/km pace—far faster than my 10k pace and a real test of endurance, as I mentioned in a recent post. With three-minute recovery intervals between efforts, I made sure to include about a minute of walking to bring my heart rate back down quickly. I wanted each hard effort to be of the highest quality possible, and this method definitely helped maintain consistency.

Flat Roads and Friendly Faces

As the session progressed, the last couple of efforts really started to bite, but I was grateful for the relatively flat terrain of Sittingbourne. Compared to the punishing hills around The Math School in Rochester, this was a much kinder route for an all-out effort. By the time I hit the final rep, my legs were well and truly feeling it.

A perfectly timed moment of encouragement came courtesy of Tony Hayre, who spotted me mid-walk and shouted out some support from his car. I hastily reassured him that I had been running—he just happened to catch me in a rare moment of mid-session reprieve!

A Well-Earned Rest (and a Night at the Theatre!)


With the hard work done, the rest of the day brings a well-earned opportunity to put my feet up—at least until this evening, when we’re off to Bromley to see Bat Out of Hell the Musical. This one is a firm Kelly favourite—she’s seen it more times than I can count—so I suspect she’ll be singing along from start to finish. As for me, I’ll be sitting back, enjoying the show, and letting my legs recover before the next session in this ever-evolving marathon journey.

Location: Sittingbourne, UK

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