Week 16 - this week I have been mostly.....knackered!

So here I am at the end of week 16 of my training for the London Marathon and there are just two weeks of training left to go before the big day.

This week was the start of the hallowed taper meaning that the mileage of my runs has decreased. Not by much to be honest in the first week of the taper but mentally it's been good to know that the *really* long runs are over and that I have run all the distances left on the plan a good number of times before. There's nothing scary or unknown left to do.

After my 20 miler last Sunday I was pleasantly surprised to wake up on Monday morning and feel pretty much OK. A bit achey but really not that bad considering. I had an appointment with my osteopath in the afternoon which confirmed that I was in pretty good shape given what I had put my body through the day before. Quite a relief.

I felt fine on Tuesday and Wednesday and managed a yoga class and a short 4 mile recovery run. We live pretty much right on the marathon route and on Wednesday morning I saw a sign which made my stomach flip!

On Thursday I started to feel really tired. Like I had no energy at all. All I wanted to do was sleep and eat. Dash told me that it can take the body up to a week to recover from running 20 miles and I put this lethargy down to my body still being in recovery mode.

This general feeling of tiredness continued into Friday but having missed a run on Thursday I decided to drag my sorry legs out for another 4 mile run. We are staying with my mother in law for the Easter weekend so this was a run around a small Staffordshire village and a short way up the Shropshire Union Canal. Very different to my usual running environment!

Although I was tired it was good to get out and stretch my legs and I felt far more energised after the run. Saturday was a rest day and today I have been out for a 6 mile run in the countryside. The plan has a 12 mile run scheduled for today but I'm going to do that on Tuesday once we're home.

I really enjoyed the run today. I rarely run in the country and the views were pretty different to what I experience running in central London!

I'm pleased to say that my fundraising is also going really well, thanks to the generosity of family, friends and colleagues. I'm not quite at my target yet so if you could spare a few pounds to sponsor me I would really appreciate it.

To donate securely online please visit www.justgiving.com/Rebecca-Jones12

Thank you!

So although I've been pretty tired for a lot of the week I've still managed to put in a fair few miles. I'm feeling and confident and ready for April 22nd. BRING IT ON!!