Posting has been a bit sporadic recently, but with the Snowdonia Marathon fast approaching my training is somewhat different to what I was doing in the run up to the NDW50. This is mainly due to the commute on the bike every day causing me to have limited time for running, as well as tired legs.

So what have I been up to over the last couple of weeks, well week commencing 01/10/2012  I managed to incorporate my running into my commute and ran the 10 miles to work on the Tuesday and Friday, getting a lift home on the Tuesday and Taxi (following a night out) on the Friday, with cycling to and from work the other days. While my running strategy is still using the run/walk method that I adopted on the Ultra, my average min per mile was under 10 mins both days so I am pretty pleased with how I am pacing.

The running was on the roads, opposed to my usual trails, which I am guessing added to the increase in pace, however this was counteracted my the weight of the OMM 25 litre pack containing my suit etc. for work.

This week the only day I managed to get a run in was 6 miles today and despite the lack of running in between I don’t feel as if I have lost much in the way of running fitness, it’s almost the opposite in fact as the run today felt pretty good and for a trail run that consisted of practically 3 miles up and then 3 miles down my pacing was on the quicker side, averaging at 09:12/mi which if I can maintain on the Snowdonia Marathon I would be laughing.

I think that incorporating the cycling has had the benefit of strengthening my leg muscles to enable me to maintain a harder effort for longer, while giving me some added power on the up hills. The only downside (other than not having the time to run as much, and the fact that I had cycling on roads!) is that I seem to be overcooking myself on the effort, going at a fast pace which I cannot maintain and having to slow down to a walk, before recovering and going at a too quick pace. Given that the run today did have walking in it at points gives an idea of what the average pace was when I wasn’t walking, which is just too quick for me to maintain at the moment.

With 12 days until Snowdonia I have little time to rein in my pace and get it to something more manageable in time for the marathon. I think I will be able to adjust in time, I have a week off work before so no cycling for that week and some short runs will help.