No matter how flexible it is, any training programme will come under pressure from the practicalities of life. Only elite athletes get to eat, sleep and train. So it is highly likely that between now and the marathon in April you will have a weekend away with friends, or a short holiday booked. Taking a short holiday during the programme is no bad thing, but it doesn’t have to mean that you stop running whilst you are way. I was very lucky to spend Christmas and New Year on holiday in South Africa and though running was not in the forefront of my mind I did take my trainers and kit with me. The only rule was that if I did run it had to be off the watch and take no account of pace. As part of the holiday my girlfriend and I stayed at a place called Fraai Uitzitch in the Robertson Wine Valley and very beautiful it was too. One afternoon we thought we would explore the area on foot and set off on a rambling run. We trotted down a gravel track and spotted along the roadside a group of Springbok. Nothing peculiar in that, but then a sprightly youngster broke away and started running alongside us, even doing the ‘pronking’ they are so famous for – when they spring in the air and straighten their legs. The three of us ran together for about 5 minutes and it was a wonderful moment, and certainly beats the experience of running in south London that we do every weekend. We must have run for 10 miles that day, far more than we intended and dinner certainly tasted fantastic when we got back.
That experience really brought home for me one of the main reasons I run; to explore the wide open spaces. The body gets easily bored with running the same old routes, so next time you are planning a weekend away then don’t forget to take you running gear. Even if you go out for just 30 minutes it will be something new and you never know what wild animals you might bump in to!
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