The Spink / Glendalough

My training so far this year hasn't included much hill work and because 'The North Face 100' will include 4500M of Ascent / Descent it's important that I prepare my hill climbing muscles as much as possible over the next few weeks.

With that in mind I finished off last week with a short run in Glendalough taking in a circuit of  a classic route called The Spink and added a few extra climbs concentrating on ascent & descent rather than distance.  The attached photo was taken during my run which started at the Glendalough Hotel next to the small lake which is visible in the middle of the Photo.

I'll take it easy enough this week and treat it as a rest week but as soon as I return from London it'll be back to business and I'll be training in the hills with every available opportunity.  Having completed 100K fairly recently I'm confident that I can cover the distance and having ran non stop up the Empire State Building I know I can climb.  Running London and finishing as planned will prove I can hold a steady pace and I'm injury free unlike this time last year when I was out of action for almost a month with a back injury before the Inca Trail Marathon.  It's all coming together......

I'll be running at a set pace of 8 min mile during the London Marathon using the mile markers and clock to determine my effort and in Australia I'll be using my Heart Rate to determine my effort and pace.  This will mean slowing down on the climbs and speeding up on the descents and flat.