So this weekend was spent taking a break from training for the marathon, which is now in just under 3 weeks time. My brother, Sam, is getting married in a month and so 12 of us ended up heading away to North Wales for his stag weekend.

We spent Saturday mountain biking in what was perfect weather, 30 odd km around Snowdonia which was a great day. I couldn't remember the last time I had actually been on a mountain bike (spinning has been my substitute for the last few years) and I did end up having to work pretty hard! Obviously all the running and rowing I am doing has made me fit for those events, but none of that seemed to help once I was on a bike! We then spent Sunday paint balling which again was good fun.

So this is really my last proper training week before the race. The aim is to complete 21 miles this Saturday as a last practice run, while continuing my work in the hypoxic chamber in the gym. I have varied my training programme slightly as I want to get as many hours as possible on the treadmill and ergo. Therefore I have amalgamated my strength training for the next two weeks into one session a week. You have to train the way you feel comfortable and I didn't want to feel like I was 'wasting' time doing my strength training when I could be out running. (Obviously training is never time wasted though!!)