SEVEN WEEKS TO GO!

Team Times is looking forward to the sun to accompany longer, winter runs
A couple of weeks back the weather was getting slightly warmer, there were flickers of sunlight creeping through those grey clouds and running outside was actually, dare I say it, enjoyable.
Now the cold winter evenings have reared their big ugly head once again and training for the Flora London Marathon is proving difficult.
With under two months to go, running should seem fairly routine now and the issue of boredom seems to be replacing the once ubiquitous fear of the distance and stamina necessary for the race.
The key now is to keep your head, not just your body, in gear.
When I first started training the fact that I could run from tube stop to tube stop, albeit at snail pace, kept the adrenaline pumping and the feel good factor high in my mindset.
Now the novelty has worn off, it’s almost harder to get out on the streets, just because the same routes can seem boring.
The key at this stage, I think, is parks.
The weather will be getting warmer in the next few weeks and a jog through one of London’s green gems keeps training that bit more interesting.
I recently spent a particularly sunny Sunday afternoon jogging around Hampstead Heath and was so thankful for the clean air, greenery and option to run on the grass if my knees stiffened up a bit.
I was so taken with the views that I practically didn’t notice that the heath consists almost entirely of massive hills.

And if you can do hills, you can do anything.