London Marathon #7: 14 weeks to go

There is a saying, often used in sporting circles, "The hay is in the barn". It encapsulates the point we arrive at when we have done all the work we can in preparation for an event, and the only thing left to do is perform, bringing to mind another saying, "The proof is in the pudding".

I have quite a few weeks to go yet before I can safely say "the hay is the barn" and that I am ready to test my recipe for success. But I am working towards it every week...

• Tuesday: Tempo run, San Luis, Costa Rica

• Wednesday: Recovery run along the beach to Haystack Rock, Cannon Beach, Oregon

• Thursday: Interval run around Lake Elementaita, Kenya

• Friday: Recovery run, Peles Castle, Romania

• Saturday: Long run, Imperial Palace, Tokyo

• Sunday: Easy, progressive run around the streets of town

• Monday: Walk to Palisades Resort, Lake Tahoe, California

Focusing on the end point is natural but the self-leadership lesson for me this week was making sure I enjoy the journey. It's a great feeling when you wake up ready to go, ready to tackle whatever the training session for that day entails. It's not so great when you feel like you are dragging yourself around, you have niggling aches and pains and feel daunted by the harder workouts. The latter is likely to be the result of not paying enough attention to recovery.

Doing recovery well is the one of the most important things I have learned, not just for running but for life. We simply cannot go hard all the time, in fact, the recommendation these days is to go hard for twenty percent of the time and go easy for the other eighty percent. Interestingly, it is when we are going easy that we reap the benefits of the hard days, the adaptations in our structures take place, micro tears are healed, and our bodies get stronger. Rest/ recovery is one piece of the puzzle, the other pieces include making sure we are hydrated, that our nutrition is on point, and we get enough good quality sleep.

More than ever, as the world seems to get busier and busier, it is vital that we give ourselves permission to have down time, so when we really need to perform, we can.

"Rest is not idle, is not wasteful. Sometimes rest is the most productive thing you can do for body and soul" - Erica Layne