Fit-again Fitzpatrick in GB Winter Paralympics team — and more

Menna Fitzpatrick, Britain's most decorated Winter Paralympian, will compete at Milan-Cortina only three months after suffering a significant knee injury.

Ireland centre Garry Ringrose says that he feels "lucky" to play alongside the in-form Stuart McCloskey in this year's Six Nations.

Good morning everyone.

For those of you who haven’t checked the hoddle these last few weeks, then you might’ve missed that I’ve begun documenting my training for my next marathon, which is on 4 April. The goal is to smash by personal best and see just how close to a 3-hour marathon I can get (pretty close, I think).

The whole point of this is to almost document my anxiety from all this training. It’s a big commitment to run a marathon. It’s sure as heck very difficult during the cold and dark winter months, and aiming for a new personal best is no small matter either.

Still, I carry on – literally one foot after another. One day at a time. One week at a time. Let’s see where things are.

(Catch up on Weeks 9 and 10 here)

Week 11:

I’m getting into the final few weeks of my serious training. After my latest long run on Sunday (coming in a second), I have three Sunday runs left before the tapering process begins. Right now a lot of the focus is about preventing fatigue and not letting myself get off track.

The weather was better until Sunday came, then I got out in the cold and rain in what turned out to be uncomfortable positions. Now I await the next snowfall that’s supposed to hit DC Sunday night, and I’m not looking forward to seeing how that affects my running routes.

It’s been very difficult to run at pace this winter because of the weather or have the confidence that I can hit a certain pace target, so I might have to adjust on race day accordingly. I’ve still got a few weeks left to see just where I am.

I’m looking at my training calendar now seeing I began way back on 14 December – literally last year! But I am so close now.

Sunday: 20 miles (first 10 miles easy, second 10 at moderate pace)

This was my third 20-mile session of my training. Like the other two, the conditions were not ideal. I got out there in the cold rain and wind. A goof amount of water got in my left shoe and I could feel the blisters under my toes in the final two miles, where the freezing rain and wind picked up again.

I had set this out to be split in two: First 10 miles easy pace, second 10 miles at full pace. The rain kind of ruined that for me, but as hit Mile 10 I wanted to push myself a little bit. So I picked up the pace to run around 6:45-6:55. I also felt my watch was running a little too fast at one point so I added another 0.3 miles at the end to finish the 20 miles (or 20.3 miles) in 2:23.36 to average at 7:05 per mile.

I wish I had felt more comfortable on this one. My legs didn’t feel super great from the beginning and I’m glad they eventually sorted themselves out around Mile 7, but it wasn’t the confidence-building run I had hoped it would be.

Having said that, I’ve still done three 20-milers during this training bloc, in addition to the three 16-milers and two 18-milers I’ve done, so I’ve definitely go the distance down. And I felt comfortable until around Mile 18 when that wind and rain picked back up, and I really felt the blisters. I can’t dictate what the conditions will be like on race day, but I can at least feel good knowing I’ve put myself through some difficult weather conditions.

Monday: Rest day

And a well-earned one. I was thrilled to sleep in until 9am because of the US federal holiday last week. Not so for this one, where I’ll have to be on the metro by probably 7am or so.

Tuesday: 6-8 mile recovery run

It’s pretty rare that any run for me is shorter than an hour these days. That’ll likely be the case again Tuesday, where I’ll probably opt for the 8 miles over the 6.

Wednesday: Treadmill interviews TBD

This one all depends when I get home. And you know what? I ran pretty dang hard on Sunday, so I’m willing to be flexible today and do a short run if I feel like my legs cannot manage intervals. Maybe I’ll even take a bonus day off (would rather not, though).

Thursday: 10-12 miles easy

I’ll be bumping up my Thursday mileage again these last few weeks. The question is do I do 10 miles three Thursdays in a row, or do I begin moving to 12-mile runs. If the former, then I’ll have three 12-mile runs in the next three weeks. If it’s the latter, it’ll be four weeks of 12-mile Thursday runs.

This is my least favourite run of the week because it takes up so much time, and I’m usually not aware enough to realise until after I’m home (or close to it) that I still have to cook dinner. The days are getting longer again, but I’ll still be finishing in the darkness.

Friday: Gym

Considering I’m taking this coming Sunday’s run a bit lighter (at 14 miles), I’ll probably do a slightly harder workout that’ll focus a few more leg exercises than this past week. Still, I’ve got no intention of lifting too heavy.

Saturday: 9 miles easy

Just like I’m boosting my Thursday mileage, I’m also boosting my Saturday mileage. I accidentally ran 9 miles this past Saturday because of a counting error. This time it’ll be on purpose.

Expected total weekly miles: 50-55

Fitzie’s track of the day: All That You Dream, by Linda Ronstadt

And now for your links:

Alasdair Gold: “Luka Vuskovic summer statement, rare Mikey Moore moment and Jamie Donley returns”

Jay Harris ($$): “Tudor’s nightmare first game paints an even clearer picture: Spurs are in serious trouble”

BBC: “Benfica’s Prestianni gets provisional one-match ban”

ESPN: “Why Man United fan’s viral haircut challenge might not end anytime soon”