Since SnowDublin, I’ve been trying to balance two things: upping my mileage for January’s ultra and not rushing back into training and injuring myself. A couple of days after Dublin marathon my legs felt fine, good even. But I knew that they were lying to me. They’d run a lot of miles in a short period of time, and however good they felt after, they still needed a rest.

So I took two weeks off from any running other than the odd mile here and there with my beginners’ groups, and got back on my bike to cycle to work. When I did eventually start running again, my legs felt springy and full of life.

I’ve built my miles back up gradually and run them slowly. There are a lot of physiological benefits to be gained from running slowly, but the main reasons I’ve been running slow are a lot simpler. If I’m going to run 43 miles in January I’m going to have to go slowly, so I’m practicing that slow pace now, and it’s a lot easier to get out of bed at 6am to run if you promise yourself you can take all the time you need and don’t have to run fast.

I’ve been running off-road wherever possible, heading out along the Parklands Walk trail or Hampstead Heath and doing cross country races with my club.

Last week marked one month post SnowDublin. I ran 33 miles and I now feel properly recovered and ready to push on towards the ultra. I ran two 8 milers on the weekend and the plan is that I’ll now gradually make these a bit longer. Running Snowdonia and Dublin marathon in quick succession gave me a lot of confidence for the ultra and I won’t be going back up to that sort of mileage in one week again before January.

It’s December now which means balancing training with doing other fun stuff and seeing friends and family. On Saturday I ran 8 miles along the canals of east London and finished up at the London Brewers’ Market where I drank a few pints of beer with friends and discovered how many bottles it’s possible to get in my race vest. The answer is 6.

Later this month I’m organising a beer run inspired by Will Run For Beer’s ‘We’ll Run For Beer’ events. It’s all about balance… and trying to keep it after a couple of pints. And to round off December I’ll be spending New Year’s Eve the only way it’s right to finish off the year, by running the Flitch Way Marathon in Essex. It’s the only way.