Hooray, hooray it's a holi-holiday!

A training schedule is the road, not the destination. It needs to be flexible to adapt to the changes that occur on the way to the goal race.

I had hoped that it wouldn't be too hot in Malta to disrupt my running too much. But that proved a futile hope. High heat and humidity. A new plan was needed. Run every other day, early in the morning, no more than six miles. It didn't help that from our hotel there was pretty much only one running route that I could take. In a similar circumstance in Cyprus a few years ago I was able to work out three or four various routes but not here. It was out along the sea front for three miles, turn around due to the road running out and run three miles back. It helped me tick over and keep my fitness up.

The great big bonus though were the magical sunrises. I just about left the hotel when the sun crept over the horizon. The views were lovely. I managed to take a camera with me on one of the runs to capture it.

Hello sun!

View from the bay by our hotel

Party revellers still hanging on from the night before!

About a mile from our hotel, sun rising nicely

Three miles out, looking back to the hotel

Almost back, stopped to take a photo of these boats

Since I've been back I've slipped back into the training schedule. 12 miles, 5 miles, 20 miles and 8 miles. It's quite a wake up call. Especially the 20 mile that I ran on Sunday.

That's the longest distance I've run since the marathon in April. I decided to go down a tried and tested route up through Wembley, down the Harrow Road to Baker Street and then back along the Uxbridge Road to home. The Notting Hill carnival was being set up and I ran past several homes that were preparing barbecues in their front gardens for the inevitable crowds later on. It smelt amazing, which with about 12 miles still to go was not ideal!

This weekend I'm running a 10k race in the Olympic Park in east London. I'd like to think I can get under 45 minutes now without breaking myself. The day after I have to run 17 miles so it'll be interesting to see how I cope.