12 weeks, 50 miles and a new perspective on winning and losing
It was satisfying this week to be back closer to covering 100km over the course of the week. I started off with a steady 4 miles on Tuesday and then managed to complete one of the 7.5 mile loops on Wednesday. I was reasonably comfortable for both of these outings.
On Thursday I did 2 laps of the 5.4 mile route, one before and one after work. The main noticeable difference for these as opposed to previous weeks was how virtually all of both were in daylight. As much as I enjoy using a head torch and having to navigate in darkness, it’s far easier when there is natural light to use instead.
Because I was planning to cover 24 on Sunday, I brought my 4 miles on Saturday forward to Friday evening. For some reason I seem to be more energetic recently in the evenings and this felt like it was finished before I really got into the run.
As for the 24 miles today, I had no such issues! I had listened to a Joe Rogan podcast earlier in the week with a UFC fighter called Dominick Cruz which had influenced my outlook on winning and losing. While I have been trying to use the fact I only managed 10 laps instead of 12 for the Last One Standing race last year as motivation to not have to feel like I’ve fallen short again if I don’t finish the London to Brighton race, according to Dominick Cruz, this is the wrong approach to take. If I have to be motivated by a “loss”, that makes losing weigh more than winning, when they need to weigh the same. I had always previously believed that “hating to lose” was more important than enjoying winning.
My 24 miles consisted of 2 loops of the 7.5 mile route and then 9 miles on the treadmill. Luckily most of this was steady and I didn’t feel out of my comfort zone too much in any of it. It had been a while since I had finished a long training run on the treadmill and I enjoyed the element of “If I don’t fall off, I will finish in….” The machines also have 2 minute reminders of how long you have left, this helped on this occasion but I have previously despised this feature when faced with a huge 3 digit number going down in increments of 2!
I am pleased to have got back up to higher mileage following the recovery week and looking forward to trying to cover 50k in Buxton next weekend. It’s always been a distance I’ve avoided and chose to aim for longer ultras instead, the facts that it serves as a good training run for the London to Brighton race and that there are 11 beers involved do serve to make it more appealing though!