12 weeks, 61.4 miles and my first back to back long training runs.

The part of this 24 week plan I thought I’d struggle with the most was the idea of back to back long training runs for 6 weeks in a 7 week spell. This was week 1 and I was meant to do 3hrs one day followed by 3-4hrs the next.

As much as I like to only concentrate on the next training run, this was always going to be the main focus of my week. I had planned out so I would be able to get the target of 60 miles over 5 days from Tuesday to this morning. I started with a 2-a-day on Tuesday with the 5.4 mile loop in the morning followed by the 7.5 after work. This was good as I knew it would afford me a shorter session at the end of the week.

On Wednesday I did a core workout in thr gym at 6am followed by 1.5 miles of sprints on the treadmill. This was the first time I’d ran at anything faster than my 5k pace in ages and I quite enjoyed the more elevated heart rate than it floats around at in longer runs.

I did 21 miles of the weekly total the next day. This consisted of an extension of the 6.4 mile loop I normally do with Paddy which came in at 9.3 miles and then 2 laps of my 5.4 mile loop slightly later on. There was one horrible small hill along the ring road which I had forgotten how steep it was compared to the gentle downhill which preceded it. Luckily me and Paddy debated our opposing views on the Syria vote the night before as we climbed up it which helped distract us both.

There is definitely something in raised expectations that makes the middle part of longer training runs easier. The first lap of my 2 that afternoon was one of the more comfortable I’ve done in a while and I am certain this is because I knew I had another one to follow it.

Since moving up to running Ultra distances, I have always managed long training runs with a rest day or shorter training run the day after. Unless I was going to run 40+ on my own as a training run, this was never going to be a realistic possibility to continue training like this and expect to finish 50 miles come race day.

With this fact at the forefront of my thinking, I set off the next morning with the absolute certainty I was covering 20 miles regardless of how long it took me. I decided to split this into 2 of the 7.5 mile loops then finish with a 5.4. Whilst the first bit and the last were borderline enjoyable, the middle 7.5 mile loop was a real “shoulder to the wheel” challenge that I barely managed to get through. There is a running quote I found which helped quite a lot.

“You get hit the hardest when trying to run or hide from a problem. Like the defense on a football field, putting all focus on evading only one defender is asking to be blindsided”- Criss Jami

This was useful as I could focus all my energy on getting through that 7.5 miles and not distract myself with any excuses about this being different to how I normally train. Once I had finished that, knowing I only had the 5.4 mile loop I’ve done literally over 100 times before was a good way to finish.

I did another 5.4 mile loop this morning to get my mileage above the 60 I had set out to do this week. Because I had enjoyed a few beers during my work Christmas meal last night there was a certain amount of indifference towards any pain or stiffness in my legs and I got through it quite comfortably.

Hopefully this time next week there will be more of the same and I’ll be looking forward to only doing 40 the week after.