16 weeks left, another 51 mile week, first 2 a day covering > marathon distance and a new discovery about my GPS watch

This week has been a great taster of what I have to come over the next few months. I am usually quite mindful of not looking too far ahead in my training program and focusing on the here and now, reducing my entire training development to the current week. On the other hand I’m not one to blindly follow a training plan without knowing the bulk of it will be sufficient for me to be able to finish what I set out to do.

The main appeal of this plan was the back to back long training runs on consecutive days in the middle and near the end of the plan. These are sometimes referred to as sandwich runs. I’ve never really wanted to do these but am aware that unless I am up to doing 8-9hrs of running in one day on my own, there isn’t really an alternative that will enable me to complete a 50 mile race.

I started the week with a 7.5 mile run on Monday and felt I had plenty of energy kept back in reserve. The route for this was quiet for that time of day and I quite liked being able to switch off for parts of it.

My next run was my usual 5.4 mile loop on Wednesday. This was tough as I decided to try and get a new PB for this route. I was quite uncomfortable at first but managed to settle into a quick pace and keep my HR below 180bpm for the first 3 miles. Once I had got to this point I knew it would rise because of the hill at this stage of the route but managed to maintain my effort level and only slightly drop the pace. I did a bit of a sprint finish for the last 200m or so and my HR was up to 210bpm! I had a short warm down and luckily it plummeted back to what it usually is.

I had nothing resembling that level of effort left when I did a core workout at 6am the next day. I didn’t even do my usual 1.5 mile route that I’d save for the end of the session.

I mustered something resembling enthusiasm for Friday’s 6.4 mile run with Paddy and had a bit more energy than the day before. Overall we didn’t go at a decent pace for either of us but managed to have spells of running at a reasonable clip.

I drowned at 6am the next morning doing my usual 5.4 mile loop before my gym opened so I could complete the rest of my 24 miles the schedule demanded as the longer of my 2 weekend runs. The feeling you get from knowing you have over 22 miles left to do once you’ve got out of the storm is not one I’ll seek out again! Luckily part way through I remembered a Haruki Murakami quote which motivated me to finish the first part

My remaining miles on the treadmill were a lot more comfortable and I managed to complete 2 of the 3 10km blocks without anything seizing up. Unfortunately during the last leg, the ball of my right foot started to cramp and I couldn’t run through it. I find it really frustrating that when larger leg muscles cramp, I can grit my teeth and power through but little niggling issues like this are a lot harder to deal with. I stopped for a minute or so and flexed the muscles by moving the front of my foot around. This seemed to do the trick and I managed to finish the 24 albeit at a sightly slower pace.

I was meant to do 8 miles today but really didn’t fancy running that sort of distance after a buffet breakfast for my brothers birthday. These are normally the sort of occasions where Joey from “Friends” would wear maternity pants for! To counteract the possible disadvantages of running later the same day I’d had such a large meal, I set out about 7.20pm last night and did another 4 miles so I’d only have 4 to do today.

Even though I was quite rigid throughout the run last night, I managed to complete the distance without any real difficulties. Likewise this afternoon, I wasn’t anywhere near my usual economical running gait but managed to complete the remaining 4 in some level of comfort.

I’m quite happy to have strung together a few 50+ mile weeks recently and optimistic I can follow the plan as the weekly mileage slightly increases week on week. I’ve found a different format of the PDF files that make up the 24 week schedule so I can separate it into month by month which will help with the planned tunnel vision.

Next week looks pleasant enough so hopefully I will be able to build on my progress so far and continue with gradually increasing my long training run. Ironically the long run will be a distance I’ve never ran at once. The maths for how much % of the run I have left to do will be simple enough though. At this point I’ll take whatever little victories I can get.