17 weeks, 6 training days, another sports massage and a new proficiency for early morning running

Out of my 6 days this week, half of them involved early morning running. I have previously despised setting off first thing in the morning. I’ve normally found when I put it off till after work I can run faster and it helps me relieve the psychological stresses of the day. Conversely this week I have ran more in the mornings and felt more alert earlier in the day and enjoyed having the knowledge I wouldn’t need to head out to complete my run entirely in the dark later on.

With the clocks changing last weekend I know if I set off around 6am I can finish my training run as it is getting light. I’ve done some at 5am over the last few weeks but it is rather grim having to do the first part without the streetlights being on. Say what you want about Tory austerity, but I think plunging parts of the UK into darkness for 5.5 hours each night does little to boost our productivity!

I started the week with my usual 5.4 mile loop in the afternoon on Monday and Tuesday. It was reasonable weather for both outings which made a pleasant change from the previous week. I remembered to wear my thermals this time and wasn’t cooked either which was a relief.

On Thursday morning I did 6.4 miles with my friend Paddy at the other side of Leeds. We set off shortly after 6am and I enjoyed keeping track of the lights being turned off as daylight crept in. There is a surprising amount of indifference you get when running that early that rarely happens on afternoon/evening runs. As long as the pace you are running at doesn’t vary too much from your usual pace, things like having to run on the spot at traffic lights or drivers not indicating generally don’t get under your skin as much as they would later in the day.

I had a sports massage on my legs on Friday afternoon and did 5k on the treadmill later that evening. The general guidelines for rest following a sports massage is 24-48hrs to allow the muscles time to recover. When I had my first one around 4 weeks ago, I took at least 24 hours off. After the first one the benefit of this was apparent on my next training run and things that felt tight for a while before were no longer an issue. Conversely after running less than 4 hours after the massage finished my 5k time was nowhere near what it usually is and areas that felt like they had been loosened out during the massage tightened up again.

The next morning was a better outing. I did 7.5 miles at 6.30am and felt I had ran through the tightness by the 2nd half of the run. One of my favourite running quotes is

This training run was a prime example of how the thought process behind this works. I found the first half quite difficult and wasn’t able to settle into any sort of rhythm. Once I’d pushed through that, the rest of the run was a lot more enjoyable.

I finished my week today with 23 miles on the treadmill. This was considerably easier than the tortuous 20 miler I did last Saturday. I found because I had set off at a slightly (1kmh) slower pace, I could settle into the run and didn’t feel as though I was forcing the pace as I had last weekend.

There are a few people I’ve noticed seem to do their workouts at a similar time to me. It can be quite cool when there are other people who start and end their session on the treadmill but seem surprised I’m still there when they begin their warm down. Also as a result of the distance I was doing today, the idea of racing other runners was defenestrated. There was a few who were faster than me today but I could probably live with over a shorter distance. Conversely one woman who seems to always start her sprints when I am near the end of my run was absolutely flying today and I don’t think I’ve ever ran that fast!

I posted a Quora comment article on my Facebook account earlier in the week about what do fit people think of overweight people in the gym and I’d like to think some of the sentiment in the comments must partly influence her thought process seeing people like me plod along for hours on end.

Next week is a very slight increase in mileage but I’m glad to be up above 50 miles a week again. The main difference between this training plan and how I trained for Skiddaw is that every week has a 20+ mile training run from now on so hopefully I will be able to maintain some consistency over the coming weeks. I’m a firm believer that what I put in during the training weeks will pay off come race day so knowing I’m nearly 1/3 if the way through this plan is a confidence boost that I can get through to the race and adapt to the stresses the plan puts on me. I’m sure it will all be worth it when I’ve finished my 12 hours at midnight on Feb 20/21st!