21 weeks, 41 miles and a sports massage

This week was a real breakthrough in terms of being able to stick to a plan when all around you is changing. I had initially planned to follow the Comrades marathon plan to the T and take Monday and Friday as my rest days. This lasted until about 8.30am on Monday morning when I decided to do my usual 5.4 mile loop before work. This felt a long way from summertime but was pleasant enough.

The following day I did the same again but got cooked in a Nike Hyperwarm thermal top as it was a lot brighter. I seem to get stung like this when overreacting to how a prior run went.

I had a sports massage on Tuesday afternoon which was very beneficial and loosened up a lot of muscles that definitely needed it.

On Wednesday I did a 6.4 mile run with my friend Paddy that was at a lot more settled pace than usual. We tend to take it in turns scattering off a few strides ahead then the other one having to catch up but there was none of this on this occasion.

The rest day was moved to Thursday and I did a 45 min core workout on Friday morning followed by the same 10 min run from previous weeks. This was a good test for me as I had been struggling to shake off a cold and sore throat for a few days.

Persevering with the plan in my usual foolhardy way I set off at 5am on Saturday morning to do 13 of my planned 18 miles for that day on my way into work. There’s nothing quite like running at that time to clarify if you’ve got a cold or not!. I finished this route with a 4.5 mile steady climb up a road that is probably about 7 miles in total. This was quite a challenge as , even though I like the area where I work, it isn’t the most picturesque part of the city! Once I had got past the monotony of the last few miles I had a quick shower and breakfast before starting my shift.

I finished the week with 2 training runs on Sunday to make up for my being 5 miles short on Saturday. The first of which was a very steady lap of my usual 5.4 mile loop as I was still a bit bloated from my gluttony at the Indian buffet on Saturday night!

I then went around lunchtime to the gym and did a 4 mile run with 2 separate 1 mile hill climbs at 8% gradient. This was initially very grim and I felt like I was going to fall off the back of the treadmill after the first 400m but luckily I became calloused to the effort and managed to persevere for the full 1600m at the same pace.

It’s good to be up above 40 miles a week for the first time since Skiddaw and it doesn’t seem out of the question that I’ll be able to get to the 70-75 this plan peaks at in a few months.