22 weeks, 38 miles and some much needed “grit”

This week was tough! I knew from the beginning I was going to have to force myself out the door for the 16 mile run on Saturday and my midweek training did little to dissuade me from that fact.

I managed to stick to the suggested days in my plan more rigidly and did 5 miles on the treadmill on Tuesday followed by the 5.4 mile loop on Wednesday and Thursday. I had a very broken night’s sleep on Wednesday night (totalling around 3hrs!) so was quite groggy for the Thursday lap. My usual over the shoulder blind spot checks when crossing roads were reduced to stopping and turning round then setting off again which wasn’t ideal! I can normally function on minimal sleep but doing anything at pace is a bit much to ask for. I got round in a reasonable time and was glad to have the rest day on Friday ready for the 16 mile run yesterday.

The maximum mileage on one outing in this plan is 31 miles but I have intentions to manage at least 32/33 miles so I have covered half the 100k distance in training for the race. This works out at 6 laps of the 5.4 mile loop so doing 3 laps at this stage was a minimum. Earlier in the week, I had reread some research by a woman called Angela Lee Duckworth around “grit”. She defines this as a passion and perseverance towards long term goals and the gist of her research suggests this quality has more of an impact on attainment than talent or natural ability. With most of my training leading to goals that are 4-6 months away and there being longer term goals in terms of the next 2 years as well, this quality is something I’m trying to consciously develop.

I had my usual 400mg caffiene boost first thing and managed the 3 laps without much controversy. There’s something satisfying about running in the dark for ages then it eventually getting light for the last bit.

Running as a hobby has certain impacts on my planning for other commitments. While I was always planning on running at 5:30am and this was never going to conflict with anything else, I also had committed to watching the Ronda Rousey UFC fight card at 9:30am and then going to a NYE party last night. Since I had already persevered with limited sleep once this week, I made sure to have an afternoon nap so my 6 mile run today wouldn’t be sleep deprived.

I managed the run steadily enough and forced my way through it with considerable difficulty breathing and a ridiculously sore throat. I did the 5.4 mile loop and added a bit onto the start to get it up to 6 miles. In the 3 years I’ve lived at this flat, this was the toughest I’ve found that route to settle into. Will certainly have created some positive muscle memory when it comes to me attempting 6 laps of it!

I’ve included a quote around “grit” below