3 weeks, 6 training runs and a new addition to training gear.

This week was rather lopsided in terms of how my training runs were spread out. I only did 1 lap of my 5.4 mile loop on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday then did just under 28 miles over the final 2 days to get my miles in.

Monday was definitely the highlight of my week as I managed to “drop” someone on a bike going up Churwell hill. He wasn’t an elite cyclist by any means but was going at a reasonable pace and my HR was close to 200bpm to remain ahead of him near the top of the hill! I was also happy to sustain it above 180bpm for 5 minutes during the climb.

I felt a bit flat after this extra effort on my run the next morning but got round in a pace that wasn’t disasterous. I tried running in ¾ running tights for the first time which I was quite pleased with. These were not as thick as my other full length ones and were marginally more masculine than I had originally anticipated. The fact there wasn’t a zip to rub against the socks around my ankles was another bonus.

My run on Thursday was better than I expected. I normally despise running after a waking night shift and feel half asleep most of the way round. The fact I hadn’t slept as much as I normally do after I got home probably helped towards this.

On Friday morning I ran just over 10k with one of my friends. This was at a steady pace for the first 4 miles then we both took turns forcing the pace for the last bit.

After work I did a further 5.4 mile loop which wasn’t at anything resembling a reasonable pace. I reckon if the guy from Monday had been riding with stabilisers on a child’s bike he probably would have dropped me! The main motivation that kept me moving up the main hill was knowing I hadn’t gone 2 weeks without hitting my target mileage since moving to Morley and wasn’t about to start now.

I finished the week with an attritional 16 miles on the treadmill at the gym. There is a cheap psychological trick I use when struggling through long distances where I sort of count the mile I’m currently on, both as being towards the total I’ve done and not part of what I have left to do. This sounds daft but does work. For example when I would be on 9.1km, I would have done my first 5 miles but only have 10 miles left to do.

My legs were cramping up from about mile 3 and my top chafed to the extent it was nearly bleeding from the bottom of the shirt onto my shorts. I focused on a line from The Secret Race which was

“Even though I could hear the pain, I realised I didn’t have to listen to it.”

As much as I looked in more discomfort than I actually was (I have a habit of doing this), I never felt as if I would need to slow the pace or that I wouldn’t finish. Since the Skiddaw race is nearly 3 times as far as I’ve ran today, this is more of a relief than a positive.

Hopefully next week will be more manageable and I will be able to taper my running slightly before the race. In The Secret Race, there is a euphemism using “burning matches” to describe the finite amount of all out efforts people can make during long races. I think I’ve gone through the last 8 weeks or so without burning too many and in 3 weeks I’ll find out if I’m right or wrong.