4 weeks remaining, 6 laps of my usual loop and a 12 mile run.
This week was better than previous weeks following a long training run. I did 2 loops of 5.4 miles on Monday and found the evening one considerably easier than the one in the morning. I have struggled in the past with my first run back after a big effort. All the adrenaline is gone and something that would be comfortably within my limits makes for a lot tougher outing than usual.
Once I had returned from work the motivation was back as I knew if I didn’t do the extra lap I’d struggle to get my miles in for the week.
I took a rest day on Tuesday and did a lunchtime run of my usual loop on Wednesday due to work commitments. The pace I maintained for my lunchtime run was slightly faster than usual and I managed to get within 3 mins of my PB for that route.
The plan for Thursday was to do 3 laps with my full race gear on once I returned from work. I had been listening to the audio book of The Secret Race during my work commute and taken to another quote from it.
“Here’s the secret, you can’t block out the pain. You have to embrace it.”
My pack included waterproof jacket and pants, mug, compass, miner’s lamp, 2 sports flapjacks and 1.5L of water. This may not sound like much in terms of weight for each individual item but ounces quickly accumulate into pounds.
I realised about a mile away from my house that my water pouch was leaking slightly. This wasn’t a big deal in the interim as I had 2 layers on my top half and it’d just absorb into there.
After lap 1 I had my first flapjack which was essentially lemon chalk covered oats. I had some issues on lap 2 since my pouch had leaked so much it was like running while being chased by a bidet! I persevered and finished the lap, rewarding myself with another flapjack which didn’t seem as dense as the first. My last lap was the best of the 3 and even though my legs chafed a bit from my shorts being soaked, noone “threw their cups” and I managed a faster pace than the first 2 laps.
This is the first and hopefully only of my blogs to cover an 8 day spell rather than 7. I had every intention of doing my 12 mile run on Saturday but put it back by 24 hours. I attended a wedding on Friday and while I have no problem with running the morning after a few beers, going to work a 14hr shift after what would have been around 4 hours sleep would have been more than I’m willing to tolerate.
The last 12 miles today were a lot more comfortable than Thursday and I felt I could force a pace I definitely couldnt have done yesterday. I had remembered a quote during the last 6 miles which I got sent to my email from runners world a few months back about marathons.
“When you sign up for the tough stuff it makes it easier to deal with the stuff you don’t sign up for”
My top chafed and had set off way too fast for the first 6 miles as I was enjoying not having the pack on my back. The last bit was familiar and I didn’t struggle anywhere near as much as Thursday. Overall I’m happy to get the miles in again and looking forward to trying to cover 44 again in the next 6 days.