5 weeks left, 10 laps of 7.5 miles and a new realisation about thresholds.

This week was always going to be one that needed to go the way it has done. I have always believed the hardest part of any race isn’t in the actual race itself, but in one of the weeks leading up to it where the threshold of where you thought you could get to is passed. This makes it easier to pass the same threshold during race conditions.

The threshold point for me with marathons was always 20 mile training runs. I did a 35 mile Ultra where 28 mile runs were that point and for Skiddaw this stretched to 32-34 miles. Since this race was using a different programme where back to back long runs are valued more than one longer outing, I have viewed the 75 mile week this plan peaks at as a “totem pole” which my ability to finish the race will rest on.

I have used the REM song “Walk Unafraid” as a sort of theme for this week and listened to it a lot in between running. There is a lot of confidence building aspects to the lyrics and I have always found they resonated with me. I like how the focus of the song changes from the change in tense and it moving to being sung in the first person near the end. This is meant to be a sort of “coming of age” moment for Michael Stipe. The song is considered by many to be a realisation of the bands potential and one of the best in their discography. Anyone who has seen a live performance of it will be able to hear that in his voice!

I split my week up into 1 lap on Tuesday-Friday evenings and then 3 on Saturday and 3 today. The midweek runs were difficult but not unmanageable. It took some getting used to being unable to cut my route short and follow the 5.4 mile turnoff. Once I had done this a few times though, it became 2nd nature and I didn’t need to think not to turn off. I had one amusing interaction on Thursday night with a passenger in traffic who seemed quite intrigued by my slow pace and queried what sort of running I was doing? I smiled and replied “Slow running” It was nice when I passed their van again due to the traffic and he quipped to the driver that the slow runner was speeding up. About 15 mins later I ripped the side of my shorts on
a branch and had to run the remaining 2 miles with the panel flailing about. I was glad the van didn’t drive past again as I don’t think I could have answered what sort of running I was doing!

The weekend laps I split into 2 in the morning then 1 early evening. My new realisation came about on the first of my 2 laps on Saturday morning. My left ankle was still being problematic and I had a few issues with my right knee and left hip locking out for large parts of the lap but I realised the difference between these cumulatively being manageable and unmanageable was the level of intensity not time.

I thought if I could grit through lap 1, there wouldn’t be any surprises in lap 2 and was proved right both for the 15 miles on Saturday and today. Ridiculous as it sounds, the lone laps on the evenings seemed easier in comparison to the weekday ones, the idea that a working day takes more out of me than a 15 mile morning run doesn’t sit well with me if I’m honest.

Since I have spent so much of this week with this song in my head it only seems fair to share the lyrics with the readers of this blog. I have separated it into 2 pictures so the change in tense and person’s narrative are explicitly divided. Now I just need to find a new source of motivation for next week.