8 weeks to go, 7 training runs in 3 and a half days, 2 resolutions and a trip down memory lane.
This week has followed a condensed schedule partly due to work and social commitments. I took a day off following my last training run of the week before and felt the benefits of the rest.
On Monday morning I headed out on my usual 5.4 mile loop and set a reasonable pace. The weather also lulled me into a false sense of security for later in the week.
My evening run was a bit warmer but I was still fresh from my rest day so this wasn’t an issue. I seem to run faster in the evenings nowadays. This may be due to the lack of sleep I start some morning runs from or the fact my muscles have warmed up a bit from moving around during the day.
I followed the 2 a day schedule again on Tuesday. My pace was only 1 minute different over the whole distance from the morning and evening runs. It was considerably hotter than Monday’s but I knew I had to fit in both sessions to be able to get my mileage in for the week. It has been over 4 months since I last ran less than the race distance over 7 days and I wasn’t going to start now.
The plan for Wednesday was to run 6.4 miles in the morning with my friend then another 5.4 in the evening. It was 29 degrees C in the morning and 33 for the afternoon run. Since I can’t rule out the race being under similar conditions at the end of next month, I saw it as good preparation to set off at the same pace as usual and train my thought process to stick to it even if my breathing became unsettled or my heart rate skyrocketed. (Possibly those two events aren’t mutually exclusive!)
Also that day I saw someone waiting in traffic on my morning run who I had not seen in at least 5 years. My time playing amateur rugby for Queens ARLFC was very similar to the time I spend running now in terms of training and efforts to improve. In the last year I spent playing junior rugby we went the 32 game season undefeated and won the national cup. Our coach was very selective in his motivational methods and generally had a less is more mentality towards this.
In the week before the national cup match he said to us that if we won that game it would be something we’d all instantly remember if any of us crossed paths 10-15 years down the line presuming we were no longer in touch. Even though me and the person I saw were fringe players often starting from the bench that year. He wasn’t wrong.
This only left 2 laps of my 5.4 mile loop for Thursday to bring my total to 44.2. I purposefully didn’t check the temperature before or take my GPS watch as I didn’t want to distract myself with irrelevance like pace or arbitrary constants I couldnt change. The longest distance between checkpoints in the Skiddaw race is 18 miles and I was happy to manage my 10.8 in hot conditions without taking any water or gels/bars on board. I had remembered a demonstration quote from NFL coach Bill Parcells on my 2nd lap which helped
“You can’t dream up confidence. Confidence is born of demonstrated ability”
It stood to reason if I couldn’t run 10.8 miles without a break this close to the race, there’s no way I could manage 44 on race day. At least now I know if I run out of water or other things between checkpoints, I can go at least that distance without them.