Half Training – Week Four

Well, up until this morning, I was hoping to have a very positive report. Then I fell over.

I’m fine, pretty much, just a slightly bruised hip, and a slightly more bruised ego. Luckily, however, it wasn’t my ankle, which had turned a bit on the fall, but not enough to cause any pain after I had dusted myself off.

The Sunday Club run is something I don’t do very often, and I should – if you put aside the potential for falls. It’s a gorgeous trail run, undulating through woodland, fields, beaches and our trusty Wirral Way. It does, if you do runs like this often enough, teach you to pick up your feet a bit more, and be mindful of where you step, neither of which I was doing when I went down, but it is one of those runs that makes me feel like it’s my raison de courir  (to hack a well known phrase). 

It had been wet overnight so the lush ferns in the woods were kindly moistening my hot body to counteract the humid air, and I paid no mind to what the nettles and gorse were doing to my legs. The bouncy soil underfoot smelt of damp bark, and there was generally a green scent of petrichor about, as if the plants were working overtime after the rain. 

I was running for the first part with Helen, who’d had a difficult time in the Manchester Marathon because of the heat – I mean, what else do you talk about while running! 

‘I had to keep adjusting my goal,’ she said. ‘When I realised I wasn’t going to get my original time, I thought, maybe go for 4:30. When that wasn’t going to happen, I thought, don’t worry about a time. And then I thought, just make it to the end.’

That moving of goal posts happens a lot in running as life inevitably happens. Even if you have the best training ever, the day itself may throw a curve ball. It reminded me that the purpose of a race really isn’t the race at all, but all the training we do in preparation. Helen is still a stronger, faster woman with more stamina than she had been before training for the marathon. 

It’s a good lesson to remember if disappointment happens, and I will keep hold of it just in case September goes pear-shaped. Aside from my little fall today, however, I’ve had quite a good week. 

Week Four

Mon	A tiny 1-miler in the morning (curtailed because I needed the facilities) before flying back from Valencia.
Tue	I forced myself out for a local pootle straight after the long car journey from London – bumped into Jo from the club and we ran together for a nice five-miler.
Wed	Seaside Run – a very pleasing 28:22 for a 5K in the heat, after three warm up runs (to the train station; from the station to the end point; to the start point) – maybe multiple warm-ups are the way to go? Most pleasing was that I kept my speed up and didn’t flag.
Thu	40 mins weights and mobility – then a nine-mile walk with my walking buddies (followed by a nice pub afternoon lunch)
Fri
Sat	Followed a Garmin sprint session that I didn’t read very well before hand – it should have been WU, followed by 3x (3 x 15 sec sprints with three minutes rest/slow jog) and five-minute steady between each set. Next time – will check ahead. Plus a body weight thingy that the Garmin also gave me.
Sun	Sunday club run on the trails – as above (just under six miles in the end)
	24.2 miles total