On Sunday I ran home after a family walk at Shawford - a combination of the Monarch's Way and the Test Way. It was about 28km, it took nearly 2.5 hours (including getting lost a couple of times) and I was utterly done for afterwards. Not a contented, happy and hungry sort of tired, but a proper, world-weary ennui sort of tired. I hobbled around afterwards thinking 'Do I really want to do this marathon thing again? Do I really want to spend the next 7 weeks pounding around tripping over roots, ploughing through mud and getting stung on big endurance runs when I could do a quick 5k and have a beer?'
The next day we had a family trip to Longleat and I was in quite a lot of discomfort as we walked around. Strictly no running. And then on Tuesday I did about 19k, mainly off-road and quite hilly... and it was a breeze. A swift 9k today and all is well.
I'm not saying that I'm over the hump completely, but this is a classic pattern for the start of endurance-length training... a real period of grey funk before the system starts to respond... and maybe I've reached the end of the beginning. The difference is that now I'm looking forward to marathon season and all that it entails.
Thursday, 15 August 2013
Saturday, 10 August 2013
RR10: Itchen Valley Park
This was the ninth race in the series of ten and my last - I'll be in Devon in a fortnight's time. Itchen Valley Country Park is a great venue, with grassy hills and swervy tracks through woodland, and I was eager to beat my worst-scoring position of 27th.
Off we went at quite a brisk tempo. I was catching people up and felt OK, although after 15 minutes I was working hard. Last lap, and I knew we were heading downhill in the direction of the finish. I could see the tape of the funnel ahead and I pelted with everything I had left... only to find that it was just tape marking the gap in a hedge. OK, I thought, I know the finish is in the corner of the field... I'm just one field and about 300metres ahead of myself... But then we we were marshalled down into the woods for a circuitous pfaff about before emerging at the finish. Crikey, it was hard work keeping any kind of pace going, and I was done for at the end with a less-than-satisfactory 30th place.
It's been a great RR10 season with plenty of battles and adventures. Final results analysis in a couple of weeks after hols.
Off we went at quite a brisk tempo. I was catching people up and felt OK, although after 15 minutes I was working hard. Last lap, and I knew we were heading downhill in the direction of the finish. I could see the tape of the funnel ahead and I pelted with everything I had left... only to find that it was just tape marking the gap in a hedge. OK, I thought, I know the finish is in the corner of the field... I'm just one field and about 300metres ahead of myself... But then we we were marshalled down into the woods for a circuitous pfaff about before emerging at the finish. Crikey, it was hard work keeping any kind of pace going, and I was done for at the end with a less-than-satisfactory 30th place.
It's been a great RR10 season with plenty of battles and adventures. Final results analysis in a couple of weeks after hols.
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