Berlin Buildup week 10 of 11. Whiteboard vs Washboard

Week 1 of 2 in Taper Town. After 8 weeks of good, solid training, with no injury or illness, the most important thing to remember is…

TCB – Taking Care of Business

Just doing the simple things every day; good rest, good sleep, good food. No breaks from your routine. My mind plays crazy tricks on me when I’m tapering. I can be sitting on the sofa reading, when I am suddenly overcome with the urge to leap up and do 100 press ups. Why?! I haven’t done a single press up for the past 3 months.  There could be several reasons:

1. All the un-expended energy that comes from NOT running twice a day

2. Nerves coursing through the veins as the goal race is fast approaching

3. Protecting yourself from failure

I got this last one from John Parkinson, head of psychology at Bangor Uni. Why is it that, now, at the worst possible time, I feel like it would be a great idea to dust off my rollerblades and launch myself down the nearest hill?

It could be that the fear of failure is so strong, that my brain is trying to protect me. If I do something stupid and get myself injured, then I don’t even need to get on the plane to Berlin and line up with the fastest runners in the world and see, in black and white, how well all this training has gone. That all sounds abit scary, but to stay home and nurse the twisted ankle, broken nose, or chipped toenail…

I have 3 hard days labour at work while we do a slabbing job. I also have to spend late nights writing my blog, and getting a better deal on my van insurance (I save £150). Thursday I am feeling pretty rough, so don’t even leave the house.

Sunday is a great day. I do a session on the treadmill in gym, whilst watching Great North Run. Then we take the kids swimming, go for coffee and cake, and relax on the sofas. Love tapertown.

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Non-running related highlight of the week

I have got zero points on my Driving License! It took 4 long years to get here, I feel so liberated!

Best thing on the internet this week:

Whiteboard vs Washboard

On Running, my sponsor, set up a competition between the ambassadors, where we have to put out an Instagram post, advertising their Performance Gear, and the one that gets most traffic wins.

I come up with a brilliant idea. It involves me, with my top off, doing the ‘Half Human Flag’, quite a skillful move, not many people can do, certainly not many marathon runners. I enlist the help of my family on Saturday afternoon. We all go down to the town square in the hammering rain, I take my top off and strike the pose. Nina is taking photos while the kids are running through the water fountain, well they are soaked through anyway. A few lads come out of the pub to shout some mild abuse at me. We carry on until I get a good shot.

Then, after drying off at home. I expertly photoshop the image until it looks quite spectacular; I get to thinking I should’ve been a fitness model. Nina comes up with a fantastic tag line, and we post it on Instagram. We are really excited to see how it goes…

It is now 2 days later…

75 likes.

Hours of work, making a fool of myself, half naked in the rain, for 75 likes! Needless to say I will not be winning the competition. Some members of the On team get thousands of likes. I have heard one guy deletes any posts that get less than 500 likes.

To fully explain to you how badly my effort has gone down; my WHITEBOARD got more likes than me. I am not even joking.

Me and my ripped abs = 75 likes

My whiteboard = 87 likes

I don’t think I will be putting down my hammer to become a pro Instagrammer any time soon.

Voting closes on Wednesday, so if you want to go follow me on Insta and vote for my whiteboard too, well then that would be hilarious.

Thing I’m digging this week:

Manic Street Preachers – People Give In

Link here

 

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3/9/2018	AM	PM
Monday	REST	REST
tired after long drive from London last night, and heavy day at work
Tuesday	REST	16x400m (1min rest) in 71. 2x200m (1min rest) in 28,30
heavy day at work x 2
Wednesday	REST	5
heavy day at work x 3
Thursday	REST	REST
tired, slight cold
Friday	REST	6tm @ 7min miling
feel better as day goes on
Saturday	9tm @ 6.30min miling	REST
Sunday	5 x 1km (3min rest) in 3min. 8 miles total	REST
TOTAL:	35 miles	tm = treadmill