Last week I listened to my body, making the decision to lie in on Sunday when I felt fatigue (and headaches) setting in, instead of stubbornly following the schedule anyway. This week, guess what, I feel so much better for it, refreshed and rejuvenated. I hear a thousand voices all chime;
“told you so”
I was worried that the easy day on Sunday wouldn’t be enough to fix my tiredness, but by Monday afternoon I am itching to run. 10 miles on the treadmill in the evening feels like the easiest thing in the world again. What was all the fuss about?
Wednesday night I am doing Plas Menai 5km, it is reportedly a quick course, so I would like to go for a Season’s Best of around 15min. After heavy rain all day, the evening calms down perfectly; dry, still and cool. It is a race against myself from the first 400m, I am following the lead bike through a fast and sheltered bicycle lane. I push and push and push, but finish in 15.24. I am dissapointed with myself, especially as I feel recovered immediately. The race is ‘point to point’, so I run it again (backwards) as a warm down, to get back to my van. I am feeling easy and fantastic, at 5.20mile pace, only slightly slower than my race pace, grrr! I would love to pretend this was all part of the plan, but honestly, I would prefer to have run 10 seconds faster in the race and 10 minutes slower in the warm down. Very friendly, well organised race. Thanks loads to organisers.
“I had learned never to empty the well of my writing, but always to stop when there was still something there in the deep part of the well, and let it refill at night from the springs that fed it.”
– Ernest Hemingway
This philosophy goes for everything; writing, drawing, creating, building, motherhood…running. When you reach that flow-state, you have to savour it, nurture it, and be sure never to burn it out. People in society today take great pride in being the guy who can sleep the least, kill themselves the most, collapse on the running track and throw up the hardest. “Go Hard Or Go Home”. There is no heroism in that. The real deal is learning to walk away before you have spent everything, indulged fully, showed no self-restraint.
Session on Saturday is feeling amazing; having already won a parkrun and run a good 10 miles. I am doing mile reps with a friend, and although we are going faster than planned, it just feels so easy. Everything is clicking, I feel light and springy. I could hammer myself, see how deep the well goes, run it dry. But Sunday I have a long run, Berlin marathon is in 3 weeks, and it is in sessions like this where it is harder to slow down than speed up. I actually use this blog as a method of safety valve, by promising myself that however fast I run these miles, I will log my mile time on the blog as 5.15 anyway. It helps slow me down abit.
Non-running related highlight of the week
2 hour nap with the wife and kids on the sofas, Saturday afternoon. Very rare we all synchronise our naps so well.
Best thing on the internet this week:
Karl Meltzer: Made To Be Broken
Free to watch on Redbull TV, link here. Following Ultra-Runner, Karl Meltzer, trying for a 3rd time to break the record for crossing the Appalachian Trail. 2000+ miles in 46 days. Highlight for me is when he is 12 hours behind the record, with terrible blisters, and serious doubts. Ex-record holder, David Horton, arrives with a bucket of KFC and a kick up the arse…
“Are you tough enough? Are you as tough as Scott Jurek (current record holder)? He sucked it up then, can you suck it up here? Cos that’s what you’ll have to do. It’ll be harder than anything you’ve ever done in your life.”
Thing I’m digging this week:
Tim Ferris podcast #331
Ann Miura-Ko – Is That A World Class Effort?
Link here
| 20/8/2018 | AM | PM |
| Monday | REST | 10tm @ 6.30min miling |
| feel just fine after rough day yest | ||
| Tuesday | 6tm @ 7min miling | 5 x 200m in 30 sec (200m jog in 1min). 8 miles total |
| Wednesday | REST | 6tm. Plas Menai 5km (1st – 15.24) + 3 tempo. 14 miles total |
| Rain all day, clears beautifully for race | ||
| Thursday | REST | 10 @ 7min miling |
| bad night’s sleep, wired after race = sleep in. Tired PM, 7min miling feeling hard | ||
| Friday | 6tm @ 7min miling | 6tm @ 7min miling |
| feel much better. Divide run in two to make it easier | ||
| Saturday | Bangor parkrun – 16.01 (30min rest), 6 x mile in 5.13 (30 sec rest). 15 miles total | REST |
| feels really good, help from Ben and Owen, makes big difference. Nap 2hrs with family | ||
| Sunday | 20tm @ 6min miling | 5 @ 7.30min miling |
| want 25 miles. Heavy rain & wind so go to gym tm. Air-con is off, sweating like crazy. Start to feel bit dizzy mile 18. Decide not to go to the well. Mike Blake surprise 70th party. Feel smooth PM | ||
| TOTAL: | 100 miles | tm = treadmill |
