Wednesday, I spend the day running with the school kids of Blaenau. My party piece is to bet the class a million pounds that not one of them can beat me in a race. In the last class of the day, I find myself sprinting neck and neck with a boy with long ginger hair. It is at this point I remember that the last time I pulled this stunt, I was a 24yr old 800m runner, NOT a 37yr old marathoner.
We get to the end still tied, so I do what every dignified and self-respecting adult would do, make up some bollocks about how he never touched the wall so it doesn’t count so I win haha.
Other than that I have a fantastic time. Love getting kids outside and doing what they’re supposed to do (run around like crazy).
Thursday night is Valentines day, and after arriving home late from track, my wife and I spend a romantic evening unloading kitchen units from my van.
–Friday, I do a lecture with students from the Born to Run semester in Bangor Uni. The talk is on ways to be a better runner without getting off the sofa, cos everyone knows students are lazy and just eat pizza and sleep-in. I might make a blog post out of it soon, as we could all do with being abit lazier. It goes really well, I’m a funny, light-hearted, yet knowledgeable guy. At least that’s what I tell myself.
Saturday I have to wake up at 6am to get my 10 mile run in. Then drive 4hrs with teammate Cal, to the On Summit in Loughborough. They treat us to a delicious pub lunch and then we get to know the other ambassadors. We do a team talk, have a little run (I film it with drone, and feel very proud of myself for not crashing) and a spot quiz. Which I win. ON are doing incredibly well, the fastest growing running shoe in the world no less. With some really cool stuff being released soon (HOODY!).
Driving back I am falling asleep. Cal very kindly offers to get out at Chester and catch a train back to Bangor, so I can sleep in van before Wrexham Village Bakery Half Marathon. I get my duvet out, and fall asleep like I’m dead.
I go for breakfast In Wrexham Wetherspoons Sunday morning, 8am. If you want to experience an upbeat atmosphere, with some of the world’s most promising and healthy looking people, then Wrexham Wetherspoons at 8am on a Sunday morning is not the right place.
I’m lining up on the start line like a condemned man, in the warm up I could hardly break a 7min mile. And here I am, expecting to run 10 miles at 5.20 miling with teammate Tom, and then make our move from there.
I feel heavy and sluggish first 6 miles, and like I want to just quit. But my body finally finds its feet and I start to get it together. 2 lovely miles tick by, the wind is on our backs and the tarmac is dry and grippy. Then I get a stitch. This exact same thing happened in this race 2 years ago (read blog post here) and I have learnt how to manage the stitch. I have been lazy with the excersises though, cos I hate them, and now it has come back. I fall to the back of our group for the next 2 miles, trying to relax and breathe deeply. Then at mile 10 I make my move alright. It suddenly feels like I’ve been stabbed in the gut with an icepick, so I have to stop for a full minute. I watch Tom and the group dissapear away, and I hope he gets his pb.
My stitch clears enough for me to get back up off my knees and start running again. Now the wind is firmly in our faces and I can’t break 5.30 miles. But I have a good go, and cross the line in 1.11.20 for 7th place. I run 3 miles easy warm down and go straight for McDonalds.
I kinda feel sorry for myself, but in a way I’m also proud. After the week I’ve had, I don’t like to use the term ‘flat out’, but it must be somewhere close. A massive part of training is recovering. And I am not getting enough sleep. I have just been trying to survive rather than thrive, I have not been respecting my body. Hopefully I can rectify things in the upcoming weeks.
Very proud of training partner Tom, who got his well-deserved pb of 70.11, easily a sub 70 waiting to happen. And his brother Bobo also ran a 75 too!
Excellent race organisation as always from Cute Fruit Events.
| 11/02/2019 | AM | PM |
| Monday | REST | 10tm @ 7min miling |
| Tuesday | REST | 1 x mile in 5.24. 10 x 400m in 67 (2min rest). 2 x 400m (2min rest) 65, 64. 8 miles total |
| Not possible to run am, family stuff | ||
| Wednesday | 11tm | |
| coaching kids | ||
| Thursday | 4tm | 4 x mile in 5.19 (30 sec rest). 6 miles total |
| Friday | 10tm | 10 |
| talk at Bangor Uni, then drills on track | ||
| Saturday | 10 | REST |
| 7hrs of driving to and from On Summit | ||
| Sunday | Village Bakery Half Marathon. 7th in 1.11.20. 20 miles total | REST |
| sposed to run 10 miles pm. Get home 3pm, sleep on couch, do not get back up | ||
| TOTAL: | 90 miles | tm = treadmill |
Non-Running Highlight Of The Week:
Getting through the week alive.
Best Thing On The Internet This Week:
https://callumrunner22.wordpress.com/
Training partner and On teammate Callum Davidson is documenting his training up to Brighton Marathon. Very unique journey, he is an extremely talented fell-runner (7 x England caps), road runner, and is currently banging out 100 mile weeks in the build up. Impressive stuff for a 21 yr old Masters student.
Thing I’m Digging This Week:
Hasn’t been released yet, but I honestly can’t wait to get my hands on an ON hoody!
Hi Russell, just wanted to say how much I enjoy reading your blogs. I’m nowhere near your level but have my own running and weight loss goals for the spring building up to a charity 7 marathons in 7 days finishing at London Marathon. Falling off the plan is far too easy to do so I get a lot of motivation from reading blogs like yours, focussing on the positives out of every race or session. Looking forward to the next one, cheers.
Cheers Simon, sorry for late reply!!!