Went for a long run last night and discovered the 3 magic Ps- patience, pacing and perseverance. Highly cheesy I realise but it helped keep me focused all the way round!
Now I had actually intended to go running Tuesday night but it was pretty miserable out and I was pretty tired and actually I was more excited by the thought of watching a film, eating chocolate and drinking cider. All of which I accomplished. However, I felt pretty sheepish when I had a text through from Teresa to say that she had just run over 16miles. Right, I'd better pull my socks up then.
The other thing that had weighed on my mind Tuesday was the whole fear of failure thing again. Knowing that we had done 13 miles the week before actually intimidated me rather than encouraged as I was thinking 'what if I set out to do about 11miles and really struggle?'. I was concerned that I would have taken a dip in form and this would discourage me and make the task ahead seem even steeper. So I buried my head in the sand and put off until Wednesday what I should have just done Tuesday.
However, I was in a better frame of mind Wednesday. It was sunny, I had nothing pressing that I had to get back for, and I had just accepted the fact that I was going out for 3 hours running and I just had to get on with it. Which is where the 3 Ps came in. I decided to keep off the roads and just do 3 circuits of my usual route which would be just under 15miles. I had to be patient. Often when I'm running I'm so focused on the next thing that I just want to get round quickly and get home so it's out of the way. Yesterday was about putting in the hours and enjoying the experience. Which, actually, I did!
I've been reading running magazines in the hope it will transform me into an athlete. One of the things in there is to train at a pace 10% slower than what you want to do on the day. So I really tried yesterday. I paced it pretty well, took 2hr 45mins in the end but my legs kept wanting to race away so I was constantly having to slow myself down, remind myself that there was a long way to go etc. The worst bit was on the last lap, because my brain knew that the end was getting quite close it just wanted to get it over with. But I was determined to be keep a steady slow pace and hopefully still have something left in the tank when I got home.
Perseverance. Well it goes without saying that this is important when training for a marathon. Still struggling mentally but I was very challenged by Teresa's efforts to go out and at least break the half marathon mark as a psychological boost. I also did my first run with a sports drink yesterday, the same one as will be available at the marathon, and seemed to get the balance of that and water about right.
So all in all a very encouraging effort! I did physically have something left in the tank when I got back and I did step it up a bit for the last half mile. My knees were pretty sore (and stairs today are proving a challenge!) but that's inevitable I think. And I'll keep on with the strength and conditioning work at the gym to help stabilise my joints and maybe lay off the chocolate and alcohol now and hopefully relieve the burden on my joints a little!
So basically we have a little under 5 weeks of training left then a week and a half of 'tapering'. Hoping to do another couple of runs in the 15-17 mile mark and two around 20 miles plus shorter runs and gym work. I think we're meant to be running about 30miles a week cumulatively at the minute so if anyone wants to join us you're very welcome!
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