Happily Ever After
Life in The Rural Retreat with a beautiful wife, three cats, garden wildlife, a camera, a computer – and increasing amounts about running
Earlier posts can be found on Adventures of a Lone Bass Player, where this blog began life. Recent entries can be found here.
A Run Of Two Halves
by Russell Turner - 10:02 on 24 August 2021
Another week done, six weeks to go until the Loch Ness Marathon; I’m still wondering how I reached that distance before. Last year, in the run up to Virtual London, I completed two 18-milers and a 20-mile run, plus 100k over fours days for the Virtual Race to the Stones. Yesterday I couldn’t complete 16 miles in one go.
The plan was four miles at less than marathon pace, which I planned to run/walk, four at marathon pace (which I’ve arbitrarily designated 10 to 10:15 because that would give me a sub 4:30 finish), then repeat. But by the end of the first mile I’d downgraded the entire 16 miles to run/walk. Warmth, humidity, lack of moral fibre: maybe all three – I just knew it was hard straight away (although giving myself a climb in Mile 2 didn’t help, even with a nice downhill on the other side).
This was unexpected. The day before I’d done a perfectly comfortable 5k in my new shoes, at the end of which there wasn’t a single grumble from my suspect heel. It felt better than it had for months. So I anticipated no problems with 16 miles divided into four easy chunks.
Yet it was a plod from the start. By five miles I was planning a break halfway; by seven I was wondering if I’d leave The Rural Retreat if I entered it. Fortunately that coincided with catching a light, cooling breeze so I kept going and risked the break after nine miles when I put on dry kit and left without sitting down apart from changing shoes and socks.
The plan for the final seven miles was to avoid any climbs and try an experimental 3min/30sec run/walk. The verdict? Too much restarting, even if run/walk guru Jeff Galloway advocates even shorter intervals. I’ll stick to 6:1. Not that it made much difference. By five miles I was flagging and half a mile after that I gave up and walked the rest of Mile 6. At least I finished with a flourish by running all of the final mile without a walk break. And I could add a mile of unrecorded walking to and from start and finish points, so really it was a 17-mile day.
So what went wrong? I can blame the weather, or early rising cats, but more likely I’m not eating enough, or the right stuff, even though my weight has actually increased by 2-3lbs during the last 2-3 months of training. Maybe I began under-hydrated too, despite thinking I drink enough water every day. Or maybe I’m bored doing variations on the same routes all the time.
I had planned a 16-mile circuit, much of it on roads I’ve not traversed for a while, but changed my mind at the last minute, possibly because of the steep two miles at the start. Maybe if I’d stuck to my plan and not had the option of bailing out halfway round I’d have knuckled down and got it done. Who knows? There’s alway next time.
Next Monday’s long run is a mere 13 miles, after a step-back week of shorter runs, then 18 the week after. Time to get the maps out.
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