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.
Six Days And Counting
by Russell Turner - 19:35 on 07 July 2024
With only three 5k runs, the penultimate week of RTTS training should have been a breeze. I blame poor weather and Rishi Sunak.
Two weekend gigs meant I’d scheduled runs for Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, but rain (and laziness) led to the middle 5k moving to Friday, the day after the elections. It didn’t happen then, either, because the temptation to stay up and watch The Great Tory Wipeout was too tempting, which left little energy for athletic endeavour.
I didn’t feel much enthusiasm for the run yesterday, after Friday’s gig, and even less today, after another; the late nights, performing, and a lack of sleep had left me stiff as a board. However, getting out would be good practice for the latter stages of the 100k, so after a thorough Theragun session I manned up and ran/walked the 5k. All turned out OK.
The Garmin currently shows only distance and time run, because heart rate is irrelevant for my ultra effort and pace a distraction (although they’re still recorded). Maybe this is working: my pace was a little slower than it has been (although still too fast for the full distance). Or maybe I was just tired.
That leaves five days to recover, catch up on sleep, and prepare for race day on Saturday with only one short run and a very long drive to negotiate along the way. I don’t feel at all ready.
The latest email from RTTS HQ includes a stern reminder that the first starting waves (from 6.30am) are reserved for 100k contenders and the lightweights planning a fast 50k. Subsequent waves include a mix of fast and slow runners (according to people’s estimated finish times) so pit stops won’t be overwhelmed with everyone arriving at once. In the past, race stewards have not policed runners very firmly; it would be just our luck if they did this time, when I’d planned to start earlier than our allocated 8.50am slot. I’ll probably still try to move up a wave or two – the extra daylight might make all the difference. Matchgirl is undecided.
The weather forecast remains promising: no rain, light breeze and not stupidly hot. Maybe it will be a day to remember for the right reasons.
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