Getting Somewhere!

After the last couple of days I can really say that the training has in full swing!

I did six miles yesterday morning, with a plan to do 12+ today.  I set off this morning in the pouring rain with a 12 mile route planned, with a mixture of road, track, woods and fields, and incorporating all the hills we have in this part of the world! It felt good, and the rain even added to it - some feeling of grit and determination! 

Some of the tracks were properly flooded and I plugged along running through calf deep water, "Is it a Monster?" humming in my mind, and thinking of the same conditions as Pete and I came off the moor at the end of last year's OMM.  A run up a rutted track through the woods was much the same - lots slipping and sliding in the ruts, even with Roclite soles.

I stopped for a quick break and a chocolate biscuit at nine miles and was still feeling good, though it took me a few hundred yards to pick the rhythm up.  By 11 miles I was feeling decidedly tired, not helped by having to run down a long muddy field margin, with the slippery mud sapping energy from my legs.  As I came into the village the GPS on my phone was saying we'd done just under 12 miles.  I wanted to do a bit more than that, and realised I could push myself to do at least a half marathon. So with heavy legs I turned away from home again and took the path circumnavigating the village, eventually coming back in from the other side, another mile and a half under my belt.

The GPS said 13.8 miles, but it usually over-estimates by 5%, so expected that to be about 13.1.  When I checked it on Google Maps though, I saw that it had lost lock in the woods and I had actually done 13.6. Happy with that :-)

In for a soak in a bath and a relaxing afternoon.  I had a couple of aches in left calf and right achilles, but nothing too bad and they faded into general stiffness and I recovered.

I was pleased that I pushed myself at the end, rather than just heading for home. After all, that is what training is all about.  It occurred to me that to be successful, this has to be a bit of an obsession, and I'm pleased to say that is what it has become. 

Plan from here in? Keep up the pattern of two long runs at the weekend, with another one (6/7 miles) in the middle of the week.  I'll try and stretch out the shorter weekend run to 7, 8, 9 miles and keep the longer one to 12 or 13 (or maybe 14 - after all - I am obsessed!)