3 Weeks Out
It feels like things are starting to get real… they are, I guess.
I took Monday & Tuesday off on Alans advice and then ran easy for 7 on Wednesday, 9 on Thursday and then a 6 miler on Friday morning, where I got to run with someone far more talented than I will ever be; The 2019 Triathlon World Champ in the sprint distance, Paul Ryman. I’ve known Paul since 2006 and, as it happened, he was out on easy 10k at the same time as and Lemmy and me. He asked if I wanted to share some miles and I definitely did - I run alone 99.9% of the time. It’s amazing how running with another person makes you forget about the little things, like time and hills. We chatted the miles away and ended up at an average pace of 4:58 per k, which felt pretty great for this stage of marathon training.
Saturday: Lemmy had a seizure at 3:30 on Saturday morning, which meant no sleep for the rest of the night. He and I stayed up, drinking coffee (not him obvs) and I refilled his food bowl a further three times after his initial post-fit feed. The fits make him ravenously hungry and since the last incident where he gobbled down a phone charger, I thought it best to provide a consistent supply of dog food and avoid any unnecessary consumption of electronics.
The session: 2 mile warm up, which felt garbage (I walked twice) followed by 6x3 mins off 1 min recovery. 2-3 mins easy. 40 min run starting at MRP and building to HMP.
The reps felt grim. Not in a way that meant I struggled to hold pace, just crap, basically. When I began the 40 mins, I wanted nothing more than to just stop and call it a day. I told myself “Get to 10 mins and then quit” … “Get to 20 mins, then quit. At 25 mins I knew that if I survived the next 5 mins, a 10 min stretch was doable.
Done.
I felt pleased with myself and also, I feel fit. Like fitness has just sprung itself upon me in the past few weeks.
I never feel truly fit.
Closed out the week with another easy 6 on Sunday… Taper has begun.