Road to London

Gym day Monday and an hour of kettlebells and some core work and some bitching with Graham, what's not to love about that.

And we didn't even mention Ben once.

Not strictly true, bloody Ben.

Because I had to move last week's 22 miler to this week, I decided my week would need a bit of shifting around.  Usually it's Tues at the club and threshold on Thurs but threshold last week destroyed me for a few days and this week it's even harder and I didn't fancy that on Thurs and 22 miles on Sunday.

So…..

Tues will become Thursday and Thursday will become Tuesday, in theory but it didn't work like that.

Headed out on Tues morning ready to do a threshold session of 4 X 5km and as always I headed to Whitley parkrun course.  As always the wind was right in my face heading South and today I just couldn't face it, the last two weeks have been the same and I've ploughed through the wind but today I just had no desire and instead decided to do a few easy miles and do the club session tonight instead.

Club tonight was short out and backs, I like this session.  A big 'B' team tonight and both Peters there which means it's going to be a fast one, one Peter's bad enough but a double Peter is even worse.  First set ticked off nicely and I'm keeping up with the Peter's 

Then it all starts to get a little silly.

We start the second set and begin the 1 min 'out' with the A team. They turn and we turn, Peter goes after them, other Peter goes after them, Phil goes after them, I go after them.  Peter 1 gets promoted to 'A' team after that rep.

2 min rep starts and we're with them again, they turn and we turn.  I'm alongside Greg who starts egging me on to go faster and catch Chris, so obviously I do as I'm an idiot and I come in with A team and it's not pleasant. 

Greg laughs at me and tells me I'm going to regret that one later, he's not wrong.

3 min rep starts and thankfully A team pull a good 40-50m ahead of us on the 'out' section. I decide I don't have it in me this rep so will take it steady, we turn to head back and Phil and Becky go off hard and I'm a few metres behind them and happy to stay there…

Then I have a sudden rush of blood to the head and think to myself 'I wonder if I can get back before anyone from A team catches me?'

So I put in an effort and go after Becky and Phil.  Pass them both and push harder to open up a gap, no idea why, it's utterly stupid but that's what I'm doing, someone's coming up on my shoulder, I assume it's Phil so lift the pace again to hold him off a bit longer, I hear him getting closer, lift the pace again, he's still there, a glance across and it's Boxshall, oh shit…

He gives me a look of 'what the F**k are you doing' I give it everything I have to stay with him, that was a huge bloody mistake. We come in together and I'm bent double on the floor.  One entire set left to go. 

Now the problem with marathon training is you feel really good and so all the things you know about pacing and looking after yourself and self preservation get completely forgotten about.  I know this, I know running this fast is stupid, but I did it anyway.

Final set, start the 1 min and we turn.  I've learnt my lesson now.  Just sit in the middle of the pack, nothing daft Jamison.

I race Phil all the way back, same pace as on the last one. I've learnt nothing.

2 min rep, I'm hurting so come in mid pack and just decide to plod the last one home.

3 min rep, easy out and then we turn...

Phil's off like a rocket…

Simmo goes after him…

I go off after Simmo…

I need some wine.

Wednesday easy miles, my legs need this.

The sun is shining and the wind is blowing and I'm running 4 miles very slow and listening to The Cure.

Tomorrow is hills and sprints which won't benefit my mara training so unsure at the moment what to do.  One eye on my long run so I'm thinking something easy tomorrow, maybe a tempo run.

I've become a big fan of easy runs.

Decided that as this is meant to be recovery week doing 4 X 5km is too much so instead switch it to 2 X 2 mile and then an easy run at club tonight weaving through the groups and doing some top quality heckling.

Head out and what an f'ing surprise, it's windy! 

First 2 mile rep from the dome up towards Grand Hotel, aiming for 7:20-7:30 mile and it feels hard bloody work in the wind and my legs still hurt from Tuesday.

I'm blaming Greg and Boxshall.

Second rep downhill to the Dome and I'm a bit faster but again I feel knackered.  Finish, walk to coop to buy a drink and a baguette, I bloody love baguettes.

Oh and I also got a Whispa, can't believe I nearly forgot about that.  It's in the kitchen so I'm going to go and eat it now, it's 10:21 in the morning so I'm pretty sure that's acceptable.  Probably have some baguette whilst I'm in the kitchen, silly not to really.

Friday and it's 4 miles easy.  I have a coaching session today so that will become my run for the day.  Head off to do a couple of easy miles first and then we do some intervals.

1 x 1 mile, short recovery, 3 x 500m and then finish with another 1 X 1 mile.  Pace was bang on for Nicola and a nice leg stretcher for me.

Then Friday night I drank some booze ….

Parkrun Saturday.

I have a hangover

7:20 mile pace, nothing silly today as I've got a long run to do on Sunday. 

First mile was a little slow, second mile was a little fast, third mile was spot on.

Average pace was exactly what I wanted but my system of achieving it was a bit crap.  Off to co-op for a coffee and some chocolate.

Breakfast today was coffee and a Whispa, lunch was coffee and a Yorkie followed by a snooze on the settee with Murphy whilst Gail was out, a superb day.

So Sunday long run time.

Got this one all planned out.  A run to Tynemouth and back to get 6-7 miles done, then loop the dome and back to Marconi point and round and then back and the usual 13 mile loop and that's 21-22 miles in the bag.

I've had a bagel, got my gels with me, sunglasses on and some decent music.

Head up to Tynemouth and feeling good, start steady and make a point of slowing this down a little bit.  Heading back down to the dome and start to think to myself….

"Why don't I just run back to Tynemouth and back again?"

"Actually why not do it 3 or 4 times as that will be 20-22 miles surely and if I'm feeling this good on the first rep then naturally I'll feel this good on every rep"

"Genius idea, up and down the coast 4 times and last long run is done"

"A much better idea then heading inland away from the wind, stay on the coast and run up and down the same exact 3 mile mile stretch over and over again and again and again..."

Finish the first rep and feel fine, head back to Tynemouth and all is good, heading back down and Joe M catches me and we run together having a chat for a few mins.  Joe heads home as I go round Marconi point and back to the dome.

Start rep 3 and it starts raining, the wind starts to pick up, Natalie heckles me with a shout of 'croissant' and  I'm now not enjoying this as much as I thought I would.  Run past Lucy (twice) and she looks as miserable as me.  Come round Marconi point and nearly run into Simon W, tuck in behind him and match his pace for a bit before realising he's making me run 30 secs a mile too fast, back off and slow down and now I'm really not enjoying myself anymore.

I have a niggly left quad, nothing major but now it's starting to tighten up and I can feel my left foot slapping the ground and now my right glute's feeling tight.  Obvious thing to do is stop and live to fight another day.

I keep going.

Rep 4 round the dome and watch beeps for 16 miles.  Realise I really don't have 22 miles in me today, it's raining, it's windy and I just don't want to do it.  Decide I'll run til watch beeps for 18 miles and then turn and head back and do 20 miles, that's still okay isn't it ? I mean 20 miles is further than 18 miles and 18 miles is further than 16 miles, I'm good at maths.

18 miles, watch beeps, take a gel and turn to head back.  Next mile feels hard and then spot Sue and Johnny in the distance and start to close the gap, catch them both, have a quick chat and on to hit my 20 mile target.

And I'm done.  

Co-op, coffee, coke and a chocolate twist. No croissants left but the twist is a superb replacement.  Sit down on the wall and have a drink and take a look at my splits.

Now in my head I was getting progressively slower from about 13 miles onwards and that's why I had to stop.  Garmin tells a different story which really pisses me off.  I was still sitting comfortably around 8 min miles apart from mile 19 which was 8:29, I should have looped the dome one final time and headed back to Marconi point and back and done 22 miles.  I gave in to negative thoughts instead of telling myself to shut up, not even a bit of Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine was enough to keep me going today.

Nevermind, I have my blunchfast and walk home and have a bath, getting out the bath proves tricky as my left quad has now totally seized up.

Then we go to Tynemouth market and I buy 2 Stevie Wonder albums, what a day.

Oh and I have another Whispa. It's a 4 chocolate bar kind of a day.

4 more weeks to go.

I haven't yet written the next 4 weeks plan, will sit down today and plan it out but looking forward to cutting back a bit on the long runs.

All previous blogs are available to read HERE