Or, 11 weeks and counting...
Just as it's proven that 76.3% of all statistics are invented on the spot, so 84% of all blog entries have been shown to begin "Sorry, but I haven't been updating this as often as I should...". Guilty as charged. The main reason being that I haven't done much running for a couple of weeks.
Had a really bad session at Scotstoun in the heat and humidity two and a half weeks ago, which led to much "why can't I run any more" and "don't know if I can do this again" soul-searching. Being far behind where I was at the same stage training for London, I was acutely aware that my concerns about knowing and fearing what was in store were coming to fruition. A wise man advised me to take a complete break for a while, recharge and come back to it. This wasn't too difficult, as last week was my annual spell marshalling at the Barclays Scottish Open at Loch Lomond Golf Club - spending 5 days standing on the grandstand at the 18th green pretty much precludes any running anyway. As does spending hours in front of the telly watching the Tour de France - I love the ebb and flow of the long stage races, and although Le Tour isn't quite as brutal as this year's Giro, it's been a thriller.
So, after the rest & recharge, time to get going again. Acutely aware that I'm well behind the curve from London, I'm determined not to make the classic mistake of overtraining or jumping back in to a too-ambitious point in the 16-week schedule and getting injured again. Thus I'm going to build up slowly and see where I get to. The week started with a very slow 5 miler just to get used to running again, followed by a trip to my nemesis at Scotstoun for was supposed to be a 5 mile Tempo at 7:06. Something I would have hoovered up without thinking about 4 or 5 months ago and slower than the spring 10k's. But, again it was humid and with the back-straight headwind, so I struggled round 4 miles in 7:30. Painfully slow - that used to be my "just go out for a run" pace - but a good indicator of just how far I have to go.
Hence all thoughts of times and PB's have been put to one side and my objective now is to get into shape to do a reasonable run and try to enjoy the experience. At this stage, I'm holding the thoughts that my injuries came later in the London preparation and that the last few weeks were rather disrupted. If I can stay injury free and just keep building, I won't be too far away from where I was, say, 2 or 3 weeks before London, when I was probably at my best.
In the spirit of getting back into it, the "long run" restarted today, with a 12-miler - again, less than the programme for this week, but necessary as a reintroduction to being out that long. A reasonably pleasant day for a trip over the hills to Loch Lomond and down the Leven to Dumbarton, but for the heat-averse it was both sunny and humid - in fact the only sunny weather of the day was the 2 hours or so I was out!. With the new hydration "strategy" in place (500ml bottle with me and extra energy gels), it wasn't too bad, considering it's my first time above 8 miles since London. However, my left calf was really tight all the way, so it was little more than a shuffle - I was pleased to subscribe to the "slow" bit of the long/slow. Just under 9 minute miles is about 20-30 seconds off the pace I was doing the long runs before, but as a reintroduction in conditions that don't really suit me, it just about got the job done.
Mucking about with the long run playlist too - decided to increase the variety of artists beyond the original 4. Catching up with a lot of this mob's back catalogue at the moment, and loving this song - Muse: Starlight
One of those lyrics that, if I could write lyrics, I could have easily written. If you follow...
Week's summary: 3 runs, 23 miles: Long run 12.25 miles
Miles since entering Le Mans: 93
