Training Peak

The day after the Meon Valley I was sent to Surrey to help deal with the flooding. I was there for 9 days in total, working long hours and apart from a couple of very slow 7 milers I did nothing. I even missed my opportunity to work at the Brighton Half Marathon helping out the race organisers who are fellow club runners and friends from The Worthing Harriers.

The Peak of my Training was intended to be a gentle gaunt along the South Down Way from Winchester to Eastbourne, 100+ miles over 4 days, staying at home every night. Unfortunately due to being away my planning for this never got started. I had booked 2 days from work so figured I could combine this with my weekend and run at lest 4 x 20 milers which some of my MdS buddies have been doing.

From my week away working anything between 12-18 hours I was exhausted but pushed myself out of the door.

Day 1 - Headed to the gym, I only managed 10 miles with a pack before I called it a bad idea and gave up. Therefore attended a Yoga session to try and loosen up. I'm a Yoga concert particularly P90X Yoga (Google it)

Day 2 - 10 miles off road then headed to the gym and 10 miles on the treadmill. Pretty tough and mind numbing but the miles ticked by.

Day 3 - 20 miles with a pack, I ran from home to Brighton. I met a really nice 70 year old on the sea front and we ran and chatted for miles, this helped the time pass quickly. I met the family in Brighton and we spend the day wandering around the lanes. This I have found the key, when completing long runs, try to stay on your feet afterwards. It seems to help recovery for the next day I presume due to increased blood flow removing lactic acid etc ... active recovery.

Day 4 - 20 miles off road along the South Downs, (no pack) with Tom Parry. Tom ran in a pack but I wanted to just get time on my feet without the added pressure of potential injury. It was plenty of tough climbes and we took it steady in around 3:30 +. Then a bonus when we got back to our cars, they had both been broken into !!!!

I returned to work the next day and followed it up with 2 more 7.5 mile runs over the next two days. A total of 85 miles back to back. I'm pretty pleased with the distance and I know its the mental toughness of these back to back distances which will get me through the MdS.