Some interesting messages in the forum recently, mentioning the impact of races on a training schedule. I can understand the sentiments. Even a tortoise like me, who strains every slow twitch fibre to avoid expending too much effort, gets wiped out by these events. The excitements of the last two weekends have exhausted me. I went for a laid-back run early on Tuesday, but was hamstrung by pain up the back of my thighs, and have had to take a couple of days off to make sure I’m recovered properly.
“Taking a couple of days off” inevitably involves beer and fast food, which sets me back further. After running Silverstone and Reading on successive weekends last year, I resolved to avoid entering back-to-back races like this, and now I remember why.
This weekend, the schedule calls for 15 miles, so I’ve entered the Cranleigh 15 mile race — but I’m not certain I’ll make it. Perhaps I should have a leisurely trot along the canal instead, and rediscover my appetite.
I’ve been musing a lot on the topic of improvement recently. Does it matter that I’m no faster this year? Why not just slip into a groove, I thought, where I can enjoy running without unnecessary pressure and stress? It’s an easy position to take. Just a bit too easy, perhaps. Wouldn’t it be like giving up? To reinforce this, I’ve been thinking just how good it is to have goals, and how satisfying it would be to reach those goals that I always had, or at least wanted to have. To get through a half marathon in under two hours. A marathon in under four and a half. A 10K in under 55 minutes.
These are pretty modest benchmarks for most runners, and my current thinking is that I should aim to hit them too, though it won’t happen this year.
