Big week, big miles, big blog!

With 6 weeks to go until Marathon Des Sables (MdS), there really is only 4 weeks left of solid training; so spurred on by the fact that hubby has a week off work and had set himself a goal to run 20 miles a day for 7 days, I wanted to match it.  My challenge – to fit this around work!

To manage 140 miles for the week would be mimicking what MdS will be like, obviously minus the heat!  Training the body to run when it is tired and challenging the mind to keep it going as well.

Monday

5am alarm and I spring out of bed like a bull at a gate!  Sneak out of the bedroom and into the kitchen for a quick slice of toast with peanut butter; must keep fuelled up; and get changed and out the door by 5:15.  Not bad.  It’s pitch black so I plan to stick to the roads and head out from Edinburgh towards the Pentland Hills, it’s a long continuous climb out and I head towards Penicuik.  I’m feeling strong and get home with 20 miles done in 3 hours on the nose.  After a massive dinner the night before & my bit of toast before, I only needed a handful of chocolate covered sultanas at mile 10 to get me home.  My feet are a bit sore, I have managed to develop corns on both the outside of my little toes (from high heels at work, not trainers) and I think the trainers I had on could be half a size bigger, as my left big toe is seriously bruised from that!

Wanting to recover strong for the upcoming miles, I don my Compressport calf and quad guards under my suit, and head off armed with plenty of water and fruit for the day.

Tuesday

5am alarm, and I lay still, contemplating for a few minutes, but I get up, a quick crumpet with honey, and I’m changed and out the door for 5:20, bit slow to get started this morning but I’m on my way.  The legs feel a bit tired but they are ok, I stick to the roads again, this time heading out of town the other way through Stockbridge and out to Crammond and beyond.  It’s a gorgeous, misty morning, so misty that when I have the headtorch on just as I go past The Brig pub, I can only see that spot in front of me the mist is so heavy.  A little jumping frog scares the bejesus out of me as it hops in front of me, probably wondering what on earth I am doing out there at this time of morning!  I turn around at 10 miles and come back through Crammond along the beach front back to home.  Feeling pretty good to be fair, I complete the 20 miles in 3hr 5mins, so only 5 mins slower than yesterday.  I think I picked up the pace as I knew Dion was cooking bacon, haggis and egg rolls for breakfast so the sooner I get home, the sooner I get one of those!  I go via Tesco on the way home as Dion has discovered they have For Goodness Shakes toffee flavoured recovery drinks on sale!  I normally like to have one of these (usually using the powdered form and make up my own) as it is a high protein, low fat tasty shake designed to promote the growth & maintenance of functional muscle.  I feel that it does aid my recovery and I read a lot about a lot of the elite runners using them as well, so I am pretty sure we are onto something!

Same as yesterday, Compressport compression on, and I seriously enjoy my recovery shake and keep the fluids and food up during the day.

 

Wednesday

5am alarm, and I’m up, no messing this morning, I feel pretty good actually.  Quick slice of toast with cheese and I’m out by 5:15.  I need to get off the bitumen as I can feel my joints suffering from 40miles in 2 days on the road, so I head down Easter road, get in about half a mile on the grass, and within 3 miles I am at Portobello beach where I do laps of the beach, 6 miles worth of laps and sand running.  Great training for MdS; 2 fold; 1 being the sand running which is great, but 2, to be doing laps which is mind numbing but also great mental preparation.  I think some of the dog walkers think I have lost the plot however.  As the light appears, I head back up Brunstane Path and Innocent Railway past Arthur’s Seat and home.  Only 16 miles this morning as I am saving 4 miles for tonight’s Jog Club at my hotel, Crowne Plaza Edinburgh – Royal Terrace, which I am of course hosting!  I end up on my own for Jog Club, but it’s a lovely night for it, and I end up doing a 4.5 mile loop around Arthur’s Seat. 20.5 in the bag

Thursday

5am alarm, and not feeling great.  Quite sluggish to start, quick slice of toast with cheese again, a bit of a favourite go to, and I’m out by 5:20.  It is starting to become a bit of a struggle now to find interesting and new routes for the week, especially when you are trying to get such high mileage, but also when its in the dark.  I am sure this is a challenge for all runners out there trying to find routes from your front door.  I could jump in the car and find a new spot to run, but I always feel this is wasting valuable time travelling, and especially when it is before work, I don’t have the luxury of time.  I get a bit of mileage in going up and back some parallel city streets and head to The Meadows and back past The Balmoral Hotel, to do another lap up Princes Street and through the Meadows again.  In my head I am planning to head up and around Arthur’s Seat, as I start to go around, I’m done.  Swallowing feelings of failure and disappointment, I turn around and slowly make my way home.  Finishing with 13 miles as a total.  I just had lost the energy and the mojo to continue any further.  The fact that I had to be somewhere at 8:45am wasn’t helping matters, and knowing I had a full day at work and a night out with colleagues made me think to just stop and conserve what little bit of energy was still left.  Still have a few big days to get through as well so no point totally wiping myself out.

Friday

No 5am alarm!  You little beauty!  It’s the smallest things sometimes that can make you happy.  Needing to finish work early means I run around like a headless chicken all day probably using valuable energy!

But by 2:30pm I am on my way out the door.  I am heading out today with a full back pack (approx 6kg) and heading out to meet Dion in North Berwick.  He has already run out here yesterday and has been enjoying the coastal trails today while I make my way out.  I really notice the pack on, and my pace has slowed noticeably, probably also due in part to the heavy miles already in my legs, but I crack on.  Dion meets me at Gullane, about 5 miles from the finish which is a nice boost, especially as he takes my pack from me as well, so I feel a lot lighter and we crack on together for the last 5 miles.  I had left early to limit the amount of time in the dark, which works out well, needing the head torch for only the last half an hour.

I’d had a big lunch so fuelling on the run was down to a small packet of bacon flavoured peanuts.

Feeling very pleased to reach the end of todays run in just under 4 hours, we make it to the MacDonald Hotel Royal Marine, our bed for the night.  I knock down my For Goodness Shakes again and we head down to the spa to enjoy the facilities.  The spa is gorgeous with a outdoor jacuzzi which is steaming hot, with a massively strong waterfall which works like a makeshift masseuse on my legs and shoulders.  A tasty burger for dinner followed by a naughty treat of cheesecake and we are off to bed.

Saturday

What felt like a leisurely start to the morning, enjoying a full cooked breakfast, we are on the road for our run back home by 9:30am.  We are both a bit stiff & sore to start with, but it has to be done.  The sun is kind of out, and its dry which is good, but the wind!  Oh my! We get the full head wind the entire 25 miles home which makes the run even harder.  We are both having to dig very deep today to get through.  We plan to run the 20 miles to Musselburgh, where there is a cafe that we are looking forward to enjoying a hot cup of tea and a slice of cake to make it home on.  Probably a wrong strategy as I don’t take on any food during the 20miles and am running on empty by the time we reach the cafe……..to find there are no tables free and not looking like there is going to be anytime soon.  Very deflated, and irrationally pissed off, we share a flapjack that I pull out of my bag and head off for the last 5 miles home.  It is a bit of a walk/shuffle the rest of the way home but we get there, finally, in just under 5 hours.  First point of call is a cup of hot, sweet tea for me, sometimes its the only cure after a long run.  And of course another For Goodness Shakes.  Hot showers all round and compression gear on, its time for feet up, rest & recovery.

Sunday

I’d already decided that I wasn’t going to run today, I have to admit that I am feeling too knackered, with a week totalling 123 miles, I am happy to call it a day.  Dion on the other hand wants to achieve his goal and has another 7 miles to knock out, which he does battling seriously strong gales, strong enough to be bringing trees down and dangerously close to picking him up as well!  I’m proud of him for getting through and carrying on with the full 140 miles, there are no medals, just the self satisfaction of knowing you’ve done it.

What a week!  The body is completely knackered, but feeling very confident knowing I have managed to do such a strong mileage week whilst having to work everyday as well. I think it is good to get a week or two of 100+ miles in before an event like MdS, but there is no way I could do this regularly, not when working in any case.  This should make me a stronger runner, it hasn’t caused either of us to lose any weight, but I think you eat too much of the wrong foods just trying to get enough energy in your body; and that wasn’t the goal in any case, it was just to get the miles done.  It has also cemented my focus.  To think a couple of weeks ago I was making excuses not to get up at 6:30 (too early), I now know that I have it in me to push on, and there is no reason why I can’t keep it up with the next 3 weeks of strong training and ensuring that I get 70-100 miles in each week, then allow for a nice 2 week taper before lining up at the start line of MdS.