Never Expected That
Anyone who has read my blog posts in the past will know I have a tendency to go through ups and downs, just like everyone in pretty much anything they choose to do as a hobby, sport, job, career, whatever.
I've had days where the world feels like an amazing place and I'm exactly where I should be and everything is sickeningly sweet and wonderful; and I've had days where I could kick someone in the balls. Motivation up, motivation down, I usually muddle on through and get there in the end.
But to be perfectly honest with you, it's been a shitty couple of weeks, and everything seems more than a little bit pointless. Especially running. A couple of fairly devastating things happened and the aftermath of trying to sort all of it out left me with not only no time, but no want to train for anything.
I'd been tapering for a really long run just before it all kicked off. This 30 mile long run was then, obviously, put on hold. I ran only a couple of times over about three weeks. Now, I'm no ultra-marathon expert (like, seriously, somebody should have stopped me when I first got the bright idea), but I'm fairly certain three weeks with only a light jog is no way to train for 34 miles of steep hills.
If it was just for my entertainment, I'd have jacked it all in when my first horse got ill - after all, running was the last thing on my mind. But it's not. It's for a charity which helps people going through shitty times - far shittier than mine - and pulls them through the other side to live better, fuller lives. I really, really want to raise some more money for HorseBack UK, and given the fact I've set my mind to this task of running a ridiculous number of miles for them, I'm not about to stop now.
So, after three weeks of not doing exercise, my body was all tight and achy and I was worried sick my long run would have to be aborted before the 10 mile mark. If that happened there would be no time to build up again and try another one. And I'm not even joking when I say I felt sick as a dog at the thought of completely failing to keep this promise I made to HorseBack and myself.
However, by some miracle, god only knows how, I managed to get through a 30 mile run last Sunday. Energy wise, I was absolutely fine until about the last mile which felt like a real slog. Physically - not so great. My notoriously bad knee was being...well, notoriously bad from the 15 mile mark. My back ached and my legs felt pretty heavy and sore by 21 miles or so - but I'm going to ignore all that and tell myself it went fantastically. Fan-tas-tic-ally.
Being so far behind in my training means this weekend I'm going to attempt to plough on with the back-to-back long runs I need to do only one week on from the 30 miler, rather than two. The last time I did these back-to-back runs was during Glasgow to Edinburgh training, and I was a shaking, blubbering mess by the end of the second one, unable to lift anything heavier than a bag of potatoes without feeling sick for a week. After this weekend - if I'm still upright with a pulse - I'll have just three weeks till race day where I get to see if I really am capable of hill running. This isn't a drill - I'm fairly certain I'm fucked.
I'll keep you updated. Over and out, the only-just-barely-a-runner.
UPDAAAATE: By god, gosh darnit, holy shit! I did it! I'm not messing when I say I didn't think I would - I really, really didn't... Saturday night saw the first long run - cut three miles short by an incurable obsession with McDonald's fruit slushies. 5 miles of obsessing over them and finding I didn't have enough water in my hydration pack to get me home meant I conveniently ground to a halt outside McDonalds with the intention of purchasing 16 ice slushies (at least), not giving a toss it was three miles shorter than what I should have been doing. I got to bed around 10pm and got up at 3am to set off on long run number 2. It was an out-and-back, and the whole way out I was considering stopping and turning around...then just stopping...then stopping and curling up at the roadside to sleep for the next five days. For some reason, and by some miracle I actually finished - without stopping to walk at all as I had done the night before. The fact it was drizzly and I'd properly hydrated before I set off helped of course - bloody amateur. Anyway, I'll get up some hills this week, finish with a long hill run then really really cross my fingers for the next two weeks!
I'm looking for some lovely people to donate some pennies to HorseBack UK to encourage me to keep going with this thing so if you would be so kind as to go to: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/run-watson-run
I've had days where the world feels like an amazing place and I'm exactly where I should be and everything is sickeningly sweet and wonderful; and I've had days where I could kick someone in the balls. Motivation up, motivation down, I usually muddle on through and get there in the end.
But to be perfectly honest with you, it's been a shitty couple of weeks, and everything seems more than a little bit pointless. Especially running. A couple of fairly devastating things happened and the aftermath of trying to sort all of it out left me with not only no time, but no want to train for anything.
I'd been tapering for a really long run just before it all kicked off. This 30 mile long run was then, obviously, put on hold. I ran only a couple of times over about three weeks. Now, I'm no ultra-marathon expert (like, seriously, somebody should have stopped me when I first got the bright idea), but I'm fairly certain three weeks with only a light jog is no way to train for 34 miles of steep hills.
If it was just for my entertainment, I'd have jacked it all in when my first horse got ill - after all, running was the last thing on my mind. But it's not. It's for a charity which helps people going through shitty times - far shittier than mine - and pulls them through the other side to live better, fuller lives. I really, really want to raise some more money for HorseBack UK, and given the fact I've set my mind to this task of running a ridiculous number of miles for them, I'm not about to stop now.
So, after three weeks of not doing exercise, my body was all tight and achy and I was worried sick my long run would have to be aborted before the 10 mile mark. If that happened there would be no time to build up again and try another one. And I'm not even joking when I say I felt sick as a dog at the thought of completely failing to keep this promise I made to HorseBack and myself.
However, by some miracle, god only knows how, I managed to get through a 30 mile run last Sunday. Energy wise, I was absolutely fine until about the last mile which felt like a real slog. Physically - not so great. My notoriously bad knee was being...well, notoriously bad from the 15 mile mark. My back ached and my legs felt pretty heavy and sore by 21 miles or so - but I'm going to ignore all that and tell myself it went fantastically. Fan-tas-tic-ally.
I'll keep you updated. Over and out, the only-just-barely-a-runner.
UPDAAAATE: By god, gosh darnit, holy shit! I did it! I'm not messing when I say I didn't think I would - I really, really didn't... Saturday night saw the first long run - cut three miles short by an incurable obsession with McDonald's fruit slushies. 5 miles of obsessing over them and finding I didn't have enough water in my hydration pack to get me home meant I conveniently ground to a halt outside McDonalds with the intention of purchasing 16 ice slushies (at least), not giving a toss it was three miles shorter than what I should have been doing. I got to bed around 10pm and got up at 3am to set off on long run number 2. It was an out-and-back, and the whole way out I was considering stopping and turning around...then just stopping...then stopping and curling up at the roadside to sleep for the next five days. For some reason, and by some miracle I actually finished - without stopping to walk at all as I had done the night before. The fact it was drizzly and I'd properly hydrated before I set off helped of course - bloody amateur. Anyway, I'll get up some hills this week, finish with a long hill run then really really cross my fingers for the next two weeks!
I'm looking for some lovely people to donate some pennies to HorseBack UK to encourage me to keep going with this thing so if you would be so kind as to go to: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/run-watson-run
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