I usually come to the page for these blogs with a concept in mind, or maybe something specific that I have learned from the week, something that has troubled me, something particular which has gone well in my progression.
This week, I’ve just been running.
Yes, the world has gone to hell in a hand basket. I work in an “essential” retail store, so not only am I still working, I’m working more than double what I usual do. This means a lot of hand washing, sanitising, and social distancing. Still, now we’re in Spring (although some of the temperatures have been notably Wintery) there is enough light on either side of my working day to get in some decent mileage on the road.
It has meant I haven’t a lot of time for writing though, and even though I’m not exactly bursting to the seams with ideas about broader concepts to tackle alongside the journaling of my training, I wanted to get my fingers on the keys and get my thoughts about the training week down on paper. Digital paper, anyway.
The week came out at 38 miles, which considering the madness of the week is good going, I think.
I was aiming for 40, so I’ve only dropped a couple on the way.
The week started with a snappy Monday morning run before things went into lockdown. The 4.4 mile loop will be the subject of a couple of time trails over the coming week, I think. A mile warm up and then another for a warm down should provide a very decent session and marker of my progression.
The weather, although cold, has been bright and beautiful so I’ve been out and about, mostly just bouncing around at a steady pace. Tuesday was a steady 7, Wednesday was an easy 5. There’s really not a lot to say about those runs, but I should mention that I am very grateful to even to be able to run with such ease at all – it was only a couple of weeks ago that I was extremely anxious about the severity of my injury. Now, I’m happy to just use these runs as pure stress busters. I was running for the sheer joy of running. I was out in the fresh, crisp morning, just absolutely loving it.
By Thursday I was feeling the weight of the week, although with the general weirdness of the world right now I’ve not really felt like having the complete off days which have been so key to my weekly practice in recent weeks. The routine of exercise is lending me a modicum of sanity, and right now I don’t feel like disturbing that even for a day. So, I knocked out a circuit in conjunction with the exercise bike. It felt good to do something different, and with track training off the cards it makes sense to take my strength and conditioning as seriously as ever.
Or, more seriously as ever, I suppose. I’ve been a little slack with it in recent weeks.
Friday and Saturday I relapsed onto the treadmill, although I kept the pace high and on Sunday I got back on track with what I intend to be a weekly 10 miler.
Or maybe a little longer, if things go well.
Although I hope I might be a little more creatively inspired next time I come to write one of these, I certainly hope my running feels just as easy.
run into words 