I’ve stuck to my training this week. Last week I only did 18 miles the whole week, this week I’ve done 52. I missed one day, but that was before I refocused my mojo. Since then I’ve done 5 days straight. Including the run after work. When I did that one I knew I was back on track. Today I had the Advanced Marathoning plan long run. This week it was 16 miles, 12 of them at race pace. I thought I might as well see where I stood so I did it as 1.5 mile warm up, 13.1 (half marathon) flat out, then just over a mile home. I started off with a 6.42, 6.49, 6.52, 6.57, 6.47, 6.57 but then I lost it. 7.00, 7.02, 7.00, 7.03, 7.03, 7.08, 7.02. It was astoundingly hard. I was desperate to quit for virtually all of it, so I’m really pleased I kept going. I was so close to quitting loads of times. I finished with a 1.31:08, which is nearly 2 minutes slower than my PB. Overall it’s still my 4th fastest ever Half, and I didn’t leave a single second in reserve, so I am satisfied with it. If you start half-arseing your training, as I have been over the last few weeks, it’s inevitable you are going to lose speed and endurance.
In other good news, my appointment to see a “clinician” on Sunday was with a real doctor. So they’ve not completely destroyed the GP service yet. The doctor examined me and gave me lots of prods. He said it was most likely either a muscle strain or a sports hernia. He said I should stop exercising. It’s 6 weeks until Blackpool marathon, he clearly meant after that. He’s referred me to the hospital for an ultrasound. That will be in a few weeks. Excellent. No prostate cancer, and it’s not testicular cancer. A good week.
The only other thing is I keep going back and forth on whether to get the Sainsbury’s job. Tons of money, but no life and no time to train. And always exhausted. I did apply for it, but it was with the agency I’m working for at the Royal Mail. They just ignored my application. I could apply with a different agency. We have enough money at the moment, I have good start times, and plenty of time to train. It’s mainly fear that’s making me think about changing to worst possible start time nights. We are fine now, but what about the future?
Right, enough.
Buck.