I have neglected my blogging of late reasons being the past couple of months have been in essence pretty redundant in terms of having anything worth while saying!
Looking over the past few weeks it has been a mixed bag for us all in terms of training, commitment and injuries.
I'll start with the positive achievements of Dave and JK.
July 15th was the day of our planned 50km challenge around the Hertfordshire area of the UK. JK was battling with some form of man flu and to his credit he completed in excess of the 30 mile course. Not wanting to blame anyone (Dave), but we took a wrong turn on our map and ended up doing an extra two 3 miles...not what you want on a 50km run!
It continues to amaze me how JK and Dave have the mental discipline to keep going on our runs regardless of how much discomfort and pain they may be in. I have tried to learn from this since the start of our training together back in February this year.............I am not there yet and this race put things back into focus.
We were going around the course comfortably and thought we were at the 18 mile mark come our next check point. I was feeling good, happy that I had gotten this far as I had just come back from a hamstring injury. I had set myself a minimum target of 18-20 miles for this run to get me back into the swing of things you see.
What we found at the check point was that it was in fact only mile 12.....doh!
I am not kidding you - my whole positive mentality just evaporated in an instant. Legs started to ache, back was tight, pains down both legs...... what on earth was going on!
JK had a "pep" talk with me the week after where he said you could tell by the look on my face that I was done.
At the 17 mile check point I was all but spent. Following that check point I couldn't run as the pains in my legs were very uncomfortable and didn't have it in me to push through that to pick my legs up. In the end I frog marched to the 20 mile check point where I ended my race.
Recently I have started to pick up the training that I am doing on my own in an effort to focus my mind to get me in the best shape I can going into the event. I am honest enough to say that I am some way off where I thought I would be at this stage.
What I have found helpful is going to a local running club of a Tuesday night where the goal is purely about interval training. The effort level involved in the group JK and I run in is intense! the latest session pushed me all the way to my limits. I am definitely feeling the benefits within my body and this has pushed up both my confidence and motivation leading up to the Transalpine....in 25 days time!!!!
You may have noticed that I have only mentioned the three of us for this event, where before there has always been the four of us.
Staff is continuing to recover from a knee injury he sustained on his birthday at the end of June. My next blog post will give you an update as to what is going on with his hopes of being fit enough to be at this years Transalpine run.
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