I woke this morning as normal by a ridiculously early alarm with the intention of getting a medium run in knowing I had done a lot of training over the last few days.  With in minutes the chirps up and a text message comes through, now at 6am I don't get many messages so I kind of know who it could be.  It was 'Gaffer Gath', Matthew messaged me to see if  I wanted to do a long run this morning instead of his lesson.  Not good for my bank balance but he was going anyway so I thought I should join him.  It was to be longer than I'd planned but good time on my feet and the mileage was important.  It was a disaster!  After 3 miles I felt like I had hit the wall, my legs felt heavy like I was running in treacle, the lactate felt like it was gradually building up legs like an overflowing cup but I kept going with a few rest stops to re-motivate.  The problem on days like this your mind just wants you turn round and go home and give up on it as a bad day at the office.  This feeling of suffering and mental toughness is exactly the practice and experience your body and mind needs.  I needed to push on through so I knew I could still push myself even when things aren't right and its just not happening, because this is not a true reflection on how it feels every time although your demons in your mind will tell you it is, in fact it will try and convince you that you cant do it, why are you bothering, whats the point if going to be like this, your not good enough, you haven't trained enough! Its all lies to make you stop and rest and have it easy, its your body reacting to pain and hardship because it doesn't like it.  This is when to keep going, this is when you learn the most and gain the most.  Rest after yes for sure, but don't give up because your inner self is trying to convince you its bad for you!

We managed to drag ourselves round with a few stops or walks but not for long each time just enough to re-energise.  Once we had finished I was actually dead chuffed to have pushed on through, not ideal for marathon training but great mental training and time on my feet for the Marathon de Sables.  I am constantly learning lots of little lessons that you only really take note of when you actually fall into the trap yourself, its ok to hear from others but to have that experience that afterwards you say to yourself, 'please don't do that again, please learn from your mistakes'.  Make a note then move on!

Whats next......