5.25 alarm! Up and out with Bertie the dog. This is now my daily routine, whatever the weather we go out. Easy comparisons to my training, we should use the same mindset as I now get up without questioning it because Bertie needs me to, but when its for a run and you're not fully committed then we often choose not to go because your bed is more appealing.
As this weeks gone on I've slowly recovered from my long blast last Sunday putting myself through it so I run on tired legs and get used to not feeling 100%. Two niggles I've been dealing with, especially since Sunday, an ongoing sore knee and a tight hip flexor. What have I been doing to relieve this so I can continue training? Well I've dropped it down slightly to allow some rest and recovery, I'm trying to increase the flexibility in my knee or left leg by firstly leaning against the aga to warm it up slightly which is nice lol! Then holding a couple of stretches and squatting down trying to feel no pain when in my maximum bent position. The pain has become less over the week and is starting to free up which feels great. Most of this originates from my quads as they are excessively tight so I am constantly trying to free them up using stretching and foam roller and the rolling pin roller. Constant attention is the only way I'm going to get this resolved and train at the same time.
Back to last year, so not only did I have the greatest day ever getting married to Sarah I had a few little achievements to remember the lockdown from. After the initial period of the first lockdown which was horrific we began to establish a few routines and get to grips with it. I kept up my training and started pushing myself more and more, and following various facebook groups and seeing lots of challenges occurring I decided focus my training towards something. I decided a garden marathon was on the cards and I fancied having a go. This, in my head was massive, once I selected my day working on the principle of about 6 hours I got up early and set off. The first 10 miles didn't seem too bad then it started to become a bit of a chore. The repetitive nature of what I was doing was the toughest part. I created a loop that involved running a figure of 8 to maximise my garden. So I started at the back door and went clockwise to the garden then looped back around the garden and through the shed and back to the start. This was going to require several hundred laps but hey ho it is what it is. I set up a mini checkpoint at the outdoor table and allowed myself a few stops to re-fuel. It was brilliant Sarah kept coming out to see how I was doing and offering support as she always does, and the kids running a few laps with me winning the races we kept doing. Exhausting for all ha ha! I was right it took me approximately 6 hours and my last few laps I got a little disorientated because I tried to run the opposite direction to mix things up at the end as boredom had set in. This completely threw me and messed with my head, making me a bit wobbly, very strange sensation indeed. The end came and I collapsed on the grass feeling ecstatic that I'd done something so ridiculous yet brilliant. Wow!! Thats just crazy, great mental training ready for the Hardmoors 160 and great base training for my legs.
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