MdS Training 2017 well on the way now!  After a good weeks training last week I was signed up to the MdS Expo in London.  This was brilliant, if you are ever thinking of entering it is a must!  I travelled down on Friday evening straight from work, stopping at the station bar (of course) for a cheeky pint of Amstel, or two!  I was visiting my cousin on the Fri eve and staying at his before he frog marched me to the venue.  This was necessary due to the number of catch up beers we had and the time of night/morning that I went to bed!  After rising to the shock of it being nearly 8am I got up fast and got on my way.

From the moment I walked in to reception I felt at ease, 'I am meant to be here!' Not being an obvious runner I probably stood out as one that may struggle, but if you've been reading this blog upto now you'll know I will stand a good chance if I plan it right.  I loved the expo, it was like a massive room full of clinically insane people that I felt part of.  It was a great feeling, we all had the same thing in common, we were running the Sahara!

So today I managed to finish work early and I decided I wanted to get out on a run and test my all new singing and dancing MdS pack.  I was actually quietly excited about this, new bit of kit and all!  I decided on my route, a nice 8 miler from work and back again.  My idea was to try the pack with a bit of weight in to start really experiencing it properly.  I wanted to know how it functioned, its strengths, weaknesses and any areas I could improve on it.  I wrapped 3x1kg sand bags in a towel and added 2x1 litre drink bottles to the back of the pack, this made it about 5kg.

I put the pack over my shoulders and to be honest my first reaction was 'mmm that's not bad, it doesn't feel that heavy!'  The watch set, strava on go, warm up complete, off I go or waddle should I say lol!  At first the weight was fine, no pace to my running mind you but weight ok.  The main issue was the side to side swinging of the pack at the base, this started rubbing almost immediately.  I was going to need to re-think this and most definitely learn something.  The weights had collated at the base of the pack which I guess caused the swinging motion and in toe caused the rubbing.  Note to self, learn how to pack your bag! The run all in all went well my mental notes were:

1 - upper body strength needs more work/ongoing
2 - core and lower back needs more work
3 - legs felt strong but noticeable difference with pack (strength and conditioning)
4 - feet being effected by the additional weight (soreness, impact)
5 - actually felt comfortable to run apart from moving pack

I have a new song title for The Kings of Leon, 'These legs are on fire!'

With the completion of York marathon I have been mulling over whats next.  Quiet week for recovery then begin again with core and upper body.  My running will begin short and every other run will be with a pack gradually increasing in weight.  I want to continue with doing the interval training as really felt the benefit from this and think it will serve me well to continue.  I will also be including trail runs to start getting the ankles strong.

What did I learn from the marathon?  Fisrtly, the main thing that became obvious was my socks, when my feet or toes swelled they became very uncomfortable so I need to address this quickly. My second main observation was my recovery rate, since I ran pretty much in my comfort zone, my recovery has been quick and fairly unrestrictive so very pleased with that.  Thirdly, no chaffing what-so-ever this time so lubricating well at the start paid off.  Stomach muscles began to get sore after 20 miles or so which seems to be the norm so more core work needed, legs felt strong the whole time just tightened up and began to get sore near the end.  Lastly, shoulders, these are aching now two days after as forgot to do any sort of stretching for the upper body.

Whats in the pipeline? How am I planning the next few months?  Well with just under 6 months to go till the marathon de sables and less than 3 months till The Spine Challenger it is important to begin training out on the trails and with a pack.  The plan is to select about 5 dates to get some time out on the Penine way for the spine and try to cover the distance that will be either in darkness or towards the end when exhausted.  My gym work as mentioned earlier will be based around core and upper body strength whilst continuing with short runs doing intervals and speed.

I have signed up for an mds training run in December which is 20 miles with kit which I am looking forward to for a number of reasons.  Meeting up with Lynton my mds buddy, meeting other runners and getting some kit advice.  I am also looking at the White Rose 60 end of October to have something to train towards and keep the mentality right, its a mind game aswell as a physical game!

So far I am really pleased with my progress, positive thinking and planning prove to be the key!

Here's today psychological conumdrum.  When I tell people I am running the York marathon this Sunday most people reply with 'oh wow, that's great have you done much training?' to which my response has been 'yes but with a few interuptions but feeling good', they then follow on with 'well you'll find a marathon a doddle after what you've done!' to which my reply is 'nope, there all as difficult as one another you just know whats coming!'  This is honestly how it feels, whether I run 5k, 10k, half marathon, marathon or a 100 miles.  My experience has shown me that they're all difficult its just how you decide to mentally prepare yourself for each accomplishment.  They all hurt, they all make me tired and they all need to be trained for, just some more than others.  Now being someone who just try's to finish and not really motivated by time and PB's its just about getting out there and doing it.  So, even though I've done the Hardmoors 110 a mere marathon is still a long way and will still hurt plenty! No easy runs, just less hard!

Not long now till York Marathon just over 5 days.  Training has resumed to a good level but tapering is in progress.  I feel good, legs feel strong and bursting with energy, although a slightly sore ankle but this wont bother me too much as long as squash doesn't make it worse.  I am ready I feel to push myself, to push my body beyond what I have known so far in endurance and running.  Up till now I have only ever run to finish or run in my comfort zone which I like I feel I can run all day like this and that I have proved.  Now I feel I am equipped with the tools and fitness to push beyond comfort so I will be running harder than I have before to achieve my best time yet!

As far as my training for the Marathon de Sables or The Spine goes my fitness levels are at there best but I still have plenty to do, I feel stronger and leaner and my running is quicker.  Where I feel I really want to improve more is in my VO2 max.  This I will be concentrating on in October and November, with strength training but mainly on interval training and High Intensity Training.

My learning is growing every day and my knowledge is becoming a weapon.  Next, start researching kit! and train like a beast ha ha!

After a great weeks training last week, good gym work conditioning the body to different stresses, hill work, interval training and bags of cross training I have tired myself out and become run down and now dealing with a low immune system that has let a sore throat develop and flu symptoms arise!  I have eased off for the last two days trying to allow some rest.  Which after being told this is what I should be doing, I still find very difficult as a person who tends to fill every minute of every day with something its hard!  Resting is harder than training, fact!  I can't sit still, I spend all my time thinking I should be doing something, I feel guilty for not utilising the time better.  I cant even read because my concentration isn't good enough with feeling a little ill.  Its hard to even write this lol!

A nice diversion was a topic we came across earlier whilst I was having my massage.  'The perception of fitness levels'!  This is a great area to talk about because we all have a different perception of either our own fitness or other peoples and what we consider to be fit.  Now I run pretty much on average every other day, I have completed double marathons, triple marathons and a quadruple marathon, I play tennis 40 hours week I play squash twice a week and I do various other activites yet I have days , like others do I'm sure, when I can be out running or in the gym or playing a racquet sport when I question my fitness.  I feel like yes I am reasonably fit but I don't consider myself really fit, a trained athlete or super human, but when you compare yourself to some that is how you look or how they see you and describe yet you compare yourself to some others who seem super fit and super human and I just think I am average and need to train really hard consistently for a long time to get anywhere near where they are or even that I can not possibly ever be as fit as them.  Its an interesting psychology battle I think as we constantly raise the bar, we constantly expect more from ourselves, theres never a point that's enough!

Just todays ramblings and thoughts!

Great finish to my weeks training.  I decided to go for a quick 5-6 miles carrying my hydration pack as good to keep practicing with it on.  My legs felt great, almost difficult to slow them down, its bizarre how some days you cant get them to move at any pace and feel so heavy yet other days like Sunday they almost pick themselves up and just go.  When I thought I was going to hit a tough patch I just got my head down and pushed on but to my surprise my legs just kept feeling strong.  My thoughts just kept swimming around ideas of the Sahara and how I was going to cope, this occupied plenty of my time lol!  I got back to the gym and set about my stretching routine as I was then going to play squash, this I like doing after a run as my legs are done by this time so it makes me really dig in and my competitive edge makes me keep working hard till the end.

This morning was meant to be a long run but felt tired after my crack of dawn tennis lesson.  So the gym it was, I put myself through a heavy work load of upper body weight training and a series of squats, lunges and kettlebell drills.  I followed it all up with a stint on the stairmaster pulverising my legs by doing a number of sprints hoping this will improve my cardio.

My body is holding up well but I need to be careful now not to over do it as I can feel my addictive nature kicking in and the desire to just keep training and training.  I am doing a short run before work this afternoon just to loosening my legs up.   Double sessions are good for endurance training, but not all the time as will now feel exhausted tomorrow.

Questions I put to myself, how much? how far? how strong? how specific?

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......