Everybody has bad weeks. This one was mine.

Monday

4.18 miles outside run with Phil – humidity was really high, we came back looking like we had been for a swim.

Tuesday

Walked home. hot, sweaty, tired. Was going to do a Spin class but too tired.

Wednesday:

AM: Did a 10K cycles and some Strength Work in Gym

PM: Tired. Early night.

Thursday

Tired. Waked to work but cabbed back and early night.

Friday

7 mile run outside: Meant to be 10 – it was terrible. Hot, sweaty and could not find my mojo.

Saturday

Hill session on treadmill – 50 mins 5% – 10% incline progressively steeper for 30 mins. That felt good.

Sunday

Looking at a 4 mile run on the Treadmill or outside.

On Reflection….

Ok. So, once it is all written down, it does not look as dire as it seemed on Friday afternoon. But I had gone into the week riding a high. I swam 1600 meters on the Sunday and I was looking forward to punching my mileage into 30+ territory. What I did not account for was how exhausting the swim would be and how my general lack of sleep for the last 2 weeks was, probably, not helping too.

So I had gone in, riding this wave of fantasy about how I could train effectively (even though I am living in a hotel, on the edge of a desert) and that I could combine training for a hilly trail marathon and a Sky Race and come out winning. I came down with a bump, thanks to a dose of sleep deprived, energy sapping reality.

Sleep and food are as important as targeted training sessions

This lesson is not new to me. I often faulted due to lack of sleep or lack of food. I think that is what irritated me the most. Not that it happened. But that I let it happen again. Well, living in a hotel, on the edge of a desert is hard work generally, let alone if you are training for a marathon. I just need to be more mindful of my energy in/out.

Enough Wining

So looking ahead. I am looking to try and get my miles up this week and I am tailoring my training schedule to suit my fitness goals and lifestyle reality more efficiently.

I am introducing both Speed and Hill work as a regular thing. The treadmill will suffice for this on the most part. But there is always Crazy Hill and the Aspire Dome for when it feels like the walls are closing in.

I will also try to do most of my exercise in the morning, before work if possible as I am usually soooo exhausted by the time I get back to the hotel that all I want to do is sleep. I have also realised that something early morning in the hotel gym is not only convenient and private, but gives me the energy to push through until the third cup of coffee has kicked in.

Club Fridays

There are not a lot of ‘junk mile’ runs on my training plan anymore so I am going to start using the Friday morning club run as my ‘fun miles’ run – as long as I stick with the NSF (Not So Fast) group I should be able to do at least 10K every club Friday and still have the legs for my endurance run on the Saturday.

Although. The joy of training in the morning means, on Cross training days, if I am truly in the mood for junk miles, I can always do a few after work – but we will see.

Boring Yet Optimistic

Bit of a boring blog this week. But it was a bit of a boring week. These weeks are important though – full of life lessons. Let us hope, reader, that next week I am back to my usual optimistic self.