Me
What another incredible week of running! It’s been a challenging week, and a bit of a mixed bag but I have been loving every single second of it!
The week started with an incredible intervals session that due to other commitments I had to undertake on my own. Normally I struggle with fast paced sessions on my own, as when I start to get tired there is nobody around to spur me on or drag me around. The session was not easy but I worked very hard and was duly rewarded.
Unfortunately on Thursday I somehow managed to bruise the top of my left foot and I found it very painful to run. I genuinely have no idea how it happened, suggestions on the back of a postcard perhaps? I decided to train on Friday but with my foot still painful I decided to rest up on Saturday ahead of a vital 2 hour progression run planned for today.
Fortunately, although not 100% better, my foot was not too painful this morning and I managed to hit all my targets for this morning’s run.
The progression run for those who do not know, is where every so often (today it was every 40 minutes) the pace/ effort level is increased, with the last section being at targeted marathon pace/ effort.
The run was made a little harder with the wind and rain today, but all in all I am very happy with my performance. Bring on Reading Half Marathon in just over a month’s time.
Nick’s tip of the week
Thanks for those who sent over some suggestions for this week’s tip of the week. I have chosen to write about the benefits of hill running as part of any training programme.
I am a believer in training on the terrain and gradients that you are targeting to race on. With that said, even when training towards a flat race, in the early stages of training there can be beneficial effects if including some hill running. The hill running will aid extra strength work and require higher effort levels to keep a certain pace. The hill running may also help aid a runner physiologically to find running on the flat easier.
So try to include some hill running specific sessions as well as doing other training on undulating routes, it may aid those personal best performances in the future!
Races around the globe this week
I was pleasantly surprised to see that this morning at 7am on Channel 4 there was an hour programme about the 2013 Snowdonia Marathon. Nothing pleases me more than to see marathon running getting media coverage, especially a race with no top world elite running in it, although the winning times were still pretty impressive, especially on such challenging terrain.
Today marked a year on from when I did my last marathon, which was in Marrakech, Morocco. At the time of writing this blog the results are not yet live for this year’s race so I will write about the results om next week’s blog.
Quote of the Week
“One of the most common causes of failure is the habit of quitting when one is overtaken by temporary defeat.” (Napoleon Hill)
I loved this quote when I saw it this week. “Temporary defeat” well well well, I think we can all relate to this. For me, temporary defeat can happen several times during every training run! I often find myself downhearted when I feel tired at paces I consider below my ability, or when I can’t seem to get faster. I feel it is so important to remember that we can nearly always push past these defeats and overcome “temporary defeat” and achieve “ultimate glory”.
“Pain is temporary, results are forever” (adapted by Nick Twomey)
Until next week…the training must continue!