I just realised that this is starting to sound like the Star Wars franchise ... unintended. It is unlikely that Yoda will make an appearance (or any other Jedi for that matter) to assist me on my quest towards the Ultra, I probably won't be doing it in a cool cape and when I tell this tale (over my episodes) I'm going to attempt to do so without plot holes. Oh yeah, I went there.
I am currently one week into the new year and one week into my training plan. Regular readers will appreciate that I had to abandon my last training plan due to an inability to find time in a crazy schedule. Well this week I found the time although it wasn’t as difficult with me being on Christmas holidays. In all I managed 61km.
"I’m as nervous as a rubber glove preparing for a prostate exam."
In the weeks prior to that I put in some good consecutive running to build a good base to support a somewhat aggressive training plan. And when I say aggressive, I mean like the Boxing day specials aggressive shopper. Basically speaking, I need to turn a comfortable 10km into a comfortable 30km by the end of this month, 40km by the close of February and 50km by march and I’m as nervous as a rubber glove preparing for a prostate exam.
But so far so good. I started the year of right with a double parkrun on the only day of the year that you can do it, New Year’s Day. The first was Dawesville and the second, my beloved Tamworth Wetlands. Thursday was supposed to be strength training but I opted for a rest day instead as I was feeling the effects of an increased training load. A few more runs and by Sunday I was facing my long run which was 20km. I mapped out a new route which would see me end up at the beach and off I went.
It was hot, long and a bit of a struggle. I did run a 10km in the very late hours of the night prior though, so I expected an unpretty run. But that’s what needs to happen sometimes when you have very little to no available time. You fit in runs where you can, even if it’s in the middle of the night and you just deal with it.
I’m at the end of another week now and it’s been a challenge fitting running in with work and life. I’ve had to be creative with my time management particularly on my Wednesday long run by splitting it into two. One at 4:00am and the other well after dark in the evening. That said, it hasn’t been too difficult. That’s the good news. The bad news is that it’s only going to get harder from here as the training plan ramps up and demands more time.
So far, the running has been okay so at least I’m happy with that and I’m enjoying the time to mentally chill out and release the stress of the day. I’m losing a little weight, I feel like my form is improving and I’m relatively niggle free. With event day coming at me like a sprinter to a finish line I have to keep pushing, keep making time and keep improving. Wish me luck.
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