Week 2 / 9

This week was the mother of all weeks. Nowhere near what I was doing in the Ironman days but certainly the highest running mileage I've done (or nearly done). When I describe it, it sounds like an excerpt from the training diary of a professional: altitude training on Monday, double sessions on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, series of 20-30 minutes on Friday and a (potentially) long run of 30km on Sunday.

These are the weeks when you find out your limits and, specifically, what bit of you is going to break first. In that sense, apart from the peeing episode, I'm pleased to report that I am holding up to the strain muscularly in spite of a slight niggle in my left hip which I believe was provoked by training with a tight calf muscle a few weeks ago. Psychologically I am fairing less well as the constant sensation of tiredness makes me feel very slow and it is hard to believe that I ran a Half Marathon in 1:22 only a few weeks ago. But, with experience, I am able to recognize this pattern. It's important to keep your eyes on the prize and realize that, in the meantime, you'll be stressing your body to the point that it really doesn't feel good anymore. It's a question of faith in the plan. With that in mind, I'd say that I definitely feel as though I have obtained a training benefit from this week that my body will hopefully make some useful adaptions to over the next couple of weeks; could it have been more effective? From the warning signs, I don't think so.