Taper

After a really hectic weekend, I am now beginning to taper for the 3 marathons in 3 days around the Pembrokeshire Coastal path on Nov 5th.

I managed 80 miles last week reasonably well. I have learnt that the best way to deal with aching legs, tiredness, and worry about whether I will be able to complete the distance or not, is just not to think about it! Having done 18 miles offroad on Wednesday, and another 12 road miles on Thursday as well as a couple of power walks, I was not looking forward to Friday's 23 miles. Rather than worry about it though, I actively put it out of my mind, and trusted that as in the past my body would rise to the challenge and get it done. And, would you belive it, it did!

The 23 miles was done on a circular route (no opportunities to cut it short), with plenty of hills (keeps the boredom at bay), and a strategy of 3 miles run 1 minute walk. The run/walk really helped. During the walk breaks I fuelled up, reorganised anything I needed to, and gave myself a bit of breathing space. Only having to concentrate on the next 3 miles, made the run a whole lot easier, and my pace was actually exactly the same as on previous runs which had had no walk breaks at all.

After the 23 miles I made tea for the family then drove to my parents' near Bristol. On the Saturday I got up at 6.30am and drove up to Solihull where I spent the next 2 days doing an Initial Tutor Training course for UK Athletics. The course was incredibly intense but very interesting, and I even managed to get up at 6.15am on the Sunday to complete 5 miles. Not getting home til 9.15pm last night was tough though. I missed my family, and I have had no break this weekend, so I feel shattered today. That hasn't stopped me doing a 6 miler though.

Lessons learnt this week - if you've done the planning, there's no need to think about it any more, just get on and do it!