Holly: “Nothing wrong with dog’s milk. Full of goodness, full of vitamins, full of marrowbone jelly. Lasts longer than any other type of milk, dog’s milk.”
Lister: “Why?”
Holly: “No bugger’ll drink it.”
Holly and Lister, Red Dwarf
Monday 22nd June – It feels like the first two weeks have flown by much faster than in the last cycle. It’s week 3 already, and it promises to be a hot one. It starts fresh enough – both weather wise and physically. I feel in good nick – probably due to yesterday’s long one ‘only’ being 12 miles. During both my Yoga and Weights sessions I feel neither leggy nor sore. I know from experience that this probably won’t be the case from now on, so I embrace it.
Tuesday 23rd June – Today is the start of the heat wave. I mercifully whinged countless times on this blog about living next to the North Sea and it spending most of the Winter trying to kill me through exposure. This week, I need to apologies to it. We’re probably the coolest place in England, and for that I am truly thankful. Ask me again in November though. It’s still very warm though – 20 degrees plus when I get out for the club session later on. This one is down the sea front though, so I’m hoping for a nice cooling breeze. And we get it. It’s a big relief when I get down there, about 5 degrees cooler with a lush breeze. The session itself is great – a mixture of paces over different times. Nothing too nuts. I get back in plenty of time to watch England draw nils each with Ghana.
Wednesday 24th June – The heat wave is now fully entrenched. It’s 6 mile easy day and once again I head off down the Wagonway in the evening. I was tempted to head down the coast for the breeze again, but I just know it will be packed down there. It’s much quieter on the Wagonway, and cooler than I thought. I also feel like the legs and the ‘engine’ are starting to get used to the miles now.
Thursday 25th June – It’s thresholds day and I’m really not looking forward to this one. It’s warm and this one is a little bit more testing – 6 x 1 miles. I’ve gone far too fast on my last two weeks of thresholds, so make a mental note to slow it down this evening. Having said all of that, I really enjoy this session. I go too fast again (fucks sake) but the heat doesn’t get to me and this feels like it’s over quite quickly. Which is always a good sign. I feel smugly happy with myself afterwards.
Friday 26th June – Due to a mixture of the heat and being busy in the evening, I get our first thing for my hills session. Always a gamble when you’ve only really had 10 hours rest since thresholds. However, my legs feel good. It’s very warm, even though it’s still early, and I’m absolutely drenched in sweat when I finish. I walk back up just in time to miss a huge thunderstorm – it literally starts the moment I shut the door behind me. I wouldn’t have minded getting wet actually, it would have been quite refreshing. Being struck by lightning though, not so good.
Saturday 27th June – Rest day, although I am going to do some core work. Due to the heat, I’ve had a week of crap sleep. It finally catches up with me this morning and I feel knackered. After getting some jobs done in the morning and doing my weights workout, I nip back to bed for a nana nap for a couple of hours over lunch time. England are playing late, and I also need to get up early for my long run tomorrow, so catching up on sleep when I can seems like a good idea. I also need to do some prep – I’m going to be on the Snot Rocket Podcast on the Sunday evening and we’re reviewing a film. So I need to watch the film. That would help. It’s the Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner and I really enjoy it. England make hard work of it, but win 2-0.
Sunday 28th June – I’m up early to beat the heat and my couple of hours nana nap yesterday seems to have done the trick. It’s warm again, but there is a definite breeze in the air, which is lush. I head down to the sea front for the first 5k or so and, despite it being 6:15am on a Sunday morning, there are pockets of runners out and about. Flashback to the first time I did this 16 miler last February. It was dark, cold, windy, and I never saw a soul for this whole portion of the route.This first part ‘flies’ by, and I’m soon heading inland. I’ve modified this route slightly or the summer. It’s seagull nesting time, and this time of year the flying rats can get very aggressive – they especially hate runners. Never mind Drones or Nuclear Warheads, if military forces around the world recruited these feathered bastards they win in a day. There is a particular spot around 6 mile in, whereby the most evil gull I’ve ever encountered sits waiting for me every June and July. I’ve therefore managed to figure out a slight detour that doesn’t bring me over or under the 16 mile. Or get me assassinated by these winged arseholes. Or so I thought. Because out of nowhere, like a white squawking ninja, I’m dive bombed by one of Lucifer’s minions, it’s claws missing my head by mere centimetres. FFS. Heart rate and Pace both through the roof, I manage to survive the attack – not before shouting ‘C*NT’ into the deathly silent street at 7am on a Sunday morning. Attempt on my life survived, the rest of my run is comfortable. Although I do find myself side eyeing every gull. This is the third time I’ve worn my new Brooks to run – they’ve had a 12 and 1 4 mile run in them – and I noticed after the 14 one that my big toes were a little sore. Nothing bad, but I put this down to wearing them in. However, I am starting to feel this again at around the 12 mile mark. At 15 miles, my left big toe is now noticeably sore. 16 miles completed, I take off my sock to investigate and find a blister on the inside of my big toe. I never get blisters. Great. Something to keep an eye on, but it look like these might not be the Marathon shoes after all. After a hearty breakfast, I prep for the Podcast by drinking several beers then record it in the early evening. I really enjoy it, we have a a good laugh, but I do wonder after if I’ve made an arse of myself. Still, after the seagull attack, I’m just thankful to still be alive. Twat.
Mood: Traumatised