“He played my body like a pinball machine. I lit up, paid out… and no tilting!”

Bren, Dinnerladies

Monday 13th July – I wake up tired but not leggy, which is a good sign. The weather is much fresher this week, which I intend to embrace – we’re only going to hit the high teens in the North East and see a lot of cloud cover. Lovely. Due to work commitments, I have to do my weights session later in the evening rather than lunch time. I do my online Yoga where I feel a little stiff but no more than usual. The weights session I expect to be a ball ache, but I end up feeling really strong during it, like I have power in my legs. It’s a nice surprise and a good sign after the 18 miler yesterday. The chaffing that my phone caused on my hip looks and feels sore, maybe worse than I thought. I make sure I apply a good dollop of Sudocrem to it, but might need to think about protecting it in some way before the weekend. Having felt great during the weights session, I then hit a big wall after having an evening meal and end up having an early night. The fresher weather means it much more comfortable during the night and I sleep like a baby, which I always find a strange turn of phrase as some babies can be absolute bastards.

Tuesday 14th July – I wake up and feel like I got a much better nights sleep for the first time in a while. I’m much more alert and far less leggy. It’s Club night, and tonight is Track. I like that I get to attend one of the Club nights as part of the plan. The support from my fellow club runner wankers is important. Just from people even asking how it’s going is nice. And it’s always best to bore your fellow club members talking about your Marathon, rather than your family. I set off for my warm up and the fresher weather make it so much more bearable. I’m seeing a pattern emerge on the Tuesday. I go out leggy for a couple of miles, then everything starts to kick in and I feel fine. The Track session tonight is 3 x 1200 at about 10k pace, with 2 min static rests after each, followed by 5 x 200m eye balls out sprints (with 200m slow jogs in between). Once we get going, I feel great. For the second week in a row, I feel strong in the Club session. The tiredness has gone, the legs feel like they have some power, my engine feels like it has lots of endurance. Add in the overcast and fresher weather, and it’s an enjoyable night of running. Did I just use the word enjoy? 

Wednesday 15th July – It’s a big day. England are in the World Cup Semi Final against Argentina. Or, if you’re my non-giving-a-toss-about-football 14 year old daughter, it’s ‘are England playing Afghanistan tonight or sumit? Whateva.’ I go out for my 6 easy straight after work, to give me time to shower, eat, and await the inevitable shit show. The wagonway is a lot quieter than I thought, and we’ve got more of that fresher overcast weather from yesterday. This makes it quite a pleasant and satisfying run. I’m not using enjoy again. Sadly, England don’t get to play Afghanistan so do their usual England semi final party trick of leading a game then throwing it away in the last 10 minutes. Classic England. To be honest, I always feel hugely relieved when England get knocked out. It’s the hope that kills you. 

Thursday 16th July – As if it wasn’t depressing enough having to deal with England getting knocked out last night (I work with lots of Scottish and Irish people, feel my pain), it’s also Threshold Thursday. Tonight’s are epic as well – 5 x 2 miles. I don’t remember this from last year. Perhaps I’d blanked them out. The good news though is that the cooler weather has held. So at least we’ve got that going for us. I’m just going to follow the route I did last week for the 4 x 2 miles but go slightly further along the coast before turning. Last week went well in the heat, and tonight I also get to mix the paces up. So, one of the miles will be ‘fast’, the other at Marathon Pace. Rinse and repeat. Even though it’s cooler than last week, this session feels like harder work. Weirdly, I think if the 2 milers had all been Threshold Pace, I might have found this easier. Instead, I find I’m checking and counting the first mile on my watch in anticipation for the 2nd mile being a bit slower. Like I want to get the first mile out of the way, which is not a good thing. Having said that, this is still a good session and sort of goes to plan. I’m hitting around 7:35-40 pace on my first mile, 8:20-30 on my second ones. Both are too fast, but I’m comfortable. The Club are doing a Time Trial tonight, a fast handicapped 5k along the coast, which I thought about doing then decided would be a really bad idea. My last 2 miles coincide with most of the group coming in, so I quite enjoy shouting them in on this last bit, as well as giving out high fives to a few as they pass. God, I really am a run club wanker. I finish on the sea front, having ran 12 and a half miles. I’m finding that the Thresholds are the hardest session of the week, but also the most rewarding. I felt quite strong throughout, and even though I’m tired, it’s a ‘good’ and satisfying tired. 

Friday 17th July – I wake up with no ill effects from Thresholds the evening before. It’s another dull cloudy day and the last day of term before the kids break up for the summer holidays. This will probably see the coast a lot of busier during the week, so something to keep in mind when thinking about where to run. Fucking general public. My wife has bought me some Chafing Cream for my long runs. Who says romance is dead. I do a weights session during my lunch break, then head off down to the coast form my 4 easy with hills in the evening. It’s surprisingly breezy down the sea front – it’s also high tide, meaning there are some pretty big waves crashing over the prom, something you only usually see in the Winter. The legs are very much on autopilot after last night, but the hill reps feel like they pass quicker than usual.

Saturday 18th July – Parkrun Volunteering day. The heatwave is not only over, it’s dead. It’s, dare I say it, cold down the sea front. Overcast, drizzle in the air, a cold wind coming off the sea. More like January than July. I put on a hoodies and pants. Pants for Gods sake. Despite this, it’s a very busy Parkrun – we have over 600 finishers in the end. They include a Hen Do, where one of them informs me she thinks she might be sick. We also get some arsehole energy in the Funnel. One young lad whinging to me that the ‘funnel is too long’, while an older guy with a 100 t-shirt on aggressively tells us the Funnel is too slow to get moving. Off you fuck lads. I hope you get shin splints.

Sunday 19th July – It’s long run Sunday. We’re back down to 16 miles for this one. Today is all about the chafing. More precisely, the avoidance of it. I’m going to smear on the cream my wife gave me, to see if that makes a difference. It’s cooler again this morning, with a bit of a gusty wind added in. In fact, it’s dull, 11 degrees, and feels more like Autumn. I’m sticking with my stay away from the coast policy. This turns out to be an even better decision once I get out there. That wind really is gusty, and I find out later that it was at its worst down on the sea front. It feels really quiet this morning – much quieter than usual. I get it done without incident, although the odd wildlife behaviour continues. I see a Crow trying to catch a rabbit (no, really) and at one point a Squirrel seemingly fall out of a bush in front of me, before we eyeball each other suspiciously, and it dashes back into the undergrowth. I feel strong throughout and great at the end. More importantly though – no chafing. Hopefully it’s the cream, but it’s difficult to tell as it’s also much cooler, so I’m literally not sweating my bollocks off as much. Next week will give me more of an idea, the temp is due to go up and the long run jumps to 20 miles.

Mood: Chaff free