Sunday 13 September 2009

70 miles, all out!

With 1 day left in week 45, I'm afraid that I had to call a halt to my training. The sore ankles that I experienced back in May have returned with a vengeance. Despite troubling me all week, I still managed to get 70 miles done with an average distance of just short of 8 miles per session and over 10,600 ft climbed!!! The pleasing thing about this week was the fact that yet again I had the confidence to add an impromptu mile or two to some of the runs when I felt I had the time and energy to do so.

This is the kind of challenging and stressful week I've been after for a while now. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, "50-60 miles a week just isn't managing to stress me out to the extent I need". Well I must say that my body certainly felt the stress this week. It will have all been for nothing if I don't learn from it and put it right. The remedy for the ankle problem is a simple one; massage. I shouldn't have left it 400 miles since my last one and will be having them every 2 weeks from now on. I'm booked in for one tomorrow lunchtime. Can't wait!

Following the massage, I've got quite an easy week 46 where I hope to get a few Spinning classes done and a session in the gym. At the start of week 47 on Sunday, however, I'll face my toughest challenge yet with the first of a planned series of 10 hour unsupported runs. Yes, that's 10 hours heading west along the C2C route with a view to simply seeing how far I can get in that time. It's all about the run the following day though and seeing how I react. I expect a few more lessons to be learned.