Listen to your body...
 
 
Monday: Had it down to do the usual trail route but ya know what, I figured it’d make a change to take in a huge figure of eight (I’m so rock ‘n’ roll lol)
Although it’s ok to mix things up it wasn’t exactly enjoyable. 

Absolutely no trail on the route and being road ‘n’ pavement it was proper dull tbh.
Sure the distance was a respectable 13 miles but jeez, it seemed to go on for ever!
There was a noticeable negative tho’.
My left knee wasn’t happy for sure. Adding that to the slight pain in my hip (which I’m not so sure is as a result of my back) the following couple of training days at the dojo weren’t good.
I suspect the whole sorry saga of nagging pains stems from the trip/ slip I had in the dark last week. Yep that’s the one, where I ended up in the proverbial / literal puddle of pee.

 
All said and done, I can’t believe that 4 months has already passed since I started training and piecing together the immense prep work. Worse still is that I only have 5 months left before I head out to Peru!

There’s always that reminder in the back of my mind telling me this is acclaimed to be the toughest ultra in then world, and that kinda scares me a little if I’m honest.

Let’s face it, yeah I’ve done four ultras BUT I’m not a seasoned ultra runner or, come to think of it, a seriously serious runner either.
Yeah, I can run and for that I’m genuinely thankful but, to say I’m a good, serious or great runner couldn’t be further form the truth.
What I think I am (beside clearly being dumb) is, stubborn and have pretty good will power which I’m sure is going to be a huge part of what’s to come but all in all if I didn't have an objective I probably wouldn't run that much at all. Probably a good job i sign up for at least one challenge a year!
Tbh, besides the charity work, mostly the reason for taking this  one on is to test myself mentally and physically like never before and do something the majority of the worlds population will never do.

The New year is just around the corner and the goal is to start getting the mandated kit together and begin to book inoculations which I think run from A-Z but that’s a whole new dimension.

The rest of the week’s training didn’t happen. Friday I was still feeling the knee “clunk” so didn’t run & Saturday and Sunday were a sensible no no too.
The biggest fear I have is with skipping sessions for injury or other reasons, I could end up going backwards on the stamina improvement scale and that's going to proper hack me off!

All said and done, Monday IS going to be something. I’m heading out and see how it goes. If all’s good I’ll do the 16 miles if not it’ll be a short one and then a strategy rethink.

One thing I’ve learned through this journey is that it’s essential you listen to your body. If it tells you to rest then rest you simply have to do it. 
Those that know me well will probably be laughing coz all my life I’ve ignored injury and cracked on BUT this is a whole different beast that has a long term objective. Hey, ya live and learn right?!

Thank you to everyone who’s offered to join me for runs (or part runs). It’ll be awesome to have some company during these darker, colder & wetter sessions. It’ll make a nice change from sharing the darkness with the many ominous eyes peeping out of the bushes I'm usually greeted with during wooded nights runs.


 






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