13 days – Feeling a tad jaded

Well it’s been about a month since my last post and how quickly time is passing. I expected to be posting updates every few days or so and it just hasn’t happened. The training has been going quite well although not nearly as much as I’d hoped and I haven’t suffered with any injuries – yes quite unusual for me!

There’s something missing this year and I just can’t quite put my finger on it. I think Mike is feeling the same, it’s almost as if because we know the training area and terrain so well (Dartmoor), there’s nothing to fear. That might sound weird but I think the fear factor is missing. Mountain marathons should be scary, there should be an element of entering into the unknown but we’re just not feeling it. This should make us super confident and strong but this doesn’t seem to be the case.

Maybe it’s just that this is not our first mountain marathon anymore and this happens to everyone. Maybe a week before the event the excitement will kick in and I’ll feel the same thrill as I did last year. I hope so.

PS: Mike couldn’t get a car with a tow bar so the caravan idea is out. Fortunately he managed to find a B&B above a pub on the other side of Oakhampton so at least we have somewhere to stay. Still liked the idea of the caravan, maybe another time.

Longest run to date was last weekend with a 4hr run across Bodmin Moor. I think it was around 28k which is more than we ran over the whole of the first day last year! Conditions were great for running and the terrain was better than we have found in the past. My legs started to feel quite tired towards the end and I was thankful that Mike had brought along some of his special energy gels. He said he’ll let me have some more of his stash for the big day, that’ll be good.

Off on my own for a 2hr jaunt tomorrow with full kit. Hoping to manage about 20k if I stick to the trails. This will probably be my last long run as next Sunday will only be a week to go and we should have started to taper off the distances. Probably 10-15k next week and then no more runs until the following Saturday. Well that’s the plan anyway. Hope it goes well tomorrow as I’ve only run once this week as I had to get a rowing session in to post a time on the Concept Challenge Series before the end of the month – but hey, that’s another story!

Definitely going to be doing much more (indoor) rowing after this month and have even thought seriously about taking up golf again. Steve (brother in law) has taken it up and has joined my club (Carlyon Bay) and is asking for a playing partner. I actually quite like the idea – I kind of miss it and always promised myself I’d take it up seriously again after the long lay off due to the shoulder injury and Ed (my previous playing partner,) moving away.