Milestones and Motivation

This was a good week of training, with a number of "best yet"s achieved.  Longest run to date - 2:45 and 12.2 miles;  highest weekly mileage - 28.5; highest monthly mileage - 100 miles in November.  On the fundraising side, a couple more donations were made after I posted last week's blog (Thank You!) and the total has now passed £1,200.  I also took delivery of my fundraising pack from Cancer Research UK.  This includes my running top, sponsor form, information about CRUK's work and plenty of hints and tips about both training and fundraising.

Now you may or may not have noticed this, but for several weeks my confidence about the challenge which still lies ahead has been a bit wobbly. As the long runs continue to increase, and I've dealt with the resulting tiredness, it sometimes seemed as if I would accept any excuse to cut a run short, or to take walk breaks.  There have been several weeks when I didn't reach the total number of miles I was aiming for.

I have written on here that this is reasonable, and not a problem -and that's absolutely true.  The body takes time to adapt, and it does so while you are resting.  While there are rules of thumb about the rate at which runners increase their mileage, the fact is that we are all different; every runner will have an optimum rate of progression, and it's to some extent a matter of trial and error to discover that.   The first rule of training is Don't Get Injured - and slowing down and taking extra rest when you need it are vital to avoid getting hurt.   All of the above is logical, and true, and I know it.  But at the same time, there has been a little voice inside telling me that I'm falling short, that it's too hard, and I'm not going to be able to do it.

Confidence is so important.  Someone once said that whether you believe you can, or believe you can't, you are probably right.  Clearly there are physical limits to what we can do - for example, I will never run a 4-minute mile, because I'm the wrong sex and too old, even if I had the genetic potential to be an elite runner (which I probably don't).  But there *is* a maximum speed I could potentially run at, and how close I get to it depends entirely on how well I train and how hard I try.  And that depends on how much I believe I can do it - or want to do it.  The running gurus believe that most healthy adults could, if they wanted to and they trained for it, run a marathon.  Most people don't want to.  And that's fine - there are lots of challenges I have no desire to attempt.

I had thought that I would reach 30 miles per week by the end of November and then maintain at least that through December.  I haven't quite managed it.  But do you know what?  That's only a matter of timescale - I'm going to have a go at it in this coming week, and even if I don't quite manage it, it will only be another week or two before I do.  I have felt so much better this week - even after running 12.2 miles on Monday, I ran 5.1 on Wednesday and 5.9 on Thursday, and felt strong and energetic.  I am adapting.  I am getting fitter.

Confidence is both cause and effect.  It is so much easier to make the effort required to do something when you believe you can do it.  And having done it, you then *know* you can do it, and believing you can do the next level becomes much easier.  Having run 12.2 mile in just under 2 hrs 46 minutes, I have no problem believing that I can run for 3 hours, or that I can run half marathon distance.  I intend to do one or ideally both of those on Monday.

In 19 weeks time, I shall be down in London, preparing for the biggest challenge of my life.  Or will I?  It seems to me that the training is as much of a challenge as the day itself - if not more so.  By the time I get to London, a 12 mile run will be an easy workout, and I should have several 20 mile runs under my belt.  All the logic and experience and running wisdom says that running the marathon - assuming I'm content to take it slowly - will then be demanding, but perfectly achievable.  But getting out there day after day, week after week, as the weather gets cold and wet and dark, and time after time going further than I have ever gone - THAT is a challenge.  Once I have done that - and I will - running a marathon will be a breeze.

I hope :)