Well today was all a it strange in the land of Dan's training. First of all it was meant to be a rest day... i even gorged on loads of food at work knowing that i would be putting my feet up later on. However I got on the ferry home from work and had the tunes playing and I was getting really pumped. Then as I powered up the hill home, I could feel a spring in my step and thought, I know, I'll just go for a quick 7 miler, nothing too strenuous, just get it out of my system. This is from the man who yesterday was feeling the 16 miler in his legs from Saturday and felt a slight recurrence of sore shins.
So off I went, nice and easy 4 miles in and clocked at 35 mins. Then from nowhere I hit stride, I was zoned in and I thought sod it, let's really push it. The final 3 miles done in just under 20 mins... jesus sub 7 min miles for me, it's been a long time since I strung 3 of them together. So all in all 7 miles in 55 mins. A good effort I would say. But did I stop there? No siree, I thought I'd just stretch out and warm down for 3 miles and make it a nice even 10 miler...
But I still felt good, so in the end I ended up completing another lap, doing 14 miles on a school night! And this after 4 days straight training and sore shins. Second lap was a touch slower at 59 mins, but even so, a 1hour 54 mins for 14 miles, with hills... that aint too shabby for me.
The reality is that I think I felt I had something to prove to myself after Saturday's torrid run in the heat. I know that in reality, Saturday's run is going to be like everyday of the mds, just throw in some sand and an extra 10 degrees! But I wanted to show myself that I could hit what I would normally expect of myself. IN the long run, I learnt more about Saturday's run than I did tonight, but tonight's run has put a smile on my face, but also made me realise that I can string together 4days of back-to-back training, with two long distance runs in. So a happy man as I chomp on my BBQ meatfeast pizza reward!
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Dan, Just to confuse things and probably everyone else I'm replying back to your blog!
Good string of back to back runs, though make sure you give yourself a rest! Have to say I think we are quite alike in our attitude to training i.e. typical blokes! If I'm not running quicker than the last time I did the same route then I'll be critical even if its just by a few seconds! I'm nowhere near as bad as I used to be though. I suppose its just the competitor in me. Still struggle to do recovery runs slower than 7.40 min miles though which is just plain stupid.
I notice from your profile that you have Everest on the agenda - glad its not just me then who has a screw loose - I've thought about it a few times too...
Looking at your times I'd say that 4hrs for your mara looks a given to me. May I even suggest that 3.45 looks more than achieveable? I reckon that you could be running somewhere between 3.25 (maybe quicker) and 3.38 based upon what you are doing on your blog - though of course it assumes that your body will be used to a string of 20/21 milers plus conditions/course on the day are suitable (anything over 15 degrees is considered warm!).
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