Eight-miler this morning and it went fairly well. I wore my magic shoes (as all my others have caused / coincided with various levels of foot pain this weekend so I thought I might as well!). Had a bit of pain around one and a half miles in but it settled down after half a mile, which is the best thing if it is going to happen during a longer run. Much better to get that kind of problem out of the way in the early stages while I’m still feeling fresh!
The great thing was that I actually felt fresh and energised for the whole eight miles today. I was testing out Clif Shot Bloks for the first time (having sworn off gels following various misadventures in late 2021 / early 2022) and they were brilliant – easy to take, warded off the fatigue and most importantly didn’t make me feel sick! I’ll do another test run with them next week to see how they do at race pace.
After today (which was a real confidence booster in general), I feel like I have my shoes and my fuelling plan in place. Just a few more things to check on the six-miler next week and then I will feel GNR-ready… I hope!