…and I was a bit apprehensive about it, but it was great to get some speedwork in again after all the longer race training!
I then spent the afternoon doing day job work – that should be the bulk of it done for this week as a couple of clients have rescheduled – and am now catching up with a bit of admin.
Similar day tomorrow, with a bit more time for getting caught up with things in the afternoon I hope.
The Hallowe’en chocolate has been well and truly cracked open. These eyeballs were delicious 😀
Today’s earworm playlist:
Zara Larsson – ‘Lush Life’ Matthew Wilder – ‘Break My Stride’ Journey – ‘Don’t Stop Believing’ DNCE – ‘Cake By The Ocean’ Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse – ‘Valerie’
I’ve done a long video about yesterday’s running challenge…
(though you’ll have to wait till tomorrow for the video, as it’s soooo long it’s taking forever to upload to YouTube!)
(UPDATE: here it is!)
…and I honestly didn’t expect to feel quite so flat today. The whole thing was incredibly intense and I think it’s going to take me a good few days to recover both physically and mentally. I’ll blog about it once I’ve had some time to reflect, in about a week or so.
I expected I’d sleep all day today but I was awake at 7:45am – probably for the best as some urgent day job work had come in, and I was able to get it done nice and quickly. I didn’t intend to do my daily run until the evening as I thought my legs would be too sore, but by mid-afternoon I was climbing the walls and just wanted to get out there. My legs complained a lot, but surprisingly I managed my usual pace, pretty much. I had to find a new mile-ish route as I couldn’t face the usual one after doing it 24 times yesterday!
Tomorrow I’m heading to Timpsons first thing, as a slight bit of misadventure during the 24-hour challenge meant that my phone screen got smashed and I need to get it fixed. Other than that, I think I’m just going to try and enjoy some free time, as it looks like I might actually have some this week!
A picture from just before the challenge started, when I was still marginally sane.
Today’s earworm playlist:
U2 – ‘Elevation’ Idina Menzel – ‘Into The Unknown’
…and there’s just one more to go tomorrow morning/lunchtime (depending on how well my sleep preparation goes) before the big challenge starts at midnight! I’m so excited and so nervous 😯
I spent today finishing off all my day job work for the week, and then this evening I drove to Asda with Geth to pick up all the stuff needed for Sunday. I can’t eat big meals during the 24-hour challenge as it gives me a bad stitch if I eat too much just before running, but I still need to make sure I have enough fuel on board during the day. As such, I will be carefully grazing throughout the day, aiming for about 200 calories worth of snacks between each run (as I will burn 150 on each 1.2-mile lap). I have lots of boxes of small bakery bites (flapjacks and so on), protein bars, energy gels, crisps for when I need something savoury, bananas, berries… and an absolute ton of coffee and Pepsi Max to keep me awake haha!
The last time I experienced a marathon weekend was a very different type of London Marathon. Though the way I’m running the marathon couldn’t be more different, I’m equally excited! I also had the confirmation email today that they’ve successfully deferred my ‘real’ London Marathon place to October 2021, so a year from now I will be back doing it traditionally (assuming this awful pandemic has retreated by then!).
I usually only post running vlogs over the weekend, but I expect I’ll have lots to say tomorrow so will probably update as normal.
I order a lot of Lucy Locket Loves leggings at the moment (they’re brightly coloured and I have found they are a very effective way of cheering myself up during this awful year) and they often put free gifts in the packages. This mini dinosaur has got detached from his hair bobble, so I think I might turn him into a brooch at some point.
Today’s earworm playlist:
Cast of Pocahontas – ‘Colours Of The Wind’ Fifth Harmony and Ty Dolla Sign – ‘Work From Home’ Limahl – ‘Neverending Story’
…in order to see what my mile route looks like in the dark so that I’m prepared when I start running just after midnight on Sunday morning. I’m almost never awake at five in the morning, let alone out running. It was super peaceful!
I spent the morning getting work done (and trying not to fall asleep) and then headed out for a walk in the afternoon. I’ve not been out walking for a couple of weeks as I’ve been too busy with multiple run training, and it was really nice to crunch through the leaves (Newcastle is looking very autumnal now).
I get to sleep in tomorrow morning (no, really, it’s on my training plan – I need to start shifting my sleep pattern in preparation for the weekend). I’m fairly busy with day job work for the rest of the week, but my much-lighter run days will make it feel like a bit of a holiday!
I love these leaf colours 😀
Today’s earworm playlist:
Zombie Nation – ‘Kernkraft 400’ Cast of Pocahontas – ‘Colours Of The Wind’ System Of A Down – ‘Chop Suey’ The Cure – ‘The Hanging Garden’ Robin S – ‘Show Me Love’
…and I’ve found it really does get disorientating when you’re doing so many laps! Thankfully I’m done with the practice now and it’ll just be one short run per day until Sunday…
Other than running practice, I’ve just been working today. Looking forward to having some time to catch up with admin and the like tomorrow!
My Virtual London Marathon race number arrived last week, which was a nice surprise – I didn’t know they’d be sending one!
Today’s earworm playlist:
Duran Duran – ‘Ordinary World’ Lady Gaga and Colby O’Donis – ‘Just Dance’ Pointer Sisters – ‘Automatic’
…meaning there’s just one more day of multiple run training to go, and then I will have four recovery days for (gently) practising midnight runs. Starting to get a bit nervous about Sunday but I’m sure I’ll be fine once I get going! My RNLI fundraising page is still available if anyone who hasn’t donated already can spare a bit of cash 🙂
Other than running, I’ve just been doing day job work today. Everything will be done by the middle of the week, meaning that I should manage some really quiet days in the lead-up to the challenge.
Not sure what I’m going to do with myself next week!
I recently paid the reduced ‘waited a few years’ price for my first ever race pictures from Marathon Photos. It’s important to remember how tough I found that first summer of running and remind myself how far I’ve come since then.
Today’s earworm playlist:
The Smiths – ‘Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want’ Elmer Bernstein – ‘The Great Escape’ Cast of Pocahontas – ‘Colours Of The Wind’ Depeche Mode – ‘Precious’
…which went really well. Hoping that the last four days of multiple run training go just as swimmingly! Nine days until marathon/challenge day…
Work has been really busy this week so I’m really glad it’s the weekend! I’ve not really had the energy to do much in the evenings the last few days so I’m looking forward to having a couple of afternoons for catching up with stuff around the house (including the last bit of my decor project… I hope!).
Running vlogs over the weekend, will next update properly on Monday.
Another ‘autumn leaves’ picture from my walks last weekend. Looking forward to having a bit of a wander this weekend as well 🙂
Today’s earworm playlist:
The Smiths – ‘Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want’ Carter USM – ‘Prince In A Pauper’s Grave’ Queen – ‘One Vision’
…to start the last set of multiple run days before the big challenge on 4th October. Not long to go now!
My days at the moment are busy but enjoyable. I’m mostly running and working but managing to keep on top of admin and housework too… just about! I am looking forward to my post-challenge weeks when I will be easing back on the training for a bit and returning to my coding and writing. I already have this year’s NaNoWriMo all planned out!
Geth is watching a lot of YouTube documentaries at the moment about ultrarunners who run 100-mile races, which is making my 1.2-mile lap seem very short indeed. It’s still fairly intense when you’re running it every hour on the hour though!
I’ve been pointedly ignoring the UK COVID situation (although Geth and I did watch the briefing earlier) because it’s depressing and there’s nothing I can do about it. Like everything else, taking it one day at a time is the best thing.
A similar day tomorrow, which I’m very happy about.
I love this plastic tumbler, which came in my RNLI goody bag the first year I did the Great North Run. I’ve taken to drinking supermarket own-brand zero-sugar Lilt (sorry, ‘tropical crush’) in the evenings, as it is super tasty and non-caffeinated.
Today’s earworm playlist:
Mumford & Sons – ‘The Cave’ Cast of Pocahontas – ‘Colours Of The Wind’ Vera Lynn – ‘We’ll Meet Again’ Carter USM – ‘After The Watershed (Early Learning The Hard Way)’
…and I’m still feeling quite strong out there, although I have to say I’m a bit tired tonight!
I had a day off work today because I’m slightly ahead of schedule. I’ll get back to it tomorrow. I did do another frame for my decor project though. Four down, two to go!
It’s really interesting practising my multiple run training, but I have to say I’m looking forward to Sunday when I’ll be back to one short run per day for a couple of days.
Here in the north-east, we’re going back into lockdown from midnight tonight. A couple of friends have popped round to deliver/collect gaming stuff for Geth this evening, as that won’t be allowed from now on – no meeting up with other households. Pubs will still be open until 10pm, though, so I’m not sure how they’re going to police it. While it is worrying, it hopefully won’t last for more than a couple of weeks, and it won’t really affect me and Geth anyway because we’ve not really poked our noses out of lockdown to begin with. We won’t be able to meet up with friends for runs, but most of our running was going to be solo for the next few weeks anyway.
Just some quiet running by myself by tomorrow then… but that’s what I was planning on doing anyway!
I’m impressed that the Virtual GNR designed this nice blue medal to send out to finishers – it’s very different to all my previous GNR ones. Bit of a paperweight too!
Today’s earworm playlist:
The Knack – ‘My Sharona’ Timecop1983 and Primo – ‘My DeLorean’
…and so far it’s feeling really good. It’s not tiring me out or putting too much pressure on my legs, and I’m feeling a lot more confident that I’ll be able to keep going with it every hour on challenge day. I’m giving myself two hours between runs while doing this training this week, and after I’ve had a few days off at the start of next week, I’ll be practising with one hour between runs in order to replicate what I’ll be doing on the day.
In between runs, I’ve been getting on with my day job project and my decor project, which are the two other main things I’ve got going on this week. I’m really looking forward to being able to share the decor project at the weekend, once it’s all up on the wall!
Another near-identical day tomorrow. I’m (genuinely) excited!
A photo from last week – this is next door’s cat, about ten seconds before he strolled through our front door while we were bringing the shopping in.
Today’s earworm playlist:
Sacre – ‘The London Marathon [Theme From The Trap]’ Queen – ‘Bicycle Race’
