This is the last hypnosis for running blog post that will chart my weekly mileage for a few weeks. This week and next week are just taper weeks as I start resting up ready for my first marathon of the year at London. The hay is already in the barn as far as my running is concerned. The excitement is really building now for the upcoming events though I have already started planning my schedule for what happens afterwards; I have ultra marathons to run and multiple race events to complete, so there’ll not be too much resting on laurels, regardless of how things go with my London and Edinburgh Spring marathons.
This is what my running schedule looked like last week:
Week Fourteen: 49M in total
Mon 4M (35 mins) easy recovery run.
Tue 6M of 1M jog, then 7 x 800m (or 3 mins) fast, with 100m (or 1-min) jog recoveries, then 1M jog
Wed 7M (60 mins) slow
Thu 9M (70 mins) steady
Fri Rest
Sat 5M (42 mins) easy
Sun 18M (2hrs 30) slow
Again, my Sunday run was a lot faster than my schedule dictated, as were most of my runs last week. I also had quite a bit to drink a week last Sunday, so did not manage my Monday recovery run! Therefore I squashed everything up a bit and ended up doing Monday’s run on Tuesday, Tuesday’s scheduled run on Wednesday and so on, missing my rest day on Friday as I’d had it last Monday. This meant I was absolutely shattered yesterday. Thank goodness it is the taper, because I am ready for it.
In the past few weeks, I have been transitioning to ‘zero-drop’ running footwear. Zero drop refers to the shoes being totally flat. Most running shoes I have worn in the last 16 years that I have been running marathons have had the heel around 5-12mm higher than the toe, which is quite usual among running shoes. However, my usual favoured shoes of recent years have been splitting at the seams after 600-800 miles as my feet are slightly too wide for them. I have been researching for a number of years and decided that if I am going to step up to ultra marathons later this year, I wanted to really get my running style and posture correct. That will be easier if I allow my wide feet to spread out more naturally and if I allow my own body to start to run more in the way that feels right for me.
I have invested in a couple of pairs of Altra running shoes. I think they are awesome to run in, they feel great. I have cushioned and non-cushioned depending on the type of run I want them for. I also bought a pair for running trails that have more grip. For the first couple of weeks, I just used them for shorter runs and my calves could feel the difference; they were getting stretched more during runs and having to work harder while stretched at a length that they were not used to. My calf stretches got a lot of self-hypnosis assistance in recent weeks, I can tell you.
The Altra running shoes look different and are not necessarily for the fashion conscious runner. The less cushioned pairs less so, but with me having to get them a size bigger than my usual shoes, the well cushioned pair make me look like I am wearing a pair of Herman Munster’s hand-me-downs! I try to forget about this when running and have mainly worn them in the very early hours when no-one else is really around. As I say, I am not really bothered how I look….
I shall write again next week as I prepare for the marathons, but just in case you have not read these articles, they are worth a glance.
Firstly, did you know that “long distance running makes men attractive: Those who run endurance races get more dates and have a higher sex drive”
I’d have to agree with the research, of course.
Secondly, The number of people pulling on their trainers and heading out for a run rose by 67% over the past eight years. Therefore, I’ll be offering plenty more information and strategy very soon for those wishing to learn how to use their brain to run as well as their legs.
Back soon….
