Run, run, run, labourer, mechanic, run, run (2nd week of ultra training – and I’ve not failed yet)

Although many restrictions remain, our ‘stay at home’ requirement ends tomorrow. We’ll be able to go to Bournemouth even though we can’t stay in our own place down there until 12 April

Monday is a training plan rest day but my wife and son decided to run so I went with them. The usual 7km but I added a bit more to take it to 11.3km (7 miles), one mile over the plan’s target.

I shifted Wednesday’s run to Tuesday. It was supposed to be ‘4 miles – hills’ so we did an undulating course and then I added 10 reps of the small hill in the village for 8.3km (5.1m) with 151m of ascent (495 feet). I don’t know if that qualifies as a hill session – but it will have to do.

It all felt unreasonably hard – especially to begin with. I guess it’s just the cumulative effect of 5 consecutive days running for a total of about 52km (32 miles) so I didn’t run on Wednesday. I needed the break and the garden benefitted in the afternoon.

I ran with my son on Thursday – 10.1km (6.3 miles) @5.27/km, against a plan target of 5 miles. In the afternoon we laboured at the cycle park, barrowing around a large pile of wood chippings to improve some muddy pathways.

The training plan goes for a rest day on Friday, a shorter run on Saturday and a longer one on Sunday so I went for that, having manned the charity cycle shop again on Friday morning. Saturday’s weather was pretty good, if a bit windy, but I ran 10.2km (6.35 miles) @5:31/km.

For Sunday, that left either: just over 8 miles to hit the weekly total, or 12 miles for the specific run set out in the plan. I assume that the long runs are probably the most important feature in the plan so my son and I set out for the longer of the alternatives on Sunday morning.

I was rather underprepared, having forgotten that the clocks had gone forward in the night. Admittedly, my usual preparation is nothing more than a couple of cups of coffee but I missed out on one which, I’m sure, made all the difference. It was cloudy and with a wind strong enough to almost stop us in our tracks at times, which made for a very hard 20.25km (12.6 miles) at 6:05min/km.

A decent week – but all running, no turbo or cycling. Just over the 60km mark and, two weeks in, 5 miles over the training plan requirement.

I’m still in long running tights but now down to one compression and one running top (both long-sleeved, plus headband and gloves, of course, let’s not carried away just yet).

	Target	Actual
Week 2: Miles (Km)	33 (53)	37.3 (60)
‘Running’ Totals	64 (103)	68.9 (111)

Week 2, Ultra Marathon training (with rounding)

Interesting stuff this week

1. African wise words: A tree that stands beside the river understands the language of the fish

2. BBC News website: Two headlines on the same summary page

‘EU plan for tougher controls on vaccine exports’

‘EU denies proposing Covid jab export ban’

One man’s control may be another man’s ban?

3. BBC News website: Jockey’s regret at positive cocaine test

A jockey has expressed regret after he was 1,000 times above the cocaine limit in a test in 2020. He said he was depressed during lockdown and took the drug four or five times while drinking in a pub a day or two before the fixture.

I know nothing about cocaine but would have assumed that, to be 1000 times over the limit, you’d be wiping powder from your nose as you walked into the testing room.

4. BBC News website: Ship blocking the Suez Canal could be dislodged Saturday

The 400m-long (1,300ft), 200,000-tonne vessel ran aground on Tuesday morning in high winds and became wedged in the canal, forcing companies to reroute ships around Africa and causing a huge traffic jam of more than 200 ships in the Red Sea.

About 12% of global trade passes through the 193km (120-mile) canal, which connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea and provides the shortest sea link between Asia and Europe. The alternative route, around the Cape of Good Hope on the southern tip of Africa, can take two weeks longer.

Saturday’s attempts to release it failed

I feel I should complain less next time I’m trapped in a motorway jam – but I know I won’t

5. On the ‘accumulating pairs of odd socks by keeping the good one when the other has a hole’ issue, the answers are in.

The kindest view is that it’s ‘frugal’. The most honest answer is that, yes, it is weird. My approach that ‘I am saving the planet, one sock at a time, by reducing unnecessary consumption and wastage’ is merely cover for inherent meanness.

Please rest assured that this post was written entirely while wearing matching socks