Thursday 27 May 2010: Thursday training on my own and dinner at Steve Manian's!

Mileage: 10 miles

Today I had to go to Elgin for work, so there was no morning run. There was a 4.30am wake-up call and a 5.30am train, which wasn't much fun. Thankfully I slept for most of train journey to Aberdeen, where I changed for Elgin. It was a long journey, but in between sleeps I did manage to finish off reading my Runner's World, where there was a really good article about ultramarathon running.

Because my train home didn't pull into Waverley until 7.30pm I didn't get home until 8pm, so I missed running club this evening. Steve Manian, from the club and member of the Sistine Sisters Ceilidh Band, who are playing my fundraising Ceilidh on Saturday 23 October (tickets still available!!), had invited me and others from the club for a post training session dinner, so I decided to head up to the Meadows and do my own session before catching up with everyone else at Steve's a little later on. 

I decided to do 5 mile reps tonight (with 2-2.5 minute recovery) as I wasn't really in the mood to do the club session of 1200m run-throughs and I really wasn't feeling very creative. Mile reps seemed an easy option. By the time I had dashed up the road from my house it had begun to rain. By the time I begun my first mile rep it had begun to hail! I really can not believe the contrast in weather between now and the weekend past. It was so cold, wet and windy tonight that I felt miserable, my hands and cheeks felt especially numb. 

I didn't feel too great running either. My right hamstring was nibbling away, my guts felt a little achy and uncomfortable and I generally felt quite tired. I have trained quite hard this week, that combined with a recent cold (yes I am back on that!) and back-to-back races, I am not surprised I didn't feel particularly fresh tonight. The first rep came in at 5minutes 31 seconds, which to be honest I was fairly pleased about. It had also warmed me up quite a bit, so standing there under the heavy rain soaking through, water running off the end of my chin and hands I was still in the mood for a second rep. Half way through this rep the effort felt so much more than the first one and I noticed that my form dipped and my head fell forward. It always does when I get tired and I remembered reading in Runner's World earlier today that if you say to yourself repeatedly, "run tall" then it helps you to do just that. I tired it, I kept saying it over and over to myself for the rest of the lap and I did feel as though my head looked up more and that my shoulders weren't slumping so much. The mile rep beeped in at 5.30, not much faster, but I am sure keeping better form helped. At this point though, I convinced myself that I would only do four mile reps, as nothing felt good. 

I don't know if you do this, but I sometimes try and trick myself. I'll tell myself I am only doing 4 reps so that I push them hard and get them done, but deep down I am always going to do the fifth one.  That's what I did tonight, as I was struggling. I did the third rep almost convinced that it would be my penultimate one. I also spent the entire mile running through the rain and wind whispering to my self to "run tall". It was still tough, but I managed a 5.27. The 2 minute recovery seemed to go by very quickly, but as this fourth rep was the last one, kind of, I pushed hard and finished it in 5.29. Following 2 minutes of deep breathing, shrugging off the aches and lots of stretching I found myself lining up for my fifth rep. The trick hard worked and I was finishing off the session as originally planned. The last, last rep was a struggle. I could feel my legs were still very tired from racing and track on Tuesday, but the final straight of a final rep is always a fast one and I managed to finish off on a 5.30.

Overall, I was about 5-10 seconds a rep slower than I would like or expect to be doing, but all things considered I was pretty pleased. Dripping wet I then jogged the nearly 2 miles to Steve's house. 

I arrived at Steve's to be welcomed by the most amazing smell of lamb. I found a room full of hungry runners including Garry, Niamh, Jo, Katjia, Ben, Stuart and Seamus, with Steve, in a very fetching apron, slaving away in the kitchen. After I got out of my wet kit and into the dry clothes I had brought with me I was presented with a lovely bowl of homemade pea soup and freshly made bread. This was followed by a slow roasted lamb off the bone, with cannellini beans, couscous and salad, again it was excellent. However, the best came last, with a sublime piece of dark chocolate torte and homemade Bailey's ice cream! It was simply beautiful and I had to have seconds. I even made some space for a spoonful of Pavlova that Steve had also found time to make. With some good chat and banter about old TV shows and cartoons, as well as my fear of snakes, the evening was a perfect end to a hard day and a good training session. Thanks to Steve for the awesome food and for offering to take us all in like that. In true Come Dine with Me fashion, in my taxi home I awarded Steve a 9 out of 10. He lost a mark for not giving me a goody bag with the rest of the chocolate cake and ice cream!