100 days, thoughts and views

I started blogging at the end of 2007 because everyone else was doing it and although we are now in 2009 and I don't blog as much, I do try to write about the more important runs. But I should post about more than just the runs. I need to post more about my feelings as well.

The reason for this isn't for the people that read the blog but for myself.

At 1am this morning it was exactly 100 days until the West Highland Way race. It was a landmark last year and I was very worried and nervous. This year it passed without me even noticing. Last year I had ran the Balloch/Clydebank half marathon exactly the same as this week. Last year I ran 2 minutes quicker. Last year I was running Wuthering Hike the following weekend but this year I am doing a West Highland Way training run. Last year I had race 5 weekends consecutively. Last year at this time I decided to run the WHW in 2009 as well.

Here is a copy of my blog from last year. For me reading this is amazing. For everyone else it may not mean much but to me it is the point that my training started to go wrong.

Wednesday, 12 March 2008

100 Days to go!!!

Today is exactly 100 days until the toughest race I have ever done.

100 days 5 hours and 42 minutes to go until I run the 95 miles from Milngavie to Fort William. And how do I feel today. Awful. The half marathon has taken quiet a lot out of me and I know that it will take a few days to get over it. I feel tired, lethargic and my limbs hurt. I am taking today off running because I need to be fit for the Wuthering Hike 33m ultra on Saturday where I will meet Brian Mc for the first time. Hopefully we get on as we have already decided to do the OMM this October together. I have always wanted to try one so this will be my chance.

It is also good because I have been wondering what to fill the void that will be left once I have run the West Highland Way. Every waking moment seems to be filled with it and I can see how people get obsessed with challenges. I have even had dreams with people from the race. Yes Dario and Davie A. I am sorry to say that you have appeared to me at night much to Debbie's horror.

So the way I see it is before the race you can't wait for the race. During it you can't wait for it to be over and after it you can't wait to do it next year. After talking to John K on one of the training runs he suggested that a good way of looking at the race is to think of it as a 2 year challenge, with the first year being a warm up for the real race the second time. And so I have decided that if all goes well this year I am going to enter the race in 2009 as well. This way I will have hopefully learned from my mistakes and most importantly there will be no void to fill.

At the beginning of the blog I speak about being knackered. Today I feel great. No aches, no fatigue. Tomorrow I am running a 42 mile training run easy. Easy pace, big breaks and just a time on feet run. On Saturday I aim to run 20 miles on the canal, again easy. I would never have been able to contemplate this last year.

Although I blame running the London marathon and the Islands three peaks race as reasons that my training plan went wrong last year after reading my blog from the month of March last year I can now see that training was starting to go wrong before then and there was a reason to be nervous last year with 100 days to go. This year though with 100 days to go, I am just really looking forward to it.

So this year everything seems easier. Perhaps when I get to 10 WHW's the training will finally go perfect.