JANUARY GRIND PUTS A SOLID BASE IN PLACE
That was a tough month of running on the quiet. So no record distances notched and only one race under the belt which didn't go too great, but certainly the art of running tired was tried and tested if nowt else. I've set my stall out for running a minimum forty mile week this year - at least until going in to the Three Peaks race at the end of April - it's not been pretty so far, but the month ended feeling more conditioned to the mileage stipulation and with a bit of poke back in the legs.
The roughly run routine in January has been a steady ten miler off road, sometimes with Connie the dog as pacer, a couple of eight milers on the road, track session Tuesday and some other bits around that. 180 miles in all and much of it has been a bloody grind to be quite honest. Hip to knee down my right hand side has started giving me bother, although some foam rolling has managed to suppress further infringement. Track sessions have been run on empty... in fact I barely recall a single day when I actually felt really up for a run! I perceive to myself and others that I do all this for pleasure, but the real reasons can only lie much deeper, requiring a separate and more soul searching thesis on the subject if I was to go in to more detail. Thankfully, I will refrain from that for now.
As I get older, more and more I find the effects of training a bit of a paradox. I'm having to work much harder to get where I want to be again (and I've definitely still not got there!) meanwhile recovery doesn't come around quick enough, if at all and it's difficult to balance everything when my mileage is uncontrollably preoccupied by hardening up for the Peaks race.
Some shorter distance effort runs on the hills seemed to push me through a barrier and back on song though. The last track session of the month on the last day of January also revealed cause for encouragement, running a tough pyramid session well within recent pace and finishing strong. It must be said that Blackburn Harriers have a really good group down at Witton Park track on Tuesday evenings, in fact two good groups. But the smaller endurance group which I run with is growing in quality and depth which is pushing every one of us on.