TO PEAKS OR NOT TO PEAKS? THAT IS THE QUESTION
August was clearly the heaviest month of mileage for eighteen months and I dare say one of the best. Just a few weeks of genuinely good, solid training is all it takes to get the love back, but also to get a bit giddy and start thinking way ahead of myself... oh no, the Three Peaks Race has got inside my head again. I expected it would do at some point. I was never going to be able to part company with this epic race on a DNF. The Peaks may well be eight months in to the future unknown, but now is the time to provisionally plant a seed in my head if the shoots of redemption really are to be sewn. A provisional plantation of such a seed at this time is merely to intend, rather than commit just yet. But it means Autumn training must start slowly trending towards that eventual goal at the end of next April. Initially though, gearing up for The Tour of Pendle Race in November will be the telling factor. A long overdue return to this tough seventeen miler should tell me whether my legs are going to comply with my intentions. If there's no sign of promise at The Tour, then I won't waste Winter chasing the impossible and so forget Three Peaks and revert back to normal service.
Normal service lately has been promising. Plenty of hard work on the fells, effective speed sessions on my grass track on Worden Park and a toughness starting to build up. Recovery seems speedier and a capability to run half decent on battered legs has returned. I've been blaming the ageing process, when actually just a little more application, a few more miles and bit more bit between the teeth feels like it has made a real difference. Seizing this moment and not ruining it all by running myself in to an injury hole is now the trapeze wire which I carefully tread.
This week's race at Hades Hill is sadly the final evening race on the fells until next Spring. I really ought to bang out my best run of the year so far at this one. I'm actually really looking forward to the contest, without any hang ups that I may run completely crap or at best, below average. That's not going to happen. This can't be another case of desperate delusion, can it?