A Good Week

I completed a good week yesterday with a 25.5km training run. I enjoy these long runs on my own and feel they add more than just the distance to my training. I feel these longer runs build character and helps with mental strength as well. It’s definitely easier to do long runs with someone or in a race. Toughing it out alone when you’re getting tired towards the end is sometimes difficult and this is where the mental training starts. On these runs I just relax and run, starting my watch at the beginning and only looking at it again when I stop it when I finish. Time doesn’t matter and this makes the long runs more enjoyable. I just go out and run like I feel. Yesterday’s run was good overall.

This is me before I went out at 4:30. I think I’m staring at the camera like that because my eyes were shocked that I actually made them look into a flash at that time of the morning.

The weather was perfect and I enjoyed a spectacular sunrise. I felt good and happy that I can really see and feel progress with my running. A wise lady (running buddy with 20 Comrades and a string of 100 milers behind her) always tells me,(in Afrikaans, my home language) “jy moet eers padhard word”. Directly translated that is: “you must first become road hard” or road tough. I thought of her yesterday because I feel I’m getting road tough.

That’s me after my 3 hour run. This time I’m staring at the camera because my eyes were burning from the sweat. At least it looks as if I had a good workout. Actually it was better than that. I had a great run!

This completes a good 75.8km week and I also passed 500km for the year. Today I rest and I’m already looking forward to the next good week. This, if all goes according to plan, will be an 85.5km week. Have a nice week everyone!