Runuary - Day 7. Common sense prevails and Runuary ends for me.

Monday 7th January 2012

Running (2.30 miles / 00:22:35 / 00:09:48 per mile)

A slow recovery type run at lunchtime in the rain.  It probably did me some good to loosen out the legs as they felt a bit stiff after the longer run yesterday.

Do you ever get one of those moments when someone says something to you and it just makes sense and you question what the hell you had been doing up to that point?
Yes, No?
Well, I had one this evening at the swim training with the Tri Club.
Just before getting in to the pool, Oliver Harkin, our Coach, said to me, "are you mad? Running every day with a dodgy Achilles.)

Now, I made the usual sort of comment about it being OK so far and touch wood, blah blah blah.
However, the more I thought about it the more I started to question my motives for doing Runuary.
I eagerly signed up to run every day as a means to improve my endurance and fitness because of a lack of running recently due to my Achilles injury, which has realistically been ongoing for nearly 2 months.  By running every day I thought that I would strengthen the tendon.

As I contemplated Oliver's innocent and well meaning comment I realised that I am potentially doing the wrong thing for the right reasons.
A recent lack of running, a chronic injury and a marathon looming in 14 weeks is not necessarily a great combination to encourage running every day.  something which I have NEVER done before.

I have nothing to prove in terms of my ability to train and I am not seeking to impress other people, or indeed even myself.  I am simply trying to get fitter and be the best version of myself for the London Marathon and hopefully take that fitness in to subsequent events.

So - with all of that weighed up I have decided to revert back to my original training plan of running 4 times per week and end my Runuary dalliance.

I wish everyone doing Runuary the best of luck and I think in different circumstances it would have been a great thing for me - but it is just a case of priorities and timing.

Swimming (00:50:00 / Sets and Drills)
Tri Club swim session tonight.
This was my first time back at swimming in nearly 2 months and it showed.
Even though Oliver took it pretty easy on us this evening, it was clear that my lack of pool time was catching up on me.

The best thing about it was the fact that I went.  It was a horrible night and I thought twice about going but decided that I needed to go and I am glad I did.
It just served to show me how much work I need to do to regain my swim strength.