week six: the reasons to stop were screaming loudly

Home was only a few hundred metres away to my left.

It was around halfway through Sunday’s walk. If I had gone in a roughly straight line, I could have called it a day.

I was tired. It was cold. My feet were getting sore. My stomach had started rumbling, which was quickly becoming a convincing case for stomach trouble. It was Father’s Day and I had other things I could be doing.

There were plenty of reasons to stop, and they were all screaming loudly.

I kept walking in the direction that wasn’t towards home.

more or less a full week

Monday’s recovery session was the only questionable one. The plan said 20 minutes; I did a few short walks instead and didn’t record them as one activity. My legs and the rest of my body needed recovery more than they needed another full session.

Wednesday’s 35 minutes felt good overall. It was mostly walking, with some slow running mixed in to get my heart rate up.

Friday was another decent session, with what felt like a pleasing amount of slow running in the mix.

After the quiet weeks that came before it, that is close enough to a full week of training for me.

You can follow the full training plan on Runners Gateway, including my session notes and activity links.

cold, dark and dry

I started Sunday’s long session at about 4:30 or 4:35 am. It was cold and dark, but it was dry and quite pleasant.

The plan called for 13.5 kilometres. I walked the same general route I have used for some of the other long sessions, adding an extra loop that I knew would give me more distance.

The first few kilometres went well. Then I finished the extra loop, came back up the hill and reached the point where home was so close.

That was when the mental battle started.

bargaining for ten kilometres

The compromise I made with myself was to get to double figures. I would keep going until I reached a point where turning around and heading home would still give me at least 10 kilometres.

As these bargains tend to go, I reached that point and kept walking.

Then I kept making decisions to go in directions that weren’t towards home.

The planned 13.5 kilometres eventually became about 14. It took roughly three hours, so it was slow, but it was still three hours of movement.

For at least half of that time, the work was mental as much as physical. I had to keep making another decision to continue.

a good week overall

Once I stopped, it took me a while to feel warm again. I felt shattered, as though I had run the session rather than walked it and covered much more distance than I actually had.

I have to keep reminding myself that I am getting back to what I used to do. Just because 14 kilometres feels like something I should be able to take in my stride does not mean my body is there yet.

My legs and feet are sore, but overall I am pretty happy with the way the week went and especially with getting Sunday’s session done.

The next scheduled session is a 20-minute recovery run-walk on Monday. That is all I need to think about for now.