Catch up

Well I did it. I got myself up very early this morning and got my brick session from yesterday done. As I said yesterday it was an important session, and I knew it was, so it had to get done and now it is.

I am very glad that I did it too. My personal training guilt levels are now balanced within the context of the greater total cosmic guilt. Buh??? In other words I no longer feel bad about having missed the session.

On top of that though, and much more importantly, the session went well. It was another very important stone in the wall of confidence I am building for Mandurah.

The ride went nicely. I did it on the trainer because my training program politely asked me to. It was full of intervals, but they were of moderate intensity so I spent the ride fairly comfortably within my limits. Felt good actually.

Once I was out on the run that felt good too. I was being very careful to not put any pressure on myself for this run. The last run I had off the bike went really well, but I didn't want to do myself any damage chasing a similar result. The run had seven 60 second intervals, but other than that the aim was to just run 14km in a certain time. I knew I would make the prescribed time easily, so other than the intervals, my aim for the run was to get through 14km reasonably comfortably, Get Through, being the key words there. This was going to be the longest proper run I had done for a while, so my main focus was just making it through. Show myself that I could.

Having said all that, and whilst I wasn't chasing it, I was really happy with how it went. Much like the 10.5km I did off the bike last weekend, this wasn't the fastest 14km I have ever done, but it is up there. Certainly one of the better feeling ones. A few times I made the decision to ease back a bit and run more comfortably since I felt I was tiptoeing near the redline. But each time I did that I was surprised to see that whilst I felt like I was running easier, I wasn't really running much slower.

Getting through this has given me an idea of what I think it possible for the run leg at Mandurah, which is guidance that I sorely needed. It hasn't been the best running lead in to a race in history, but I am becoming happier and happier about where I am.

So, given how the session went today, am I happy with my decision to have yesterday off? Yes and no. The no is because I didn't follow the program and that always feels bad. However, I am not sure I had a lot of choice, if I had done the session yesterday I am not entirely sure how it would have gone. I think the confidence boost I got from doing it today and doing it well outweighs any guilt I may feel about not having done it yesterday. So on balance, yes I think I am happy with my decision.

If I had trained yesterday like I was supposed to, then today would be a day off. Having yesterday off has meant that I no longer have today as a rest day. BUT I still get a rest afternoon. Hooray. Therefore, my schedule for the rest of the day includes a whole bunch of not much, mixed in with lots of stretching. I am hoping that I can follow up the good run by not feeling too sore tomorrow.