We start week 8 with the usual weather report from Lissi, but we did just about cover all four seasons this week! At the start of the week it was incredibly cold (Lissi’s photos capture this beautifully), strong winds then blew in the rain and mud (leading to some bad directions from Daz), before somehow hitting teens of temperatures at the weekend! Meaning Lissi is now planning to pack everything from a snow suit to a bikini for London.

Lissi started the week with another guest runner. Making the most of teacher training on Monday and a slightly lighter load this week, she took our eldest son on a 5k to Draycote in prep for his own cross country trial later in the week. He “roper doped” her, complaining that his legs were tired for the last 2k, before leaving her for dust in the sprint finish!! Generally Lissi’s feet have appreciated the recovery week and have spent the majority of the week at around a 2 for the FPL. However, this weekend she has spent some time standing around in trainers with a pair of arch supports in that she’s been questioning for a few months now. The increase FPL to 4 is being put down to this, so she will be exploring alternative supports this week (along side trying to workout how to carry everything she wants to take with her while running!!).

Consistency remains the key for Weeman, banking another solid 4 runs each over 12km. Ticking along nicely and getting his normal juices pumping again the impo rtance of recovery days given the impact on all aspects of life to complete this huge commitment, has been prevalent this week. It’s about to get tougher too as the next two weeks really start to ramp up the kilometres – check out the “Run with us” page to see details of the half-marathons and 20 milers we’ll be attempting over the next two weeks. One of which is the Kettering half-marathon that Weeman and Lissi are both running. Daz is really looking forward to a week of Lissi’s completely rational and light hearted approach to her first half marathon in 6 months. So much so he has decided looking after 3 kids is an easier task, and is outsourcing the running therapy session to Weeman! Thanks Wee!

Which brings us onto the most eventful run of the week. A slightly tight Achilles returned again, meaning the debate rages over the root cause. An even 50/50 split laying the culprit between the increased pacing Runna has been pushing, and the new trainers. Either way, the first important lesson of the week has been learnt. Shoe rotations are important, but from now on Daz will now be rotating endless pairs of Asics Novablast and not entertaining nostalgic memories of his favourite Reeboks.

The second lesson came later in the week, and that lesson is, nutrition (or “gut training” – thank you Weeman) is as important as “running” training. Runna had a target of 30km, but a realistic “Daz” target of 25km (because of the aforementioned Achilles) didn’t daunt Daz. No, no. He decided that ideal preparation for a “half-marathon and then some” would be two boiled eggs and a handful of cups of tea. In utterly shocking news, this cocktail of protein and essential liquids is not fuel for the fire. The run started beautifully. Targeting a first 3 lapper of Draycote he bumped into some lovely wildlife: no less than 2 woodpeckers, a pheasant, a scavenge of seagulls (or Lissi’s collective noun for seagulls – a s#!@load of seagulls) and even a Barn Owl. Things were looking rosy when he coincidentally bumped into fellow WRC club member Weeman running the wrong way around Draycote – he was feeling great! But then the rocket fuel combo of tea, eggs and enough gels to make my dentist cringe were not enough to sustain this elite athlete. The wall was crashed into like a contender on Gladiators at the 24km mark and the legs chooched no more. Forced into half a kilometre or so of walking, before recovering enough to get to the bottom of Everest (sorry – Toft Hill!) gave enough time to reflect that this probably wasn’t the best strategy going forward. Especially given the ramp up in kms coming.

Still – valuable lessons learnt all round as we have now reached the half way point in our training. It’s about to get very real, and we’ve made some great progress, but we’re now so close to our target – hitting 87%. Please, don’t buy Daz a cup of tea but consider donating the money to our cause instead, if you can afford to do so. The water will do him good!

KM Counter:

Weeman: 50.89

Lissi: 18.14

Daz: 47.04

Weekly Total: 116.07 (our 4th straight 100km+ week!)

Total: 778.30

Week 8 - Fuel the beast!

Week 7 - Juiced