The summer holidays meant I had to get a little creative with my training. Juggling three children and fitting training in wasn’t easy but for the most part I managed it. One day a week all three children would go to holiday club and it was on these days I would fit in my long runs. One evening a week I would do a speed session. Anything else I tried to fit in as and when. Sometimes it would be buggy running and others it would be running alongside the girls on their bikes. Often though it would be late at night once the kids were asleep but on the whole I managed between 4 and 5 runs a week.
The high of Endure 24 but the high distance meant I had to start the month of steady. Luckily for me my body seems to be adapting to the high mileage and it wasn’t long before I could be back at distance. I struggled a lot mentally with my running in July and in August. Having lost J in June I was running places where I ran with him often and I would instinctively look for him. I broke down in tears on a number of my runs, even now in September I find certain routes mentally tough.
The heat was relentless throughout the summer months, even if it wasn’t always sunny the heat was always there and it made several of the training runs tougher than perhaps they should have been. I don’t think my mental health was in the right place either and I think that added to the issues I was experiencing.
Beat the street finished and our team won, which also meant I could start running normal routes again without stopping to tap loads of boxes on the way. Although there is a part of me that misses them. Whilst I hope it is not the case I may have also had my last buggy run with Little Man, fingers crossed we do manage to go out again as I have loved running with him but I cannot foresee it happening.
I only had the one race in July and August, Round Donny Run. I ran it last year with my friend, who is known as my ultra hubby as we spend a lot of time together training and running ultras. Round Donny Run is a 35km staged event. Each segment is of a differing length some are short and only a few hundred meters, the longest is just over 10km.
Last year when I did this I had no idea how long each stage was and therefore found it hard to pace it. Running 100m for example is a different pace to running 10km. This year I knew how long each stage was and could therefore work out what pace to run at. It seemed to work and went really well. The last stage however the heat got to me and I was feeling really poorly. A little disappointed with myself and my time, as I know without the heat I could have done much better, but still pleased to have been significantly faster than the previous year which shows progression.
With the kids on school holidays we also made the most of the ability to travel and went to tick off some of the parkruns further away. Our alphabet challenge is almost complete and over summer managed obtain most letters with the letters I, J, Q, U, Z left to complete.
July and August were certainly tricky months to fit training in but overall I am pleased with the amount I did. I couldn’t have physically done any more. Not long now until Loch Ness!
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