It was like someone pulled the plug out of me this week. All motivation and energy were gone and I ended up in a sort of holding pattern. I only managed a couple of short runs during the week and one decent one on Sunday but otherwise the week was a bit of a non event.

Luckily enough it doesn’t happen to me too often but occasionally I just completely lose the desire to train. I used to just stop completely when this happened, sometimes for as much as a couple of weeks, and of course I would end up losing a lot of the progress I’d made. Now though I try to just tick over with very easy, short runs or bikes so that at the very least I hang onto whatever fitness I’ve gained and it also serves as an easy recovery week.

That’s what this week became. Hopefully things will be back to normal next week. Click on through for this weeks fairly short update…

Monday 27

Off

Tuesday 28 1:00 (1)

Run 1:00 10k

Easy run. It was hard to even get out the door for this one. One of the benefits of both myself and Ais training together is that when one of us isn’t feeling the love for it the other will drag us both out. We brought the dogs out for an easy 30 minute run and after dropping them back added another 30 minute loop on.

Wednesday 1 :45 (1)

Run :45 8k

Again I wasn’t really feeling the love at the start of this run but when we did start I sort of settled into an easy groove and like yesterday enjoyed it. Having Ais drag me out the door again today meant at least I got an easy, short run done. If I’d been left to my own devices I might well have ended up in Avoca eating monstrously over sized pavlova…

Thursday 2 :40 (1)

Run :40 7k

I managed to avoid the Avoca/cake trap today and again just got out for an easy run.

Friday 3 —

—

I hit the fuck it switch today, headed to Avoca and got stuck into the biggest pavlova you’ve ever seen. There has been days that one piece of it fed three of us. Today however I had no issues making the entire piece disappear.

Saturday 4 :30 (1)

Run :30 5k

I started with the intention of getting an hour done but pulled the plug at 30 minutes. I just couldn’t bring myself to do another lap of the park and decided my time would be better spent eating the biggest cooked breakfast I could find.

Turns out this was a good call.

Sunday 5 3:00 (1)

Run 3:00 31k

The going was heavy and sloppy in the park for this run. I think there’s a huge benefit to running heavy wet cross country in the winter. I think it makes you very strong. It helps strengthen all of the small stabilizing muscles in the feet, ankles, and even in the core as you have to constantly catch yourself as you slip and slide on the wet slippery mud and grass. The sticky, cloying, resistance of the mud and the extra weight we ended up carrying on our dirt clogged shoes help strengthen the legs much more than running on the road. Another benefit is that the recovery after a three hour run on grass and trail is much faster than tarmac or concrete.

Once I’d gotten wet and dirty and was past the point of trying to stay clean and dry I could really enjoy the child like pleasure of just tromping through puddles and getting wet and mucky up to my arse.

Total 5:55 (5)

Swim —

Bike —

Run 5:55 61k (5)

S&C —