I never thought running a 5okm ultra marathon was going to be easy. In fact, that was the whole point of doing it, to see how far I can push myself – to see what I can achieve if I set my mind to it and train for this endurance event. I have not been running for that long, but the bug has bitten. I am proabably pushing myself a bit too hard at the moment, especially with the race so close – ould have loved to do a few more long runs before the race, but time has ran out.
35km Midrand to Sandton by moeriedam@gmail.com at Garmin Connect – Details.
Today’s long run started out easy. The goal was to do a 35km run – by far the longest distance I have ever done. I am still not sure how I did it. I tried to do 30km, two weeks ago and only managed to complete 25km :-(.
The route I ran today was full of hills. I was going to call it quits at 30km, my feet were hurting, my legs tired. But..I decided NO! I am finishing my workout! I just had to finish this long run of 35km. I won’t have another opportunity before the race to do this, so this was it! I walked most of the last 5km. It was hard, it took me 50mins to finish 5km…literally walking at 10mins/km :-(. How de hell am I gonna get through another 15km!
I almost collapsed when I got home after the 35km run. I had no more energy left in my body. In fact I did not know what to do with my body – I could not stand, sit or walk. I now know why people just collapse at finish lines – It’s like something mental kicks in at that point. You mind telling your body that it is all over!…and you no longer have control over it. So scary! 🙂
The only saving grace I have is that all my training runs have been on difficult routes with lots of hills and pulls. I went to look at the city-2-city route and it seems do be doable, but there is no way that I will be able to complete the run in less that 7hr. Today’s 35km took me almost 5hrs..which means I need to finish the last 15km in 2hrs. A tough call on tired legs….
I am so tired now – I consider my peak training completed. Even if I wanted to train more I don’t think I have the energy. What’s left for me now is to taper – to recover well, to rest well, to watch my diet and take things easy. Everything else now is out of my hands – I have done the training, what must be, must be….
Quote of the day
“Conquering any difficulty always gives one a secret joy, for it means pushing back a boundary line and adding to one’s liberty“. Henri Frederic Amiel, Swiss philosopher, poet and critic
