Manchester Marathon Week 8 - Eat that frog!
As I glanced at my training plan for week 8 I noted my Sunday long run with a sigh.
29km. My longest distance to date, with an added dimension to make it gain the label ‘tricky’.
I knew it was going to be tricky to get this run done as I was in Bristol for a long weekend to visit my sister.
“How would I squeeze in a very long run on Sunday?”, I thought.
Ofcourse I had options:
1. Wake early and run in Bristol. Piece together a route which would keep my interest and cover the long distance or
2. Run in Glasgow after I flew home where I am familiar with different long routes, but when my motivation would be mega low or
3. Justify to myself to ditch the run, you know – “I’m on a long weekend break!” Surely that is an enough excuse
Option two had an obvious negative - no-one wants to run a 29km long run on a Sunday night after a final day being a tourist in Bristol and a flight home. All you want to do is chill in a bubble bath like a mermaid.
But also no one wants to creep out of bed early on a Sunday morning to run around a city on a new route that would bring me back to my sisters on the 29km mark. It felt like a logistical nightmare.
I arrived in Bristol on Thursday and started to make the decision slowly. I just knew I had to run Sunday morning. Whenever I thought about running on Sunday night I kept mumbling “that will never happen”, then a wee voice would mutter “you could just ditch the run or even push it into Monday”. Option three was never really an option.. it would bring on too much ‘not following the run plan’ guilt! The guilt is real.
My planned Thursday run had been pushed into Friday and by Saturday my legs were feeling heavy. There’s a point in the marathon training journey when your long run just becomes tricky to plan it in. It usually takes a big chunk of the day.
There are no long lies when you are chasing a marathon goal.
What people don’t see is the 7am alarm set on a Sunday morning all to run. A 30 minute window to get some breakfast and coffee in, to pee it all out so you don’t have the pee urge on the run (still happens) then after a light stretch it is time to set off. All as most people sleep.
After figuring out a bit of a run route, with a protein snack tucked into my shorts, I set off on a drizzly Bristol Sunday morning. I wanted to back by 10.30am so I could have breakfast then get ready for the last day of shenanigans.
For the first chunk I listened to a podcast then as the podcast stopped I felt myself mutter “29km is going to be long”. That first 7km chunk felt pretty long. I had another 22km to run. Eek.
The drizzle changed into clouds and sunshine as I meandered along the river Avon, running under the famous Clifton Suspension Bridge. At the 10km mark when I turned to head back into the city I felt I needed something, a mental boost, and popped on a 10minute motivational podcast. The podcast theme was about doing hard stuff and how we need to keep taking the hard route when presented with two options, easy and hard, as it builds your character.
I said to myself, you could easily have justified not running this long run as it was too ‘difficult’ to fit in or maybe ran a shorter distance, but instead I picked the more difficult option by getting it done first thing on Sunday to ensure I didn’t talk myself out of it, kept focus on my marathon plan and maybe proof that we need to line up the excuses and do it anyway. All to build up mental and physical resilience.
With this podcast theme pumping into my mind I felt a shift and started to get into my run. Chunking it up into manageable 7km sections.
My run continued south of the river, the home of Bristol Street art. North Street is dotted with some of the most fun and stunning murals. Many recently splattered onto the walls as part of the 2021 Street art Festival, Upfest.
This provided some free energy as I soaked in the arty vibe of this area of Bristol. As I glanced down at my watch I saw 14km. I sighed as I knew I had to run that distance again, but knew there was no chance I was quitting this. I felt as the run continued I found more energy. I headed back through the waterfront taking in the morning buzz. With 10km left I was back near where my sister lives with nature fuelled river lined footpaths. My tunes were pumping by now and I found myself on the final 2km.
I smiled as I remembered my first reaction as my alarm buzzed at 7am. I asked myself “Am I running 29km now?”. I paused and the answer came back “yes”. Those final 2km were magic. I picked a couple of my favourite high tempo songs and as I pressed the save button on my Garmin I nodded as I felt that feeling.
The feeling that can be elusive at times. It was the runners high.
When you do something pretty hard after moments of doubt, working around all the variables of a new location and kind of enjoy it (after the first 10km) then you feel a buzz. Something you want to store away.
You feel like a warrior princess who can take on any challenge.
As I walked through the door I was greeted with a breakfast waiting to be devoured. Thank you little sister!
By 10.30am I had completed the ‘dreaded’ long run to finish the week on 70km, including lots of steps walking around Bristol as a tourist and maybe some dancing on Saturday. Bristol was a bundle of vibrant energy as everyone enjoyed the feeling of post pandemic freedom.
In life we can carry around a bag of excuses ready for when something hard comes into our horizon, to be pulled out to justify taking the easy option or you can just roll up your sleeves and get stuck in.
I’m glad I picked option one.
For the rest of Sunday I felt like a slightly tired warrior princess. My reward waited in Clifton village where I tucked into a coffee and Hazelnut cake then later that night I floated about my bath super glad I set my alarm for 7am, and ate that frog!
What is this frog reference....
My takeaway this week: There’s a book called ‘Eat the frog’. It’s about tackling head on the stuff you try to avoid, procrastinate over or ignore. And encourages you to do it as soon as possible. It then clears your day for fun and you might even high five yourself.
Recognise your self talk when you try and convince yourself to take the easy option then do the thing you are trying to get out of - as soon as you can. You build resilience. That is priceless.
Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection ~ Mark Twain