End of the Penultimate Week, Week Three - often the hardest week

The penultimate week of any challenge is usually the trickiest. It certainly is for me during training blocks. You’re almost there… but not quite. One more week at the same intensity, despite being tired enough to consider napping on any horizontal surface, feels borderline impossible.

But—we made it. Another 40‑plus‑mile week in the bag, helped along nicely by Saturday’s long run/hike combo. My weeks seem to fall into a comfortable pattern now: 4 miles on Monday; a mix of mileage and a Hyrox‑inspired circuits class on Tuesday (with about 4 miles of running thanks to travelling to/from); 6–7 sociable miles with Becky on Wednesday; and 8 early‑morning miles with my ultra‑training partner, Laurie, on Thursday. Friday is a rest day, and then it’s either a long run on Saturday or a medium run followed by a Sunday hike with my partner, Rich. In total, roughly 20 weekday miles and another 20 at the weekend seems perfectly manageable… or at least, manageable‑ish.

This week’s long‑run plan, however, did not survive contact with reality. Laurie, who is training for a 200‑mile ultra in April, developed a niggle in her foot. Understandably, she decided not to risk aggravating it so close to race day and sensibly began her taper early. That left me on Friday evening plotting an alternative way to get my miles in. Thankfully, when you have the Beacons on your doorstep, Plan B is rarely difficult. I ended up piecing together about 16 miles of running (in two chunks) with a beautiful hike sandwiched in the middle with Rich across the main Beacons. And yes, it was every bit as stunning as it sounds.

Anyway, enough from me. Thank you once again for your donations, I’m genuinely and deeply grateful.

End of Week 2!

End of Week One!

I kicked off the challenge with a gentle few miles on the second of March, having spent the Saturday and Sunday delivering expedition training to the current DofE cohort. All very sensible so far. Then Tuesday arrived, I got far too enthusiastic at Power Hour, lifted heavier than was wise, and by Wednesday afternoon the DOMS had fully taken over. Needless to say, Thursday’s run did not happen. Doh.

Fortunately, one of my running buddies had also shuffled her schedule, so we managed to get 10 miles in on Friday morning instead. Crisis averted.

In an attempt to make sure I actually hit my mileage for the week, I headed out for a few trail miles on Saturday. I enjoyed the woods and fields a bit too much, completely forgot I was on a deadline to get home, changed, and back out to facilitate an International Women’s Day workshop. I was happily halfway into a second lap when I remembered… cue a mad dash home.

Sunday was a hike in the hills with Rich, optimistically hoping for views, but once again treated to a luxurious 25–50m of visibility for most of the route.

Still, I wrapped up Week One with 41 miles under my belt, so I’ll take that as a win.

Deload Week Done!

Yesterday I wrapped up my final run before the madness of next month begins – a blissfully lower‑mileage week to let my body “acclimatise” to the increasing load.

I had naïvely assumed that a deload week would be nice and restful. In reality, it’s been harder than my highest‑mileage week so far (and last week I clocked over 36 miles). My 5.6‑mile run yesterday felt suspiciously closer to 56.

I’m fairly sure it’s because my brain has switched off from “training mode” this week, so every mile feels like ten times the effort.

I’ll be starting the challenge on Monday instead of Sunday, as we’re delivering two full days of expedition training for our brilliant DofE participants this weekend. I’ll be logging my mileage in the activity tracker on this page, so you can follow along as the month ticks by. I’ll also post a weekly blog update here – lucky you, even more of my rambling to read.

Preparation for a 150mile Month

Firstly, a massive thank you to everyone who has sponsored me so far. I never anticipated such generosity, and I’m extremely grateful.

I’m now in my final build week of training before a deload week next week. What does that mean? Essentially, I’ve been steadily increasing my weekly mileage from around 20 miles before Christmas to the current 32–34 miles, working in four‑week blocks with a lower‑mileage fifth week to let the body recalibrate.

In March, I’m aiming for 36–38 miles a week for the first four weeks, with any remaining mileage made up on 30–31 March.

All of this is, of course, on top of a full‑time job and a few particularly busy weeks of volunteering with the two organisations I’m heavily involved with. And just to keep things interesting, I’ve discovered that if I run any later than about 4pm, I don’t sleep - especially after a long run. So most of this mileage is happening before work or in the mornings. Getting up early in the dark, cold, and frequently wet weather is a challenge in itself.

I’ll post here (with more brevity, I promise) after each run or hike so you can follow the progress over the month. To keep things light, I’ll add the odd photo. This one features the view I’ve seen most often on recent walks. Although, I should warn you: selfies are not my forte ;-)