Puddings, Pancakes and Lessons Learned

It's difficult to remember whether I'm coming or going at the moment. A week of working from home followed by a four day weekend and a two day work week with a few 6am starts will do that to a person I suppose.

Beautiful sunrises make up for early mornings

As a result, when I totted up my training for the past seven days I was astonished to discover that I'd run approximately 32 miles and managed one metafit class and my swim lesson (helped by the fact I remembered my swim suit this week). Not bad for someone who feels as though they've done nothing for ages.

Or rather for someone who feels as though all they did at the weekend was sit around and eat pudding and chips. Actually I did do a fair bit of that. I had a couple of days break at the home of The Pudding Club in the Cotswolds. I wasn't there for club night but I did sample some of the puds, stayed in the Summer Pudding themed room and had some very enjoyable time out. I also met a man who commutes an hour and a half from London every day to sell fudge. And blimmin' lovely fudge it was too!

I probably felt more inclined to ensure I was "properly fueled" whilst away after a rather poorly fueled 13 mile run on the Saturday that resulted in me feeling rather spaced out and inhaling smoothies, bagels and protein bars when I fell in the front door. You see I'd been lulled into a false sense of security. I've done a lot of around-two-hour runs lately but they've been quite slow. As a result I've been using less energy and using it in a different way to when I'm running at race effort. It was an important lesson to re-learn just seven weeks (SEVEN!) out from the Brighton Marathon. Gels/bars will now be carried on all two-hour-ish runs.

The foodie theme continued on Tuesday with it being pancake day of course. It was also Mardi Gras but I couldn't find any beads on short notice, nor any feathered costumes or marching bands so my RunFit group got off lightly with a pancake relay race. Much hilarity ensued.

Today I'm on the first day of a three day Exercise Referral workshop at UEL Sports Dock. I've been there once before and find it one of those facilities that really make you feel like part of something bigger. I'm not too sure how it's going to pan out, but I do know that after this I have four weeks to get ready for assessment. If I pass, that's my whole diploma done!

There's one more thing I've been up to this week that I've mentioned in passing on social media. I want to tell you about in more detail but I'll save it for a post next week...