High June

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

The further offroad adventures of MLCMM

After a dastardly week of little sleep and being generally under the weather, yet another night of little sleep finally resolved itself about 5 a.m. last night with a determination to bloody well get up and go for a run, regardless of how little sleep I'd had. Only trouble was, it was dark ... very dark. That's the problem with this time of year: you have to wait until so, so very late for the sun to come up. And so it was that I didn't get out the door until 06:40, when there was enough light at least to get me to the start of my bush track run, some 3.5 kilometres from home, and from where full daylight was a necessity, lest I be taken by the nocturnal bunyips trip over a rock or tree root in the pre-dawn murky gloom.  

Today I ventured even further afield than previously, exploring new paths and byways which lead to unexplored parts of the far northern end of the Lane Cove National Park. I'm slowly getting to know these paths; the ones to avoid (creeks, bogs, bloody steep hills etc.) and the parts to seek out (kinder, gentler running with views and so forth), and with the weather being rather clement for the moment, I've been kicking myself for not making the effort in recent days. I did rather make up for it somewhat this morning, however, with a long out-and-back effort of a little over 24 kilometres. Not all of it was run, I hasten to add, but it was a tough outing, as made evident by my falling into a deep sleep for over an hour almost immediately on my return.

I still struggle with the thought that this running, whilst very exhilarating, isn't quite what I need heading into a road marathon, now just 12 weeks away. Well, I say "just" 12 weeks, but of course, that should be plenty of time if I just pull my finger out and get on with consistent, planned training. So this week it's back to the treadmill for some proper endurance training runs. Which isn't to say that off-road running doesn't have a key part to play; it's just that I'm not sure where it fits in and how... oh what the heck, I'm clearly over-thinking all this. Let's just get out there and log a few hundred more kilometres and let it all sort itself out, as I'm sure it will.

At least we're now over the shortest day of the year. And whilst, yes, of course, we still have two more solid months of winter ahead, the hours of sunlight are now irrevocably getting longer, and that does wonders for the lifting of my mood and the cessation of winter blues.

But I really must hit the treadmill again with regularity and purpose.

Here goes...