Monday Monday

Most people hate Mondays. I'm starting to love them as it is my rest day. I was expecting to be a bit achy after Sunday (and maybe thought DOMS would come on throughout the day) but there was nothing. It's like I hadn't bothered running. This is a good thing. I even felt a bit tetchy and wanted to do some sort of training, but I was good and didn't.

Today I am doing some squat tonnage and I'm quite looking forward to giving it a go. I am to do either 5 sets of 20 reps, 3 sets off 33 reps (with one added onto the end for good measure) or 2 sets of 50 reps (which Shaun guarantees will burn the hell out of my legs). He wants me to do 1 set of 100 reps but I have been given strict instructions NOT to do that today on my first attempt. Phew... saved for another day then ;-)

I'm totally loving my new training programme and I think it's because a lot of it is on a rolling 4 week basis. This is only the start of my third week so I have 2 weeks of "unknown to my body" exercises still to do. It's great! I can't believe for the last few years I have been plagued with calf issues from any run above 18 miles and it has taken until now to resolve. I've tried rollering, massage, good hydration, giving up caffeine, giving up alcohol and stretching (which I have to say I hate doing at the best of times) and after only 1 week of calf raises the issue has subsided. Last week I was told to try at least my own bodyweight for 3 sets of 15 reps and I was petrified because of my foot, and was prepared to bail out if I needed to. I had to really concentrate to engage the right calf muscle as it seems my body automatically wants to protect that previous injury. I think what is more surprising is that I had no calf pain the next day either. It may even be time to buy a skipping rope instead of doing skips "rope-less" (another exercise avoided because of my foot).

So, that's quad pain during a race/long run getting addressed and calf pain too. Hopefully the only way is up. I have also bought 4 lead shot weight bags from a diving online store. The sand in my weights vest is too cumbersome and makes running with it against my stomach very uncomfortable now that I'm up to 4KG. I've had the email saying they are coming today so I'm all ready for my long run this weekend. It's the awful hilly 20 miler I have to do on Saturday followed by a 6 hour run (in mud) on Sunday. I'm hoping to get close to 50 miles over the 2 days.

And for anyone reading this who would like to support me, I am doing the 100 mile race for Fiona Oakes and her animal sanctuary. It costs £10,000 a month to run and she does it all on donations. I don't know how she sleeps at night with the worry of how to find the next penny. Anyway, here's the link, and thank you in advance. xxx
http://www.fionaoakes.com/claireabbey.html