Moving up with the miles

I did it. I managed two 60 mile weeks. Really stoked about this. I was diligent with foam rolling, stretching, and massaging my feet as aches and pains have appeared with the increase. My feet are my main concern. They’ve both had odd pains throughout. Yesterday  I managed to have a few minutes where I didn’t have to chase kids, the wife had a friend over who also had kids so they were all fairly occupied outside of me. I took advantage and soaked my feet in ice water which helped significantly. It’s alwsys been said it’s the things you do outside of running that make you faster. Being on top of all this stuff is allowing me to increase my mileage.

This week will be tough. The wife is out for a funeral and also for a wedding so mornings will be compromised. I’m not sure if it’s good or bad. It may be a good thing to take an easier week and then ramp it up again next week to 60-70 miles. I’m tempted though to shoot for another 60 mile week, I have been enjoying running so much lately as well as the time management around life that it’s  hard to say no. I find it such an achievement to do what I do around a family. If I end up injured though all this positivity will go away which is a very bad thing.

Speaking of positivity I read a really interesting article recently which really really rings so true in a lot of ways for me. There are people in my life that would understand why I do what I do more if they read the article however I doubt they will. Here’s  link:

Extreme Athleticism Is The New Mid-Life Crisis

And on we go. One more week and it’s back to school for the kids, hopefully more opportunities  to run,  and also more work for me. It will be busy but I enjoy that.

Mileage, France

The miles keep coming. Things are going seemingly really well in my running world. The early mornings are flowing smoothly, even at 415am. I’m staying positive and happy, not grumpy, despite the reduced sleep. Grumpiness around the kids is the toughest one as patience needs to be on top, I struggled with that in the winter.

Busted out the Chariot at the request of the little guy. I won't turn down a "Daddy can we go for a run?" So we ran 3-4 miles to the playground, then 3-4 miles back! Worked out really well and we were both happy. I also attempted two kids in the Chariot but it obviously was too cramped and also damn heavy. If I was to get a double it would likely be too heavy for hilly terrain. Figured it would be fun to experiment at least.

Kind of fell off routine a bit a couple weekends ago. Saturday after a long busy day at work the wife decided to have people over for “a drink.”  Everyone, even the kids, were up until 11pm, a late night for me especially when I get up at 4. Yes it was fun, but I’m not one to drink much anymore mainly because I’ll be up with the kids in the morning. So, needless to say I was exhausted all day Sunday as were the kids, they “slept in” maybe a hour. Of course we had to attend another social function in the afternoon, I was wrecked, the kids were wrecked, the wife had the hair of the dog to keep going, despite sleeping all morning. I fell apart in the hot sun around 3pm. Rough afternoon but we all survived.

Back to running! No one here in the UK is really interested in it so once again I’ll puke it out on here! Hitting consistent 50 mile weeks has been good. I’m feeling fairly injury free (fairly = yes the piriformis hamstring thing is still there) but I think I’ve adapted to the distance which is perfect. Right where I want to be. I may dabble with a little increase in the coming weeks, maybe 55-60 miles, but the tough thing will be early mornings as usual. Once September hits I’ll hopefully have a bit of extra time to pad the mileage without compromising sleep, ideally up to 60-70 mile weeks. These would set me up well for Autumn 100 in October. All I’d add would be a couple runs of 15 - 20 miles each week which I’d run during the day.

I’ll be back working during the week in September but can work as much as I want. Once October hits I’ll likely work 6 days a week but through September I’m hoping to take two weekdays off so I can get two long runs in. That’s the plan for now.

This past week we were fortunate enough to spend in Graveson, Provence, France with another family at their mum and dad's house. Our friend Marianne is half French and her Mum Nicole (French) and Dad Peter (British) were gracious enough to have us stay with them while Marianne and her husband and kids were there. Very nice people, I applaud them for allowing two families to takeover their home! 

The area reminded me of the Central Valley in California with tons of agriculture and a rural feel. Fun fact: France is the only country in the world that is capable of being self sufficient feeding itself! Temps were in the 90's and mildly humid, the sun was really intense though. Most of the time we lounged around the pool but did go to the beach on the Mediterranean one day, toured a castle, ate out a few times. 

I had to break my plant based eating habit (I'm not a vegan, I eat a plant based whole foods diet) as the seafood was insanely good! I tried sea snails which were good, just not all that flavorful, and had awesome shrimp, mussels, and squid in salads. I held fast at not having anything from the cheese plate that was "dessert" after lunch and dinner which was tough! However when we ordered pizza I gave in. Emmental cheese with artichoke hearts, olives, and asparagus! I did my brother and sister proud too by having wine with every meal. Our late lunches at home were mostly fresh vegetables, fruit, and bread. It was hot out so a hot meal was a rarity. Oh, and we always had Spanish gazpacho, a cold tomato soup, which was awesomely refreshing! Remember I live in the UK and the food here is extremely boring, it's easy to stick to a clean diet, however in general all the eating was really healthy and fresh while in France.

Another fun thing was Peter, our host, had an awesome espresso machine. I was offered double espressos pretty much all day long! Damn were they good! I'm pretty sure all I drank was espresso, wine, and beer for the majority of our stay! 

I was kind of expecting a low mileage week in France but did manage to get out running a few times. Right next to where we were staying was a small foothill type mountainous area called the Montagnette. Unfortunately it was closed from June through September due to fire danger. I was kind of bummed but still found some nice running around the outskirts of the Montagnette and town. It's always fun to run somewhere new no matter what the medium. Overall it was a tiring week of time in the sun and staying up later than normal, not really happy to be home honestly because it was awesome!