And like that it's officially summer for the kids in the UK. They only have a 6 week break from school and finished this past Friday. Maybe fun for them but this makes my life more difficult. I stop working during the week and only work Saturdays so I'm broke. I also have to entertain two kids all day long. And the toughest part for me personally, and selfishly I guess, is that running becomes much more difficult.

For the next 6 weeks, other than a short stint in the South of France, I'll mostly be tied to two children 5-6 days a week from 6am to 8pm. I say "mostly" because I've got Jeet Kune Do and Muay Thai a couple nights a week and Sunday my wife is around. Do the math. Outside of that time I've got about 10 hours to sleep and run. 

I've become pretty good at maximizing the time I've got though on Saturdays. I can wake up at 4-430am and run 10 plus miles. Then I've got about a 15-20 minute commute from where I park my car to my job which if I run I can sneak in 3 miles (6 total to and from work). Then most days I'll get an hour lunch break where I can easily get in 5-7 miles. That's a pretty solid day of running! It takes some planning, mainly I need a ton of food at work to eat all day, and a fair amount of coffee, but it makes for a good day. It's far easier for me to motivate at work than when I'm tired at home. I just get grumpy and just want to sit on my ass. 

Been hitting 50 mile weeks which seems to be the threshold where I really need to be careful with injury. It also seems to be where the benefits to ultramarathon distance races begin. It becomes a balancing act of sleep and miles for me. I want more miles but without enough sleep I won't recover. I'd love to have guaranteed 8 plus hours of sleep a night and the time to run 60 plus miles per week but that's not feasible. For example last night I ended up sleeping with my son for whatever reason while he kicked me all night. This also thwarted my 430am wake up and run for today! Nothing is consistent, I can't plan for anything. 

Another tough thing to manage with limited time is running pace. If I've got a limited amount of time to run and a mileage number stuck in my head it's likely I'll run faster than I should be. More miles with more speed is a recipe for injury. Too much too soon is the number one way people get injured. It's not your fucking shoes! Sorry, I work at a running store and everyone wants to blame shoes when it's usually their training. Going easy, easier than normal, annoyingly easy is the key to adding more miles. However with limited time it becomes difficult. 

A good thing to look forward to is when school does start in September I'll have possibly two nearly full days to run. Great for two long runs a week. If I hold the reigns back now, stay healthy, and slowly build miles these two days should set me up nicely for Autumn 100 in October. (100 mile race outside of London). 

Planning and mainly patience is the key.