The Agony and the Ecstasy

Week Six - 88 Days to Go

One of the key things pointed out in The Plan is try and prevent real life intruding on your training where possible. Unfortunately, when this includes your football team making the Play Off Final for the first time in 21 years thus setting up a first ever trip to the new Wembley Stadium; certain sacrifices have to be made. I'm sure Mr. Pfitzinger would understand...

As such my training after Hagley went a bit to pot so I could accommodate the trip. I went down to club on Thursday evening, but the low turnout meant I went for a steady run on my own. Which also meant that I paced it horribly and went too fast. Ideally I need to find someone else who is marathon training, or at the very least willing to do the long runs with me so that my pacing stays remotely sensible. 

Friday was a long day at work with no running, so to burn off nervous energy before the big match I did about nine miles at a fair pace on Saturday morning, knowing full well that there would be nothing on Sunday regardless of the result. 

I won't bore anyone with a match report but suffice it to say that conceding an equaliser with the very last kick of the match before losing on penalties is exactly the sickener you'd expect. With a day's hindsight though I can apprectiate what a magnificent season it was - to go from being 20 seconds away from relegation to 20 seconds from promotion in twelve months is a fantastic achievement by anyone's yardstick. As they say though, you must experience the lows to appreciate the highs - so let's hope for better next season.

Big Day Out at Wembley

As today was a Bank Holiday, I attempted the long run. In the end I managed fifteen miles (including a brief detour for a toilet break) but it was hard work. I can only blame post-play off ennui so much though, it was probably just one of those days. 

For the rest of the week a combination of work, revision and the occasional run is planned. Hopefully this will be the last of the weeks where slight rescheduling is necessary. By this time next Monday I will have ceased to be a student (until September) so my life will hopefully have some semblance of free time restored...