Wors World
All About Wor

After a number of gruelling British Military Fitness sessions over the last week, and a lunchtime running session with the Intelligent Decisioning Ltd Formation Running Team (tm) I was feeling a little knackered to say the least so it was with legs of lead and a head telling me that I should have a rest that I set out with a 21 pound pack on my back to meet up with my Paras 10 training partner Bunder.  To top it all, the sun decided to shine…..

For the 1st mile I had to really grind it out and spent all my time overcoming a really strong desire to jack it in and go home.  After that, things seemed to get a bit easier and we decided that we’d run the hill at the end of the canal (the halfway point) rather than run Monument Hill which is at the half way point of the canal.  I reasoned that it would be better to run that hill and know that from there on in, every step was a step closer to home rather than still being a step further away – crazy I know but that’s how my mind works when I’m taking part in lung and leg busting exercise :-).

As we left the canal I began to dread the hill as my legs were really tired and I had to keep my head down and not look up the hill to the top as seeing how far you still have to climb can sometimes give you a real crushing feeling and I could do without that tonight!  Bunder left me behind a little as we climbed the hill and I reached the top a couple of seconds behind him.  Touching the sing post at the top, I turned and began the descent with legs that felt a bit wobbly and detached from me.  About halfway back down the hill, normal leg and lung service was resumed and I began to wonder whether we could fit in Monument Hill on the way back along that canal.

As we reached the foot of the hill we decided to give it a go and rather than our normal technique of climbing the hill then running down and round the other side we decided to go up and then turn round and straight back down, hopefully simulating the type of hills we’ll meet on the challenge.

As we began the climb, I noted the time and got my head down again ‘til we reached the top – 2:45 approx for a hill of about a 3rd of a mile and a decent climb our usual time for this hill is around the 2:05 mark so the pack is adding quite a bit of time to our running and we still have about 14 pounds to add.

We completed the run (route marked as usual from the centre of the village rather than my house) of about 5 miles (including the distance to/from my house and the centre of the village) in 47:10 or a speed of about 9.5 minute miles – well within the required time of 11 minute miles – I know, I know we still have to double the distance and add 1r4 pounds and add more hills and add military boots  but I feel good about the challenge again and maybe we can make it in 1 hour 50.

I reckon the British Military Fitness training is paying off as it’s forcing me “outside of my comfort zone” and I only hope I can continue training at this intensity (and above) over the remaining 13 weeks ‘til the 13th September.

Anyway, I’ll be back at BMF on Saturday am, followed by long run Sunday am.