Week 24: Punishment week

I felt very guilty after skipping my long run last weekend.  I had time on Sunday when I got home but after a 4am start to catch my plane back from the UK, I was feeling very lazy.   So Monday I decided I was going to run at least 10km.  Unfortunately the weather has turned nasty, very windy and wet.  So I opted for the gym and my nemesis the running machine.  Luckily, or maybe not; the gym was pretty empty so I pushed myself to do an hour on the dreaded machine.  I alternated jogging, fast running and walking and managed to do 10 kilometres.  I think having my headphones to listen to music took my mind off the boredom of static running.
The next day I planned a long outdoor run.  I wanted to do 20 kilometres.  The weather was windy but mild with light rain.  I started okay after a brief warm up.  I felt quite confident and fluid up to the 10 kilometre mark but then things began to get a bit tough.  The rain set in and my hips started aching.  I was forced to walk a couple of sretches but managed to push on through.  By the time I got home I had run 21.4 km, and recorded my best 20km effort, despite the walking.  I made sure I did some good stretches and refuelled with leftover bean chilli and rice followed by fruit and yoghurt.  In the afternoon I caught an interesting programme on the BBC about running and food.
The next day was my midweek rest day and I felt great, euphoric even.  My students commented on my good humour which I told them must be due to endorphines.  I really felt positive and happy to be alive.
On Thursday I wanted to go to the gym but the webcams showed sun in the mountains above our fogged in village.  This year has been very poor for snow and we have not been able to ski very often.  So I decided to forgo the gym session for some skiing.  The snow was not too bad, if a little thin on the ground, and there were not many people so no queues for the lifts.  My legs, thighs and even arms got a good four hour workout which justified not going to the gym.
On Friday I went on a 10km run despite the menacing weather.  I felt quite comfortable, probably because I was thinking about other things and was able to disassociate my mind from the running.  The weather caught up with me at the end of the run and I found myself running in snow.  I finished with around the same performance as the last time I did this run.  I am quite proud as I have run 40km this week, the longest I have run in a week so far.
Took the weekend off to go skiing with some friends who are over from the UK.