Enough is enough!

We’ve all had that voice in our heads… “Maybe I should push that little bit harder” or “If I extend this long run then I’ll hit xx many kilometres for the week.” Well, I’m telling you now: if you have that mentality, then you’re probably already in a situation where you can answer both of those thoughts with a resounding NO.

You’re not the type of person who cuts corners. Fingers crossed, this has been a fun and fulfilling training block. And if you’re leading into a race, say Tarawera, in a few weeks time, then now is not the time to be pushing the boat out any further. You may find that if you do, it’s very difficult to return to shore. And what this slightly confusing analogy means is that you want to train hard, but allow your body enough time to arrive at race day physically and mentally ready to give it everything.

Now I know it’s difficult at times, especially right now in the training cycle, to actually realise that you’ve done enough. Not only are you bombarded with external noise from social media, where influencers and other athletes post there glorified runs on Instagram or change the Strava title from a more impressive session (guilty — I’ll put my hand up here), but this is also where comparison creeps in. You shouldn’t, and don’t need to, compare!

Take confidence in what you’ve already done in your block and remember the stacking of sessions it’s taken to build this fitness. Now is the time to listen to your body, cut that run short if you need to, or push that long run out a day if more recovery is required. Consolidate the effort you’ve already put in. Fatigue is normal. But now is not the time to edge over that line.

The run I was referring to above was my last long run over the weekend.

67km of awesome trails, and I felt really good. Sunday was a complete day off running (though I still managed a dive), and then came Monday. Over the past month I’ve been using Monday as a hard double day.
Actually, I’ll put my rough schedule here (because it might be interesting to some):

Monday
AM: 10ish × 1km (60 sec recovery)
PM: 16 × 45 sec hard hill efforts, jog-down recovery (split into 4 sets)
Home Strength Session

Tuesday
AM: 25ish km of hills
PM: light rub down and dry needling (Rehab Co)

Wednesday
AM: 27km hills onto flat — finishing with 10–15 mins of VO₂ work
PM: easy 10km

Thursday
AM: Easy 13km hills
PM: Hard strength session at Rehab Co

Friday
25–30km including steady to threshold hill work (2 × 20min uphills)

Saturday
Long run — approx 50km, hills and flat

Sunday
Easy run or off

Mileage: approx 200km+ over the last 5 weeks

So back to Monday this week… I could just feel it, in both my mind and body, that it was a struggle to get out the door. The warm-up felt fine, and I knew I just had to get into it.
My pace was a couple of seconds per kilometre slower than the previous few weeks, and I was fatiguing faster. Instead of trying to match the 12 reps I’d done the week before, I pulled it back to 10.
Then I took all pressure off the PM session. I changed the reps to be longer to reduce intensity, and instead of setting a fixed number, I just ran the hill for however many reps felt right. Taking away the set number removed the pressure. I wasn’t thinking ahead, just taking it one rep at a time.

I’m really happy I listened to my body that day. Tuesday was still a chore, but by Wednesday I felt good again and knocked out my hard efforts, had a sauna, and now I’m chilling, hanging out with Hudson. That feels good to me. Getting the work done, and knowing I can dial things back a bit now. Especially with Rotorua coming up soon, where I’ll catch up with the adidas TERREX team and put the final prep in before the big day at Tarawera. And, also doing some fun community events the week before the race.

I also want to give a quick shoutout to the Born to Adapt event the weekend before TUM. Held near the I-Site in the Whakarewarewa Forest. I’ve been heading along the past couple of years. It’s an awesome and inspiring event. You can get in a nice run (different distance options) and catch up with some good people. Link to registration here

I’m pleased to share that this article has been presented to you by Precision Fuel & Hydration. I’ve been working with the team at PF & H for the last 2.5 years and their attention to detail is super impressive. We’re constantly in comms around how to maximise my performance in training & race day, it truly feels like an “athlete-first” approach. If you’re keen to get an understanding of how to weave their products into your training & racing - check out their planner: PF & H Planner

If you have a business that you’d like to feature across the fortnightly Substack’s, please reach out direct to me via DM on Instagram. Would love to explore the possibility of having community members businesses in front of the Lessons from the Long Run community.