Day 97: The Threshold of a New Dawn

Morning Drama and the Case of the Ignored Alarm

After yesterday's osteopath appointment, I had no idea what to expect when I got out of bed this morning. Would it be pleasure? Would it still be pain? Or would it be that peculiar middle ground where you can’t decide if you’re healed or just temporarily distracted?

To begin with, I ignored my alarm for fifteen minutes, which immediately introduced an element of chaos to the morning. Nothing quite gets the heart pumping like realising you’ve lost a quarter of an hour before the day has even started. I sprang out of bed—well, rolled out gingerly—and made myself a coffee before heading off to Rochester.

A Surprise at The Math School

It wasn’t until I arrived at The Math School that I realised something miraculous: my back was not hurting as much. There was still some soreness, but the searing pain running from my back through my hip into my leg had—dare I say it—disappeared. It was an unexpectedly excellent start to the day. However, my Garmin Forerunner 955, which I suspect has a rather sadistic streak, decided to celebrate this improvement by suggesting another threshold run.

With time running a little tight, I quickly calculated that I could squeeze in the session before work if I trimmed my warm-up slightly. So, I took myself down the hill, warmed up for a couple of minutes, and then launched into three seven-minute hard efforts with two-minute rests in between.

Surpassing Expectations

The initial downhill section helped get my legs moving, though it did mean I had to push the pace quite early to raise my heart rate. What surprised me was that my effort level didn’t drop in the second and third intervals. In fact, at one point, my watch even beeped to warn me that I was pushing too hard. Considering that just last week I couldn’t have pushed hard if I’d been chased by an angry goose, this felt like progress.

I finished the cool-down a couple of minutes early as I had made it back to school, feeling surprisingly good. It was one of those runs that remind you why you keep doing this to yourself.

Perspective and the Final Push

Later in the day, I spoke to a colleague who ran last year’s London Marathon and our conversation made me reflect on my own race goals. With just over three weeks to go, I’ve come to the realisation that I’ve trained hard and now it’s about running well on the day, adapting to the conditions and—where possible—enjoying the experience.

The training has been tough, with last week’s cold and my back injury adding some unnecessary drama to the mix. But ultimately, you can only do your best on race day. And if the alarm clock cooperates, that will already be a victory.