Now it gets tough ...

On Wednesday just gone I was half way through my training for the Ultra marathon with 4 1/2 months down and 4 1/2 to go.

I don't really know how I feel about that. On one hand it's good that I've kept the training regime going but on the other it's pretty scary that the longest I've ever run is for 3 1/2 hours and it took me this long to build up to that - I've now got the same amount of time left to be able to run for probably 5 times that.

It's only going to get harder from now on as well. Up to this point my training has been focussed on building up a core level of fitness, so my long run has remained at 3 hours for some time. But today I started to increase it, going out for 3 1/2 hours and really noticing the difference. It didn't help that the weather today was probably the worst I've been out in - constant heavy rain, strong wind and quite cold.

You know it's bad when the sheep just stand still with their backs to the weather!

At least the waterfalls were good ....

I also encountered some problems today I've not experienced before. My feet where freezing for a while as there was so much water about I was constantly running though quite deep floods on the paths and refreshing the cold water in my shoes. I also suffered with some quite nasty chafing in .... places .... which is a new one on me, but one I definitely need to sort out.

But overall I'm pleased with the day. I now know how far I'm running thanks to my new purchase of a GPS watch so was pleased to have covered 18 miles. I kept going despite all the adversity and after a few hours back home feel reasonably ok. Most of all, I still sort of enjoyed it although I couldn't work out why. I don't think I'll question it too much though, just hope I can hold on to that as the miles ramp up ....