The first week was dominated by finishing off my five additional minutes each day in February challenge. I ended up with my highest mileage month ever (by quite some way) and really pushed myself more than I ever have before.
Finishing that challenge, or more specifically the runs I did in the final stages, really changed my mindset to running. Something strange happens when you know you're committed to it. When I took away the choice to say no, or the decision of how far to go, I just went out there and got on with it each day until it was done.
Don't confuse that with it being easy, it definitely wasn't! And I was absolutely helped with some decent weather conditions considering it was still winter. While cold, there wasn't too much rain and barely any ice, so on a practical level it made it much more simple.
But in terms of the act of lacing up and getting it done, I just went and did it.
The first week of March has been a bit more tricky. Despite not suffering too much with aches and pains in February, once I drew the mileage down a bit, I've felt absolutely shattered and sore in equal measure. So I didn't feel too much guilt several times last week when I had a few extra snoozes on my alarm instead of getting back to the gym as planned.
I especially didn't feel guilty because, with the Ashby 20 rapidly approaching, I knew the weekend would need to see a big number on the board. Despite all the miles I clocked up in February, I'm conscious that having 20 miles to do in one go is a tall task. Especially on the undulating two-lap course which makes up that event.
So feeling somewhat rested and recovered, I set off at 7am on Saturday morning for a long run, with the plan to meet the rest of DOrunning for our monthly parkrun social at 9am. Feeling more nervous about it than I'd liked to have been, I was glad to have a bit of company in my running pal as we set off in the gorgeous spring morning sunshine.
Luckily, the miles melted away and we'd managed to get 10 in ahead of parkrun. Surprisingly, I felt pretty fresh for the next 5km section and was pleased to tick off a decent time before finally carrying on to complete my target 16 miles alone.
The last few were a slog, but they were always going to be. Rationing what tiny bit of drink I had left, I took off along the river to make my way home, spurred on by sunshine and soaking in a bit of the pre-match atmosphere by the City Ground.
In good time, I'd duly completed it, my longest run since this time last year, feeling relatively unscathed and fairly comfortable.
I wish the same could be said for the rest of the weekend... celebrations for the long run, a fabulous Forest win, my friend's birthday and generally associating the sun with a need to drink wine means that this morning's 6am alarm came all too soon!
But I feel like I needed a bit of a weekend like that to mark the end of phase one of my training. Now it's time to move into phase two.
I'm going to reset and wrangle that motivation I had back at the start of January. Me and alcohol are taking a break, and I'll be getting back to the gym to pick up the strength side of things again. It's light in the mornings now so I've got no excuse not to be up and at 'em...and I proved to myself I can do it with how many early morning runs I did in February when I had no choice.
Because I don't have a choice! Ashby, Belfast and of course the London Ultra are coming round bloody fast and I'm determined to give each everything I've got, to achieve the ambitious targets I've set myself.
As a wise man I know often says "We go again!"
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