A quick week away

Well why not! As you know I have Edinburgh Marathon to train for BUT I also wanted a week in Mexico for some sun and to test something out. 

It has been a pet project of mine for a while; whilst just a week after travelling over 10 hours is not very long at all, I did feel justified as last November we went to Australia for a little over 2 weeks!! I must admit as much as the flights were long and there was hardly any sleep for me, they did strengthen my resolve for a week in Mexico!

After much research and persuasion on my part Sean agreed, we settled on only taking hand luggage and stopping in Cancun rather than our usual Playa De Carmen. That way we would have fast transitions through the airport and be in our resort that bit quicker. Unfortunately we had to get connecting flights but let’s gloss over that!!

Now I needed to get my head around what to take for a week and what to pack it all in….again much research was undertaken(mainly in the form of YouTube videos) and I settled on an Osprey fairveiw 40l backpack and some compression packing cubes.

Next was what clothes to take…. I had,  a couple of trips ago, got bored with all the holiday packing, unpacking and repacking, also I noticed that a number of items were going back having never been worn!! So I made a list of what I needed to take: 

3 T-shirt’s

2 pairs on denim shorts (white/blue)

3 tops (to wear at nigh)

2 dresses ( a maxi and a lightweight summery thing)

1 pair of trousers for evening wear

1 swimming costume

1 bikini

1 pair of beach shorts

7 pairs of pants mixed (4 nude)

A pair of short PJs

2 bras (1 worn to travel in)

2 pairs of flipflops (beach pair and a sparkly pair for night)

Now for the most of anything 3 pairs of running kit ( bra, tops, shorts and socks)

And that was it!

Several people were aghast that I was only taking two pairs of flipflops and no proper shoes, the trouble is I wear heels for work and only really have a few pairs of heels that are both comfortable and pretty and they are not multi purpose so they don’t make the list. 

The next challenge to overcome was the fact that we had connecting flights to our liquids were going to be limited originally we had hope to get the toiletries at the airport but we would be restricted on these and would only be able to take a small plastic bag so again time to get researching. I have to admit this was more last minute but following a hasty trip to Lush, I had picked up:

Shampoo bar

Conditioner bar

Deodorant bar

Deodorant powder

The rest was small travel items of

Moisturiser

TCP ( I never travel without it)

Hair product

Mascara

Lipstick

Perfume

Lastly what to wear on my trip, I decided to go with my compression X2U tights,  T-shirt, warm-ish jumper and my trainers which saves space. I did look a little odd but didn’t care, I’m travelling light, sans checked luggage!!

So it’s day four of the holiday and so far I haven’t really felt like I’m missing anything and to be honest not having loads of clothes to choose from is quite refreshing as it is a case of this top or that one!

So in terms of my training I have so far clocked up a 4 mile easy run, 7 mile interval session and two other steady runs there is still two or three more planned. All on the treadmill I’m not confident

enough to go out and run along the road and to be honest it is a little to warm for me. Although one of those days it should be a 13 mile run and I have to admit I’m not sure I could run 13 on a treadmill in one go, but let’s wait and see.

So long as I get the majority of miles in I think having a week away during marathon training is ok.

My experiment is nearly over and this might have just converted me to never checking a bag again….. Although I do miss my opportunity to buy perfume at the duty free 😞

I gotta....

I got 18 miles to run tomorra 

I got 18 miles to run and I don’t wanna

I got 18 miles to run and it’s gonna 

• Be cold ☃
• Be wet ☂
• Be a long way🌍
• Be hard😖

I got 18 miles to run tomorra

I got 18 miles to run and I don’t wanna

I got 18 miles to run and I’m gonna 

• Be strong 💪
• Stuck it up 👍
• Get it done😇
• Be awesome 🙌

Over thinking my over thinking

Trainining is going well although sometimes I have a tendency to over think my long runs…

·         which route will I take, 

·         do I have enough time to fit it in, 

·         should I go flat 

·         should I hill 

·         what about my pace 

·         will I get bored

·         Do I have enough podcasts 

·         do I have enough time

·         what route 

·         go in the morning before dawn

·         after the commuter traffic

This goes on in a loop around my head and then I start to feel all overwhelmed about the fact I don’t know the answers to these relentless questions.  

My worry is that my run will be doomed to failure as it will be; too short, too long, too hilly, too flat, I’ve run out of things to listen to and I’m late for a mythical appointment I didn’t know I had.  I’m trying to remember if this has always been my default when complicating my long runs or did I just wing it??

Having said all of that my last long run was 15 miles on Friday 22^nd Feb; a route in mind, a full podcast play list, hydration backpack and fuelling strategy and it was lovely.  The weather was perfect, as we are experiencing an early Spring here in the UK with temperatures well above average, the route was perfect quite flat with  number of hills and 15.1 miles door to door, winning!!

You would think that this week, in preparing for my slightly longer run (16 miles) this Friday that the “what if” loop would have stopped….unfortunatey NOT...  but inevitability ir will get it done and it will be fine, whatever is thrown at me, I will both cope and adapt!  

Happy running!