The voice in my head

Four weeks today, I will have completed the Tweed Valley Ultra and be starting my recovery with lots of food.  It has been great having a late season event as I think it unlikely I’d be training this hard if it wasn’t in the calendar.
This week has been a big week for hills as I prepare my body for the 40 mile/65 km race which has 5,164 feet of climbing.  My coach is making sure I’ll be ready and not only increasing the mileage but also the ascent.
With the weather forecast allegedly better on Saturday than Sunday, I switched my planned runs.  I’m not sure if following a 90 minute run on Friday, a 4 hr 20min run on Saturday would be better as I still had 2hr 20 mins to run on Sunday or the other way round - but it had to be done.
I was either going to climb up Ben Lomond twice or Tinto 4 times.  The voice in my head was debating which would be better - certainly Ben Lomond would be more interesting.  But the weather forecast made the decision.  Tinto would be gray, dry and 15 mph winds  so that made the decision easy as I didn’t feel like getting wet on Ben Lomond.  I arrived at the car park at 8.30am to find myself in cloud base!  And it was raining with a high wind meaning up the climb was into wind. Knowing that I was repeating this four times I paced myself. I run the first 5-7 minutes then power walk up the rest and run down.  The voice in my head was telling me how boring this was however it’s a bit tricky underfoot so you have to concentrate or you could be getting carried off the hill.  The way down was fun but with the wind blowing so strong I had to use the brakes more than normal.  I was pleased with the effort put in having climbed 6,197 feet in a lot less distance than the Tweed Valley. Unfortunately I was wet and never saw a view from the summit - happens to me all the time!
Today the voice in my head was saying “this is going to hurt” but I had a conversation with it to say, behave.  In 4 weeks time I’ll be going through a much tougher test so MTFU!  Half an through my run I realised I had a blister on my big toe but I didn’t stop and sort it.  I just pressed on.  Looking at my stats afterwards it showed that I favoured my right foot and this was a reminder that if I get a blister I should stop and treat it immediately.  Again I had to convince the voice in my head that this was bareable and that I should concentrate on my run.  Three consecutive days of tough runs with plenty of hills means it was a fantastic week for me and takes me closer to my goal.  I think we all have a voice in our head and the trick is either blocking it out or convincing the voice that you are perfectly capable of what you are trying to achieve so “jog on”!
The compression tights are on and I’m away for a slap up late lunch with the family.  I may even partake in a few libations as a treat.  Next week is meant to be an easier training week but it will still be intense. Every session counts.