Bonjour my fellow comrades!!
I hope we are well and enjoying the summer sun (aka its pishing it doon!) Of Glasgow!
Week 1 went according to plan and now moving onto week 2 we start to up the ante a little as we are now getting a little more acclimated to the elevation.
Week 2 consisted of two workouts and a long run. The session days are Tuesday and Friday with the long run Sunday with a little bit of uptempo in there. On the other days is recovery running and prepping the body to be ready for the big session days.
Our session Tuesday was a bit of a mental toughness one for the books. As the athletics track isn’t laid down in the Pyrenees just yet
So after the 2 and a half hour travel we decided to get a quick cup of coffee (I had 3) and then start warming up for the session. We were soaked to the bone by the time we finished our warm up run and all the demons were running about in my head “fuck this shit, I’m soaking wet, my socks, my trainers… just fuck this. I’m not up for this shit!” The demons were at an almighty high and looked like they were winning the internal boxing match in my head.
“Sean, why are you here?! Why have you taken time off work to come on this altitude camp!? Were you not complaining a month ago on the bike you would give anything to be back doing what you love? Get your fucking shoes on, get on the track and let’s see what you’ve got!! Toughen the fuck up!! This is what wins medals!!”
Fuck it let’s go! Off we went. The session was 4x1k/600/400 and it was the first time I’ve been on the track training since the national 5k championships in August 2018. So I knew this was going to sting the legs and lungs.
What made it just that little bit harder was seeing Adam move away from me so easily as I fought to hit the designated times. But I also used it as a positive, if I can just keep the gap here then that will be a good session for me. “Adam is in great shape so he will be ahead of you. You have to accept that at the minute.” I told myself.
The fact that Adam wasn’t backing down from the session meant I was backing down either. We were soaked, cold to the bone but we hit the times we were asked. So at the end of the day as we were driving back home in our wet clothes with the heat blasting and the windows flogging up and me veering onto the wrong side of the road… Again!! We felt we had won the battle of the elements. Today was a good day we both thought. Lot’s of things weren’t in our favour but we didn’t let our mind waver from the objective. Pat on the back for us me thinks.
I feel we are in a generation now where we feel everything should just go our way and if it doesn’t we throw our toys out the pram. Well if you think this way you’re going to be pretty disappointed 90% of your life. Life does it’s thing, it is impartial to what you or me want. It does what it does and we interpret the world as fair or unfair through our eyes. But, if you have those thoughts where you want the world to act in line with your thoughts and your values then you, my friend, are one entitled SOB.
It’s okay to be down about things that don’t go your way but it’s not alright to let the situation consume you. Things that happen to you may not necessarily be your fault but you have the power and responsibility to control your reaction to the positive or negative experience.
So it was 1 for me and Adam and 0 to the world, that’s right fuck you elements!
Our next session was in a thunderstorm and that was 4x2miles at tempo. Another test of mental fortitude, we passed again 2-0 bitches!!
And we topped it off with a solid Sunday long run with a little uptempo in the middle of it, a 5 mile progression.
So my week looked like this –
Monday – AM 8miles easy PM 4 miles easy
Tuesday – AM 4x1k/600/400 PM – 4 miles easy
Wednesday – AM 7.5 miles easy PM – 4.5 miles easy
Thursday – 12.5 miles steady
Friday – AM – 4x2miles PM – 4 miles easy
Saturday – AM – 7 miles easy PM – 5 miles easy
Sunday – 17 miles with 5 mile uptempo
102 miles for the week.
I hope you enjoyed my second post, I will post week 3 soon. Stay posted by signing up to the subscription list and you’ll be notified when I release my next blog.
To follow my journey on social media follow me on Instagram – @sean.fontana to stay tuned on daily training posts and updates of how the altitude camp is going.