Reflecting on the Week - 25th January

Distance: 45 km
Time: 3.20
Elevation: 325 m
Fastest pace: 4:13/km
Max HR: 174 bpm

This was the week the Badwater 135 application finally went in. After all the waiting, I sat down, answered everything as honestly as I could and hit submit. I sought out the counsel of some close running mates, good to get their input as well as make them a part of the process. I am pleased with how it turned out. Now it is just “Waiting to Hear” until 1 February, which is oddly calming. The decision is out of my hands, but the training is not.

Logistically it felt like a bit of a reset week. Wednesday was a proper juggling act: a treadmill interval session in the day, then another set of intervals outside later on. That is the first double-intervals day I have done in a long time, so it was reassuring to feel some pace in the legs without them falling apart. Having the treadmill in the mix really highlighted how much easier it is to control things like pace and timing when life is busy - it meant I also did a weights session.

Saturday’s blustery 21.5 km on new roads was my favourite run. New surroundings always help when motivation is rebuilding, and it was nice to stretch things out to a medium distance again without chasing any numbers.

The simple 9 km loop on the day I submitted the application tied it all together. Holidays and illness have been and gone, the admin is done, and training now gets nudged up the priority list. Whatever happens with the application, the plan is the same: keep showing up, keep building, and make the logistics of the week work around that.

I talked through some of the application details and thinking here in case you missed it: https://www.myjourneytobadwater.com/blog/applying-to-badwater-135