Grinding

Grinding. It's a popular phrase in sports. It's used in football and rugby when a team isn't playing particularly well but still winning. Normally there it's used like "they're grinding our results"

In US sports they tend to be more succinct and just use "grinding". And while they'll apply it to team sports, I've usually heard it associated with golf, an individual sport. "He's grinding out there". In essence, it means someone who's just doing his best to keep it going. Not in tip-top shape or pulling miraculous shots out of the bag, but doing what needs to be done and hitting the ball one shot at a time.

That's what I'm doing right now. I'm grinding.


I'm smack in the middle of the toughest section of training - the last three weeks before taper. This week consisted of intervals on Tuesday, 9 miles at marathon pace on Thursday (after work), parkrun + 5k on Saturday (one 5k hard, one easy. Still 10k), and finishing with 17.6 miles today round Bushy Park.

I won't lie - this is HARD. It's difficult to articulate fully but it seems like I'm permanently either training, thinking about training or recovering from training. Forcing myself to 9 miles after work on a Thursday is hard. Completing my interval sessions is hard. Running in today's sun was hard (Oh and I got sunburned. In 18degC heat. At 10am. Sigh). The last 5k was an exercise in putting one foot in front of the other and focussing on the finish. Grinding.

Plus, my days of weekend lie-ins (even to 8.00) are a distant memory. When the Sunday run is 2.5 hours +, starting early is a necessity if you want to save some of the day for yourself. In practice, that means being up at 7am or earlier so I can get some food in and start running by 8.00 or 8.15. End result? I feel permanently tired....

Oh, and Saturday night drinks are verboten. Sunday night is the new Saturday for me. Hic.

Anyway - don't think I'm disheartened or losing motivation. I'm not. I'm still excited about London and focused on the training. It's just, you know, HARD!