Even with large amounts of vision loss I have still felt the compulsion to keep on running. After you have been running for a while it seems strange to stop. Having a week or two off begins to feel strange, there is a need to pound the pavement (or rubber matting). Due to the compulsion to keep on running even with large amounts of vision loss I have been sticking with the running. I even managed to compete in a short distance event.
The loss of vision has made a dent on my running though, but in more of an indirect way. Learning to run without a reliance on vision means that when you lose more it doesn’t really affect your ability to perform. But what it does affect is the time I have to run. When I am having to spend more time converting materials, or revising due to a change in vision it eats into the time I have to run. So unfortunately my running takes a hit and I just cant train as hard. While I do still manage to eek out the miles and over the past few months I have been averaging a 30 mile week (way to low for ultra distance!). This however has mainly been on the treadmill.
The problem I have with the treadmill is how far I am able to run on it. I seem to be capped at just over the 10 mile mark. This is due to my boredom levels on the treadmill and how much I sweat. My treadmill is currently in my conservatory so that means during the summer months it has been hot. I don’t just mean in the 20’s hot I mean so hot it hurts to breathe. So I sweat so heavy it becomes uncomfortable and I just call it quits after a medium distance.
To counter this I am hoping to begin training outdoors again in the next couple of weeks and get back up above the 60 mile a week distance. This will mean I can return to ultra distance early 2014. I am looking forward to the challenge of running larger distances again. Its a great chance to push my limits and a great confidence booster to be outside and running solo.