Week 4: If it's not one thing it's another

Week 4 was a (well timed for Christmas) cut back week.  Clearly, I had a plan.  The plan involved having a couple of days rest over Christmas, a fantastic 5k race feeling wonderfully fresh on a slightly undulating course which would no doubt lend itself to a great time, and a generally lower mileage week where I ran happily and easily, possibly with a decent parkrun at the rather challenging Alice Holt course on Saturday, and a mere 10 miles long run on Sunday.

Almost none of the above went to plan.

Christmas passed without any severe over-indulgence on my part, largely because I was ill.  The cold I thought I was shaking off quickly wasn't at all gone, it was just regrouping for a second more horrid onslaught, and by Wednesday's race I was feeling proper rough.  I then turned up to meet people at the leisure centre to sort out car share and was pretty horrified by who was there from the club; a lovely friendly bunch of people who do things like running up and down hills in Derbyshire in the snow dressed in shorts.  Half way to the race as I was driving up a hill - carefully because of the snow falling - it's fair to say I was having second thoughts about what I'd signed up for.

Things didn't improve when we got there.  Slightly undulating my arse, this was a proper hilly one and my legs - not to mention most of the rest of me - were aching just standing still let alone running.  I couldn't catch my breath warming up gently on the flat.  The first km of the race was horrendous.  I hate the feeling of running badly.  I wheezed and puffed up a hill, I could feel how badly I was running, the more I struggled for breath the worse my running got, I knew I was curling in on my hurting lungs, which was then leading to me forcing my head back in an attempt to stay upright, and cutting off my air supply more.  The first km split was poor even bearing in mind the uphill, I got cross, I got grumpy, and I toughed through the first half hating every wretched step of it.  At the half way point it was decision time; cut back the effort chug to the end and just take it on the chin, or get my arse in gear and fight through it.  It was an out and back course and I clocked that I was currently fifth lady.  The first two ladies were in a completely different league from me even on my very best day, but the third lady was only about 50-60 meters in front of me.  Achievable.  Game on.

The next 1.5k was spent focussing on stopping putting my head back to compensate for the cold related breathing issues and kicking harder up the hills.   Every down I gained ground, every up I held even, this was the plan.  I'm not strong up hills at the best of times, I just lack muscle, I have a good kick back and long stride on the flat and downhill.  I was pretty sure that if I could get within 10 meters of the third placed lady by the top of the final hill, I'd be able to get past comfortably in the last 700m of downhill.  I was right.  By the top of the final hill I was within a few meters of the third placed lady, by the end of the 100m or so flat section I was in front of her, and there was no way I was being caught again in the final mad dash descent to the finish.  I then realised I was also blasting past the blokes and suddenly found some decent form for a pretty impressive finish.  The time (20:51) was disappointing even bearing in mind the 85m or so of ascent, I felt like I should have run faster, but a 3rd lady finish is not to be sneezed at and after a fair bit of grumbling, I decided to be pleased.

The next day the annoyance started.  I was still ill, and I did a weights session which was too tough for me, and slightly strained my left quad.  I had to cut back my pace and drop a run over the next couple of days.  As that was starting to feel OK, I then did an even stupider stupid and slipped down the stairs at my Mother in Law's house on Saturday morning in my attempt to get out the house without waking the kids.  I started the parkrun fast but the steep downhill at the start was pulling in a funny way on my knee and I realised it wasn't quite right.  I stopped, stretched, and did a little bit of a sort out on the knee cap which I sometimes have issues with, and when I started again steadier it was OK, but the run and opportunity for a fairly easy first lady finish were then gone.  Another run not to plan, and for yet another different and minor reason.

I hate feeling like there's always something stopping me running well, after a while I question is it just me?  Am I imaging all this, am I just off form and making excuses for myself?  I really needed a good run to round the week off and a steady 10 mile plod which I would doubtless find harder than planned wasn't feeling like the solution.

Actually, I woke up on Sunday with the knee feeling OK, the quad fully recovered, and the cold definitely gone.  I felt boingy on the warm up, met up with the lovely bunch of ladies I was running with this morning, and was fighting pushing the pace the whole way round.  I was actually a bit naughty and did take it a bit quicker than I'd said I would.  All the ladies I was running with are more than capable of comfortably running the quicker pace, and it wasn't much quicker, but it does irritate me when other people do that so I shouldn't do it myself.  It kind of felt great to be fighting the urge to pick it up going up the hills though, it was a happy run in lovely company which I very much needed.

So, after a bloody irritating week, I'm back to feeling boingy.  I've tweaked my plans fairly significantly for the next three weeks of increasing mileage because what I was doing wasn't quite working and I wasn't prioritising the right workouts.  I've also accepted my very minimalist shoe preferences don't work for marathon training and I need a bit of cushioning for my ageing joints!   That's a separate post for another day though, for now I'll finish the year feeling positive about my running.  This has been a tough year in general without even considering running.  In running terms, injury and illness related issues throughout the year have made me question my mental strength and physical abilities.  There have been some real highs but also some fairly large lows.  I'm very grateful to the friends who've been incredibly supportive through the lows and the struggles, and celebrated the highs with me.  I do feel like my form is coming back and the larger injury issues are abating.  I'll accept this week has basically been a blip in a generally positive trend for the last month or two, and that's a good way to finish one year and start the next, so, Happy New Year folks!

Week 3 Part 2: Aches, pains, and a Merry Christmas!

Somehow this week seems to have lasted about forever.  It doesn't feel like only a week since my last long run.

I've been a bit achy, which was worrying me quite a bit by Thursday on my third consecutive day of running when my calves and hamstrings were both so tired I daren't do the interval session I'd planned for fear of injuring myself.  I was also pretty much dead on my feet.  I battled through a 5 mile run with some one minute hard pushes as a compromise which felt safer, and then got home and went to the cinema.  After finishing watching the film I was so stiff I could hardly move, and I was shaky and achy for the whole day, aching in my muscles and even in my joints.  This was not part of the plan and I was pretty convinced my body was just objecting to the mileage.  In the end I woke up in the middle of the night on Thursday with a raging sore throat, ear ache and a pounding headache; I was actually a little relieved to discover that at least part of the problem appeared to be the usual Christmas virus that seems to beset at least three quarters of the population.

Friday was a rest day anyway so the next planned run was Saturday which was my 50th parkrun, and I'd planned to have a serious attack at my PB.  I woke up on Saturday feeling a lot better, but still sufficiently under the weather I decided to scrap the PB attempt which I wasn't really up to, run a much easier pace at parkrun, and focus on Sunday's long run.  I also woke up with remarkably fresh legs which really surprised me, and reassured me that a lot of the fatigue I'd been experiencing earlier in the week had was most likely in large part down to illness.  I was a little grumpy about a steadier parkrun but ended up having a lovely run.  A minute or so slower than last week, but I ran under 21 minutes and it felt easy.  I eased into it, chatted, exchanged some high 5s, and picked the pace up on the last km in an attempt to look slightly more impressive for my kids.  I decided to take my husband's comment of "we came to see you and you weren't even trying" as a compliment and not give him a slap for his cheek!

Sunday's long run went ahead as planned, 15 miles which makes my longest run of the year, bang on the planned pace of a little under 8 minute miles, and the sore throat that was bothering me at the start was a distant memory by the end.

This week has been a learning experience in many ways.

The main thing I've learned is that I have fantastic friends; I've only done 2 solo runs this week and the long run today started with 8 although we did lose a couple along the way.  I've been so grateful for the offers of company on my various obsessively scheduled and planned runs.

I've learned that my "easy run" pace is definitely 8:40s, not 8:30s.  The difference I feel in my legs for that 10 seconds is huge.  Both paces are easy from a fitness point of view, but my legs seem to be able to do 8:40s with no toll on calves or hamstrings at all, and 8:30s with just a bit of stress.

I've learned that if I want to make a decent go of an interval session I can't do it less than 12 hours after getting back from a 9 mile run.  Getting home in the dark, eating, sleeping, getting up and going out again in the dark, errrr, no!

I think I'm learning to balance my fatigue against my plans and manage my body.  I'm sleeping more, eating better and generally healthier than I have been in a long time despite the virus which in fact my body seems to have defeated in less than 72 hours albeit with a slight compromise in training.

I'm still not sure if my training plan is good or bad for me.  I've received a huge amount of conflicting advice, which has not been unsolicited; I've not done this before and appreciate the input of those who have.  Some people seem to think that to run the times I want to I need to be starting at 40 miles a week and building up to nearer 70 in the last few weeks of training (I can't see that happening), some people think that doing too many miles too soon will just wear me out.  The coming week is a cut back week, again, conflicting advice from hardly run to only cut back to the mileage I did in my first week of training. 

Right now, I'm listening to everyone and trying to be sensible about what my body is telling me, because that's all I can do.  I am tired.  The last three miles of the long run today were a slog and although I was told I looked very bouncy still, it was forced and I didn't really feel it.  I'd planned two rest days before a 5k race on Wednesday and I'm going to take them.  The rest of the week will be to a degree by ear other than the 10 mile long run next Sunday, but my current thought is that it'll be a little less mileage than week 1, and at a slower pace.  I want to start the next three weeks of build up feeling fresh and rested and with no aches and pains.  I'm also somewhat looking forward to a 5k race.  I haven't raced for 3 weeks, I haven't raced a 5k for over a year, and it's a distance I do enjoy for a given value of enjoyment! 

Let's just hope that I don't manage to become cheese by then, as when I did that over last Christmas it really messed with my times!

Week 3 Part 1: Inbound Correspondence

Week 2: Satisfyingly Tired

I've just finished the long run of the week which has taken me up to a total of 39.8 miles, and unsurprisingly I'm tired.  This week's been tougher than last, which was inevitable, but basically manageable.  I started it more tired than last week, I've run farther and done more hard miles.  It's also been absolutely bloody freezing for most of the week which has meant I've been over on mileage largely because my harder runs have been preceded by the longer warm ups which I've needed to get moving without risking injury.  In retrospect I should probably have knocked a few miles off one of my easier runs to compensate, because the jump in mileage from last week has been a bit much.  I think I've got away with it, but it was more than was sensible.  Tonight's long run could have been horrid, but fortunately I had company which made it go by pretty quickly.  I was very grateful for the company this evening, I'd have struggled on my own.

Overall I'm pretty pleased with the week's training.  I've completed all the runs I wanted to, although I did change my interval session with the realisation that on my third day of consecutive training I was too tired and tight to do 1k reps well enough for it to be worthwhile.  I substituted a similar length session which was somewhat easier, and actually made a really good go of it and probably got more benefit than I would have done if I'd stuck to my original plan.  At the time I felt like I may just be being a bit of a wimp, but in retrospect I think it was the right call.

The real plus for this week was managing to get under 20 minutes again for a 5k.  I haven't done a 5k for months and wasn't sure how tired I'd be by the time parkrun came round given the week's mileage, but also felt like I've been running well enough that I could probably do it despite a little fatigue.  Saturday morning dawned sub zero and covered in ice.  The paths to the park were lethal but the park itself was better underfoot than I expected so other than slowing a little on the turns to avoid my feet going out sideways, and dodging a couple of frozen puddles and a sheet ice kebab vomit slick (classy) it was OK.  2km in as my lungs struggled to cope with the frozen air I remembered how much a big push on a 5km hurts.  I do this to myself for fun?  Yes, apparently so.  Luckily there were ladies around my pace to race against and I wanted the sub 20 finish and wasn't going to give up on first lady if I was able to get it.  I finished in 19:47, not my quickest 5k ever but a good solid run and a few seconds in front of the next lady.

It shouldn't really be my target at the moment, it's probably not what I should be burning so much energy on, but being able to run a sub-20 minute 5k has become something of a personal benchmark for me to feel good about how I'm running and I wanted to get one in before the end of the year.  I had four goes planned but it did feel good to manage it on the first go.  I'd like to try and get quicker before the end of the year, with an acceptance that I'll then need to let that go a little as I get farther into marathon training.

This run then led me on to a couple of points which interest me about statistics.  I train with a heart rate monitor and I love the data it gives me.  In particular I like to track my ground contact time balance and of course my heart rate. 

I find the GCT balance a good indicator to me of running form.  I can be lop sided and that has led to a lot of injury issues.  Saturday's 5k was 49.9% left to 50.1% right.  A few months ago it would have been nearer 53% left to 47% right.  I've put a lot of effort into evening that out and building strength in my weaker leg so that I don't end up over-striding on one side to compensate, and I feel like I'm reaping the rewards in terms of being able to up my mileage without my lower legs giving out on me, but this seems to be a good way of tracking it without over-analysing while I'm running. 

Monitoring my heart rate led me on to a question that I don't really know the answer to; am I trying hard enough on my toughest runs?  If I look at my heart rate towards the end of races and hard training sessions it basically maxes out at 168.  I don't have any firm numbers, but this seems low compared to most people my age who are running around my pace.  I don't feel like I'm holding anything back, but surely when racing I should be getting my heart rate higher than that.  My resting heart rate is also very low, under 50, but from what I've been able to research online this should be unconnected to my maximum heart rate.  I should probably do more research on this before I determinedly give myself a heart attack trying to see if I can actually get it any higher, however!

Anyway, next week, more of the same.  Probably not more mileage, the weather has warmed, I'll take my warm ups back to their "normal" length, and that should balance out the slight increase in mileage on the actual effort part of my harder runs.  This is the last "hard" week before my first cut back week which conveniently falls over Christmas.  I should manage to train with others on most of my runs this week which is definitely becoming more and more central to my planning, and I just need to get through to a Christmas Eve long run before I can collapse in a heap of mince pies, mulled wine, presents and over-excited children and have a couple of days off!

Week 1: Winter is coming, but I'm feeling good!

Did I say good?  Fantastic would be closer.  I feel great!  After a year or so of on and off health and injury issues I think my form and fitness are coming back to me.  The changes I've made to my running in an attempt to stop the perpetual injury issues are starting to feel natural and easy.  I ran five days this week, only one of those would be classed as a truly easy run, and my calves, ankles and Achilles have all held up to it fine.  I've had one day where I was definitely fatigued, but just one, the rest I've felt well and truly up to doing what I wanted to do.

I've had some truly wonderful runs which embody many of the things I love about running.  The week started with a great solo tempo run on a perfectly cold, clear, still winter morning in which to immerse myself in my surroundings and the feeling of my body doing just what I wanted it to do.  It has to be said that for the rest of the week the weather hasn't been entirely my friend, but that first day was perfect.  

A slog through an increasingly windy interval session on the third consecutive day of running was the definite low point of the week, and the times on some of the intervals are best forgotten.  

The day I'd hoped to do a quick 5k effort on the parkrun course there was so much ice I couldn't run outside and I had to move my effort to the treadmill, leading to the moment when I glanced at the display for the first time thinking I was around 2k in to read 750 meters and had a massive mental and physical sag.  It took a real force of will to have a word with myself, get my shit together and carry on.  I did a brief drop in pace to get a rhythm going and a refocus on good technique and by the end I had a massive grin on my face and couldn't understand why I hadn't run it faster than the 19:42 I managed.  It's been a while since I've done either a quick 5k or treadmill running so I decided to take that even if it is a bit under pace for a treadmill 5k, be happy with it and get to the next couple of parkruns.

The highlight of the week, however, was definitely the snowy long run.  I've been reliably told by several people that this week's long run was not in fact long, on the basis it was only 10 miles.  Well, sod you picky people, I don't do many long runs and I don't want to break myself suddenly going out and running 15 miles, which is one of the reasons I started training early

Grump aside, I LOVE SNOW!  I was sure it would either be so icy underneath I couldn't do it, or it would be soggy and sad, or just wouldn't happen, but it happened and it was great.  I thought it might not.  I woke up this morning to more cat shit in the back garden than snow, but then it started to come down.  Wonderful, light, powdery snow, which for big sections of the run was completely untouched.  For 8 out of the 10 miles the pace felt easy despite the snow, trail shoes which I rarely wear, and the odd hill.  Sometimes I like to run alone, sometimes I like company, and this was definitely a run better with company even if it wasn't a massively chatty run in the latter part.  Sometimes it's just nice to have someone else around, like when you get 8 miles into a run and turn into the wind and find your face being thoroughly scoured by ice as you run through the deepest snow of the run and suddenly realise you're cold, but you've put your hood down for long enough it's cold and wet inside and now as much use as a chocolate fireguard.  But, the run was good, we were a little quicker than planned somewhat unintentionally, and as for most of the rest of the week, running just felt natural and easy.  For a mile or two over the top of the hills crunching the first set of footprints into new snow, with as yet undefined superpowers, I was absolutely invincible!

My other big positive for the week is my weight.  I tend towards the bottom end of the weight I can run at.  I find it next to impossible to gain muscle and sometimes my weight drops to levels I know aren't good despite my best efforts.  As soon as I up my mileage my body goes mental and burns up every calorie I put into it and I start to look emaciated.  I've made a few changes to diet recently and I'm tentatively hopeful I may be on to the cause of a lot of the problems, but time will tell.  I'm sure there'll be a longer waffle about that one at some point soon.

So, the plan for the week was:

Monday - 5 mile tempo;

Tuesday - 45 minutes easy;

Wednesday - intervals, 7 x 3 minutes or the club track session if it was close to that;

Friday - 5k effort on the parkrun course;

Sunday - 10 mile long run.

Plus two strength and two core training sessions.

The next week is very similar to this week, but a little bit more distance on the tempo, easy and long run, and a slightly tougher hills or interval session - I'm currently undecided which.  Today, I feel really positive about it.  I know fatigue and grumpiness will set in at some point, but right now I'm just loving running and that's always a good place to start from.

And So It Begins!

In the beginning there was just a plan.  I have a plan.  I have most of a plan anyway.  Let's call it more of a guide.  The guide starts tomorrow.

This week it's a definite plan as I want to see how my body holds up to running five days a week.  In an ideal world I want run five days a week through most of the next 18 weeks.  A few months ago this would have been a pipe dream but I'm hopeful that my calves, ankles and Achilles are now strong enough to hold up to it.  If they don't some of the runs are going to need to be replaced by cross training, and I'm accepting I may need to be flexible about what I want to do.

In preparation for starting marathon training I had planned a really light week last week mileage and pace wise, which was slightly messed up by a cross country race on Saturday.  The cross country race was in turn interfered with by the running club's Christmas party on the Friday where I got disgracefully drunk.  I wouldn't normally get drunk the night before a race, but having someone to look after the kids so I can go out with my husband is such a rarity I threw caution to the wind, left the car at home, had a drink and quite a bit of fun while telling myself the race would be fine anyway.  The race was not fine.  The race was horrific.  I was still somewhat drunk, or hungover, or possibly some terrible place in between, when I ran on Saturday lunchtime.  The race was a write off, I couldn't race, I could barely run in places although I did manage to finish.  On an up note, having run a lot slower than I would have liked my legs do at least feel fresh and ready for some serious training this week. 

I feel boingy and very much ready to forget about both cross country and wine, and get some running done on some nice tarmac for a while. I'm absolutely itching to get at it. 

I imagine this enthusiasm is going to wear off pretty quickly when reality hits and all the training I've planned this week - none of which is beyond me when considered in isolation - starts to stack up in my legs and I'm running dog tired and on my own at night next weekend.

Still, right now, boing!