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!
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