I'm writing the first part of this on Thursday, although I don't intend to publish it until Sunday when the week's training is over.
Saying I'm tired just doesn't cover it right now. In fact I'm struggling to find a suitable adjective to describe my current level of weariness. I'm not going to say I've never been this physically tired before, I have been on a number of occasions, but on none of those occasions did I attempt to go out running or undertake any other type of training. As well as being tired, I'm aching. My legs ache. Nothing specifically concerning, just a general tired, heavy all over ache that's weighing me down. I also have a blister as a result of wearing actual without laces shoes on Saturday evening when for once in a blue moon I went out somewhere. The blister is the icing on the cake that can fuck right off.
As predicted after the hard run on Sunday, I did not manage or indeed even attempt to do the 8 mile tempo run on Tuesday. I decided to split it half and half and do 4 tempo 4 easy. This seemed sensible given I basically ran the last four miles of Sunday's long run at tempo pace. I then made the big mistake of forgetting to eat on Tuesday afternoon. I need regular fuelling, but a lot was going on at home and I missed my snack. The 4 miles at tempo were really tough which I put down to tiredness from the run on Sunday. The 4 miles easy were where things really started to go wrong, I felt weirdly disconnected from what was going on around me, and when I made it back to the leisure centre I realised that as I got near the car park I felt very light headed and my vision was swimming. It was quite an unnerving experience. This was the point I realised I'd forgotten to eat, and it suddenly all made sense. I was almost staggering by the time I got across the car park, but a Snickers bar later I was starting to recover. A friend kindly gave me a lift home and by the time I'd had tea the shakiness had gone. A lesson learned.
As predicted after the hard run on Sunday, I did not manage or indeed even attempt to do the 8 mile tempo run on Tuesday. I decided to split it half and half and do 4 tempo 4 easy. This seemed sensible given I basically ran the last four miles of Sunday's long run at tempo pace. I then made the big mistake of forgetting to eat on Tuesday afternoon. I need regular fuelling, but a lot was going on at home and I missed my snack. The 4 miles at tempo were really tough which I put down to tiredness from the run on Sunday. The 4 miles easy were where things really started to go wrong, I felt weirdly disconnected from what was going on around me, and when I made it back to the leisure centre I realised that as I got near the car park I felt very light headed and my vision was swimming. It was quite an unnerving experience. This was the point I realised I'd forgotten to eat, and it suddenly all made sense. I was almost staggering by the time I got across the car park, but a Snickers bar later I was starting to recover. A friend kindly gave me a lift home and by the time I'd had tea the shakiness had gone. A lesson learned.
I decided to give myself an impromptu rest day on Wednesday to help my body recover, then of course my obsessiveness kicked in and after a brief argument with myself - which I guess I both won and lost - I ran anyway. It was only a very steady one, just miles, but it was still hard work.
Thursday's (today's) session was not meant to be a steady one however. It's very rare that I don't want to run, but this morning when I went out I really didn't want to set foot out the door, least of all to go and attempt an interval session I was sure would be disappointing. I hated the warm up and had no bounce in my legs at all. I almost canned the workout on the basis I wasn't going to get anything from it and I'd benefit more from a rest, but decided that on balance and with no actual injury concerns, just fatigue, I would do it anyway with all my concentration on maintaining good form and acceptance that I may not hit the pace I would normally expect to.
The first rep was rubbish, by the second or third I was OK. They were only short reps, 90s at the start going down to 30s at the end, and only 15 minutes of effort. I focussed on technique, continuously reminding myself about all the little things that come together to make running feel good. Strong legs, driving forwards, swing the leg back and bring the foot up, now try to be lighter, stand tall from the hips, shoulders down, arms swinging evenly, open the chest, breath easily, keep extending, long strides, it's only 90s, 60s, 45s, throw a nursery rhyme in and it'll only be 20s left, and so on. By the end of the session I was running well. I couldn't have kept it up for longer reps, but that was the whole point of only having short reps in on this, the third consecutive day of running. I actually enjoyed the reps a lot more than the long warm up and down I put either side of it to bring my week's mileage up. Junk miles some people call them. Normally I don't find them such, I enjoy just being out and running, but today they were just that. Rotten miles for the sake of miles.
I'm tired, I'm sore, I'm cold and I'm definitely grumbly. Tomorrow is a rest day, let's hope it works some magic on my legs and me before the weekend.
I'm tired, I'm sore, I'm cold and I'm definitely grumbly. Tomorrow is a rest day, let's hope it works some magic on my legs and me before the weekend.
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