Health, Happiness and Doing What You Love
I really do have no running photos at all for this week's blog post, so here's a picture of me post long run in my Christmas sweater. The Christmas sweater that I couldn't find yesterday when I did parkrun. I did find my tutu but I forgot to take it with me. I learned last year that doing the pre-parkrun run in my Derbyshire home town, solo, knackered and wearing a massive bright red Christmas themed tutu will get you a lot of "those looks". It's also bloody hard work to run in and the way I felt yesterday this was a consideration. My plan to slip it on last minute failed due to a similar failure in memory. I blame my age.
Anyway, this week has involved a lot of running. It is, in fact, my highest ever mileage week with a total of 60 miles run. Is this crazy in week three of my marathon training? I don't think it is, but until I've tried this higher mileage slower pace approach for a while longer I really can't say. My plan is quite simple. I am enjoying running, I am loving running, so I am running a lot. Out of necessity this needs to be slower or I will break. So I trot, I trot, I trot some more, and then I do a little bit of hard running. As the training progresses the amount of and pace of the harder running should, in theory, progress.
So, 60 miles, 45 easy, 9 tempo, 6 marathon pace, and quite a lot of hills. No session this week, as I'm planning a doozer next week on a lower mileage week.
The irony is that with all that running, the thing that totally buggered me was Wednesday's strength session. Wednesday is my toughest training day. In my head Wednesday are now "well 'ard Wednesday". Wednesday involes a little sandwich. A sandwich of my heaviest leg weight session, nicely snuggled between a morning tempo run or session, and an evening marathon pace run. Those weights are what make me hurt. Not at the time. I can go in the gym and lift and I can even do it right after my session. The only thing that threatens to fail me at the time is my grip. But I know. I know the price. For this feeble attempt at building strength I will wake the next day with a right pain in the arse, but it's a pain in the arse which is nothing compared to the complete weariness in my legs. The day after that pain in the arse will be greater and just walking slowly up a flight of stairs will feels like climbing a mountain to my tired quads. At this point I'll convince myself I can't possibly do the weekend's running. But then Saturday comes and while tired, after a bit of a warm up it all loosens out and actually I can run just fine. Tired, but that comes with the territory, running is OK.
This week's big focus was the long run. Next week is a cut back week to give my body time to get some benefit from all this training. I'll run short, some hard miles, and throw in an all out 5k next weekend just to see where I'm at. Today though, at the end of my three weeks' build up and having run 165 miles in three weeks, I set myself the task of a hilly 18 miler with at least 4 at target marathon pace. I made it hilly. I don't do hills. I figured I'd just pootle, change the route if I felt like it and it'd be no stress. Then people decided to join me, and I was happy. Friends to run with, nice friends, people I enjoy running with and whose company I would undoubtably enjoy.
Yesterday it dawned on me that friends would mean I had to do the hilly route I'd said I would and at the pace I'd said I would. They were all faster than me, stronger than me, and they do crazy things like run up mountains for fun. I do not. I run on nice flat tarmac. At the first hill I died a little inside. I start every long run believing I can't do it. I'm too tired, too slow, too unfit, too something. My head is my biggest barrier to achieving what I'm capable of doing and I know it, although knowing doesn't help. That first hill as I puffed and huffed and cursed under my breath and everyone trotted past me made me realise I just couldn't do it. One of my lovely running friends was sidestepping happily up the hill chatting to the people behind her and I decided it might be OK to give her just a gentle nudge. A gentle grumpy nudge. I resolved I would do so, or at least not share my jelly babies with her. Fortunately for all concerned there was really no danger at all of my catching up with her going up that hill. She's really very nice and I shared my sweets like a good girl.
At the top of the hill the usual thing happened and I had my "I can do this fine" moment. The legs were OK, I was OK, I stood up looked around and remembered how much I love running and how great the friends I have made through it are. One foot in front of the other, great company, great surroundings, breathe, run, left, right, left, right, and enjoy the mechanics of it, enjoy the weather being kind. By 6 miles in I knew I could do the run just fine and running up the next hill I was grinning like an idiot. I love the feeling of running well, even when it's not hugely fast, and trotting up a hill around 8 miles in I realised I was running well. Yes I got tired, yes it's been a long week, but it's been a good week of being out and about.
So, three weeks into training, so far it's mostly been about distance, it's about to start being about pace too. This week on shorter mileage with a hard run at the end to assess what my training pace should be for my various runs on the next three weeks' build up. The last three weeks have been done on feel, the next three I'll be looking at where I'm at and giving myself some hard pace goals on some runs. I've dropped four pounds - two more to go in an ideal world although realistically I want to build muscle too so there's some work to do there.
Can I run a marathon? I honestly believe if I gave myself a week off I could run good for age (sub 3:50) on a flat course in relatively good conditions already. That's not really my goal, but compared to where I was at this point last year when my health was deteriorating and I didn't even understand why everything was so hard, I am in a pretty good place.
So it's time to enjoy a little bit of Christmas cheer, a bit of a laid back week compared to the last few, and in a week's time I'll plan the following three. Merry Christmas everyone, and a Happy Healthy New Year!
This week's big focus was the long run. Next week is a cut back week to give my body time to get some benefit from all this training. I'll run short, some hard miles, and throw in an all out 5k next weekend just to see where I'm at. Today though, at the end of my three weeks' build up and having run 165 miles in three weeks, I set myself the task of a hilly 18 miler with at least 4 at target marathon pace. I made it hilly. I don't do hills. I figured I'd just pootle, change the route if I felt like it and it'd be no stress. Then people decided to join me, and I was happy. Friends to run with, nice friends, people I enjoy running with and whose company I would undoubtably enjoy.
Yesterday it dawned on me that friends would mean I had to do the hilly route I'd said I would and at the pace I'd said I would. They were all faster than me, stronger than me, and they do crazy things like run up mountains for fun. I do not. I run on nice flat tarmac. At the first hill I died a little inside. I start every long run believing I can't do it. I'm too tired, too slow, too unfit, too something. My head is my biggest barrier to achieving what I'm capable of doing and I know it, although knowing doesn't help. That first hill as I puffed and huffed and cursed under my breath and everyone trotted past me made me realise I just couldn't do it. One of my lovely running friends was sidestepping happily up the hill chatting to the people behind her and I decided it might be OK to give her just a gentle nudge. A gentle grumpy nudge. I resolved I would do so, or at least not share my jelly babies with her. Fortunately for all concerned there was really no danger at all of my catching up with her going up that hill. She's really very nice and I shared my sweets like a good girl.
At the top of the hill the usual thing happened and I had my "I can do this fine" moment. The legs were OK, I was OK, I stood up looked around and remembered how much I love running and how great the friends I have made through it are. One foot in front of the other, great company, great surroundings, breathe, run, left, right, left, right, and enjoy the mechanics of it, enjoy the weather being kind. By 6 miles in I knew I could do the run just fine and running up the next hill I was grinning like an idiot. I love the feeling of running well, even when it's not hugely fast, and trotting up a hill around 8 miles in I realised I was running well. Yes I got tired, yes it's been a long week, but it's been a good week of being out and about.
So, three weeks into training, so far it's mostly been about distance, it's about to start being about pace too. This week on shorter mileage with a hard run at the end to assess what my training pace should be for my various runs on the next three weeks' build up. The last three weeks have been done on feel, the next three I'll be looking at where I'm at and giving myself some hard pace goals on some runs. I've dropped four pounds - two more to go in an ideal world although realistically I want to build muscle too so there's some work to do there.
Can I run a marathon? I honestly believe if I gave myself a week off I could run good for age (sub 3:50) on a flat course in relatively good conditions already. That's not really my goal, but compared to where I was at this point last year when my health was deteriorating and I didn't even understand why everything was so hard, I am in a pretty good place.
So it's time to enjoy a little bit of Christmas cheer, a bit of a laid back week compared to the last few, and in a week's time I'll plan the following three. Merry Christmas everyone, and a Happy Healthy New Year!
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