The Good, The Bad and The Ugly Week

This week has had it all; the good, the bad and the ugly. My pretty awful runs have stemmed from general fatigue, tiredness and just having the feeling of nothing in my legs. This has been a big mileage week for me, with close to 50 miles logged. Thankfully, next week is a bit of an easier week (if there is such a thing in marathon training terms!) so I am hopeful it will be a bit restorative. Marathon training is hard work, and it feels tougher when your legs just do not want to play game at times; so I am trying to remain positive and not let the harder miles get me down. 

MONDAY: Body Pump class.

TUESDAY: I guess you could say the week did not get off to the greatest of starts running wise when I literally did not feel like I had the energy for my planned interval run. I switched it to later in the week (avoidance tactics!) and opted for a (in theory) slightly easier 5 mile tempo run. The middle 3 miles of this run were supposed to be at marathon pace, but after a fairly steady mile long warm up, I got carried away, logging quicker miles than I needed to. Not my wisest move!

WEDNESDAY: one of my better runs of the week, meeting my friend for one of our mid week 6am routes. We logged just under 7 miles at a good pace; all sub 8 min/mile splits. It was the strongest I had felt running with my friend for a while, and his pace did not seem to stretch me too much. I felt better - for now...

THURSDAY: the postponed intervals were on the agenda for this morning and it was literally a disaster. I was tired to begin with, having gone to bed much later than normal after being out at a mid week Lincoln City football match. Tiredness is one thing, but as soon as I tried to run one of my planned fast reps, my legs instantly drained from beneath me. I was truly wiped out, and whilst I did attempt another rep, I could tell there was literally no point in trying to find any pace in my legs - they were gone. I very nearly turned for home, but knew I would feel even worse if I gave up completely. Instead I switched to logging the rest of the miles at an easy pace, ignoring my Garmin beeping at me telling me I should be running intervals! I managed 7 miles, but was then slightly worried about the fact I had Run Club later that evening. At Run Club I seemed to find some energy, from where I am not quite sure! Perhaps it was being in the company of others which helped, and I ran well during a 5 mile tempo session. It was almost like the morning had not happened...

FRIDAY: a vague Rest Day... I say vague as I spent virtually all day at work assembling our new office. This entailed moving and carrying desks and office furniture, shifting equipment etc; it was a pretty hectic day. Obviously this was not really what I needed, and I was knackered when I got home. 

SATURDAY: today was my work colleague's 50th parkrun and he invited me to come join him at his home event at Normanby Hall. It meant an early alarm again, but I wanted to support him; we love a good parkrun chat in our office and he is always interested in my running - so I wanted to recognise his own achievement. Going away from my home event in Lincoln was probably also good for me; I doubt I would have been able to meet some of my recent parkrun times and I would probably have felt disappointed in my legs! I have ran Normanby parkrun a few times before, but with some works going on in the park, this time we ran a slightly amended course. I found it a challenge, my body felt ok, but the course tested me a lot, with the gravel paths especially asking more from my tired legs. I really had to dig deep to find some speed. I was helped by trying to keep up with a fellow female runner, and eventually I finished in 21:44. I then cheered my colleague in and enjoyed a post run drink at the lovely cafe on site. I was happy - until I arrived home. Here everything suddenly hit me, I felt awful, like I was truly exhausted. My eyes were heavy, every movement felt a huge effort, and I literally just wanted to lay down and not move or even have to think. The feeling probably should have worried me more than it did at the time, I was too out of it to even contemplate it all really. I took the rest of the day steady, and then after a few hours just laying down later on, I did start to feel much better.  

SUNDAY: I may be a little mad at times, but there is still a few sensible bones in my body, and I therefore knew I had to take it easy on today's planned 20 miles. Thankfully it was much cooler than last week when I had ran the same distance, and this allowed me to remain in more control. I settled into a comfortable pace around the 8:40 min/mile mark and just tried to let the miles tick by. I was being consistent, but by my standards, a little unspectacular. It was what I needed to do though, and I was pleased to show some discipline. On the whole my legs felt like they could keep going, they were a bit weary at times, but I think that was when I let my mind wander into areas of doubt - which is something you have to learn to control, especially when running for such a long time on your own. I got my 20 miles logged; although it is another week when I am going to try not panic about my long runs being a lot slower than maybe I would like them to be. Post run my sister messaged to inform me that Eliud Kipchoge - the marathon running machine! - logs his long runs almost 4 minutes slower than his actual marathon pace... well if it works for him...!?