Recovery

But first, the big question- would I do another one?

Well, on the way around (finding it so tough) I decided that I would never say never, and that I probably will do another marathon, but when I am a bit faster. Mainly because then the pain would last for less time! I have the Great South Run booked in the Autumn (10 miles) and I think this sort of distance, some 10k’s and maybe a few more half marathons are what I need to up my speed. Plus this year I missed a lot of races that I had previously enjoyed because they did not fit with the marathon training plan. So I am going to spend time doing those shorter races (it’s all relative- I am not saying they are short, just less than the marathon), hopefully speed up again, and then maybe do one later on (e.g. Autumn 2012 or something like that). It is funny because already, less than a week later, all I can remember are the good bits (the finish line!) and the hard parts (eg 3/4 of it) seem to have faded away in my memory! Plus now I can walk properly again it does not seem to bad!

I have been thinking about recovery a lot these past few days!

I think the walk from the stadium to the hotel was a good thing, as it did mean my legs did not seize up straight away. I did think I had a blister, so I made use of the free compeed plasters, but actually nothing has come of that.

As the marathon finished late in the day, we had time for a shower and then a very slow walk to dinner, and that was it. I used the ice gel after my shower and that also helped, but I did forget to have a cold blast with the shower that day.

During the night I remembered my compression socks (duh!) and put them on- they actually gave me calves immediate relief and I wished I had some kind of compression things for my thighs too. Ah well. In fact I was stiff all over- my shoulders must have totally tensed up near the end, despite me trying to roll my shoulders and wiggle my arms.

On the Sunday (after enjoying the hotel breakfast- how I love rye bread and muesli- and also a shower with some cold blasts at the end) we decided we should not stay in the hotel all day, so braved a trip on the underground to the old town (Gamla Stan). Going down stairs proved difficult- I was going down sideways one step at a time. Not so good. As we got to the platform the train came and Andy ran to the train, so I had to as well. It was only the length of a few carriages, but I actually felt like crying when I got on the train- so painful! We walked around for a few hours, but that was all I could manage.  I was even getting the lift in the hotel (even though it was only 2 flights of stairs! I felt so lazy!).

We had decided that we wanted to do some proper sightseeing, so on the Monday we left the hotel at about half 10. We walked (slowly) to the park where there are a lot of museums. It was a beautiful sunny day, and it was so lovely to be outside and enjoying the city. We went to an open air museum (it had buildings from all over Sweden in it- to preserve them, and also animals like reindeer, elk, and also rabbits 🙂  )- this was great but the park was on a steep hill and going downhill was painful. We sat for a bit to eat our lunch (we are very well prepared and had packed some bagels in our suitcase!) and then walked to another museum. It was a shipwreck that sunk after sailing for 25 mins, from the 1600’s, and it was so well preserved. Worth a visit for sure. But my legs were getting more and more stiff. The museum shut at 5pm (so we had been walking for a long time- we watched a 25 min film in that museum, and sat for 10 mins for our lunch and that was it) and so then we walked back to the old town, looking for some dinner. In the end we found an Italian, and boy did I enjoy my pizza! By then my legs were actually hurting, so we got the underground back to the hotel instead of walking. Not sure if a day of walking and sightseeing is the best recovery, but we did not want to go all that way and not see anything.

Walking around was good, and we kept seeing parts of the marathon route, so we just chatted about how we felt during those parts of the race. I was still going down stairs sideways.

I think we got back to the hotel at about half 8, and then I did a lot of stretching.

Tuesday we came home- our flight was at lunch time so we took our time getting to the airport (no expensive taxi this time, which by the way cost £50!!!- we got the bus instead!), and walked up and down the terminal for a bit before getting onto the plane. Exciting news- I could walk down stairs properly again- hooray!!! My left hamstring was bothering me the most, but the front of my ankles was also hurting while I was walking.

Wednesday I had my sports massage- I walked up and it took me longer than usual. She found so much tightness in my back and hamstring, and I am still sore today from it, but actually my hamstring is no longer tight. She said I might have minor shin splints from the pressure (as I have a sort of tight feeling near the side/front of my right ankle when I walk), so I am not going to try a recovery run just yet. I was thinking that I might have a gentle jog today (Thursday) but because I still have soreness when walking I do not want to make that worse. I can see I am not recovered yet- I suppose it will take a while.

Hopefully I might manage a short one at the weekend, maybe Sunday. I am not going to body pump tonight either. I did think I might go and just use light weights for the squats and lunges, but I tried going a squat and lunge in the living room and it was not very easy! So I am going to be a good girl and recover some more. Hopefully!

Last night I went out for dinner with some friends- a few of us walked back to the car park together and mine was away from the other cars (it was dark and creepy)- I contemplated running to my car, took 2 steps and realised it was not so good. No pain or anything, but not quite right just yet.

Exciting news– I downloaded my Nike+ today and got a video from Paula- saying welcome to the 0.1% of the population who have run a marathon! Not sure if that is the UK population, or the world, or what, but it was exciting! I did calibrate it after the 20 mile run, but it still thinks that I did 27.93 miles (although I let it run on for a few mins after)- Andy had his Garmin on and it tracked a few km over (46 instead of 42), but there was no line to follow down the centre of the course, so I suppose you must run a little over the actual distance.  I was most excited by the video anyway!

Anyway, I have been feeling a little more tired than usual, and so I am trying to take it a little easier this week. Being half term is good timing. Usually I would be taking advantage and going out running in the mornings, but I don’t feel like doing that, which is good, as I should not be doing that! So instead I will take advantage of the extra time to do some other stuff (gardening, shopping, cooking, seeing friends etc). Yay 🙂 I spent this morning doing work (boring), popped to the shops and then did some gardening this afternoon (nothing too strenuous- just planting out veggies into the vegetable patch).

So, I think the recovery is going well. For a few days after I felt really sore, and I was a bit worried, at times, that I might have actually done some damage. But now, later on, I think that my muscles and tendons and joints and everything were just so worn out, so hopefully with a few more days of rest I will be back out there again.

Question- next Sunday (12th) is the St Albans Half marathon. No I am not contemplating that, but there is a 5k, and the PTA from my school try to get people to enter- I did the half last year and it was nice to support the school. But the deadline for entries is 6th June. Does anyone think I would be able to do that?

Thanks for all the congratulations and wishes from you all- love you guys 🙂

Stockholm marathon- my rambles

Hey!

First can I say thank you to everyone who commented/ wished me luck/ gave me a shout out on their blog. It means so much that I have people cheering me on!

Now, be warned, I expect this is going to be a long one, so get comfy!

So, by Friday morning I was feeling OK- went to work (and felt very tired but I think I was just feeling under pressure to get everything done and be ready to leave at 3.30). We got to Heathrow with plenty of time, drank loads of water, and so on. We got a taxi from Arlanda airport (which is, coincidently 42 km -26 miles-away) to the centre of Stockholm! Normally we would get public transport but we decided we did not want to be extra tired from pulling our cases around train stations etc. Anyway, by the time we checked in, got our stuff ready for the morning it was midnight. But I slept pretty well (just woke up early).

We left loads of time in the morning- shower, porridge (using the travel kettle), suncream, packing our bag with snacks for after. We were going to walk to the stadium (it did not look more than 2km on the map) but got confused and walked for half an hour in the wrong direction before eventually getting a bus (all the buses and trains were free on that day for runners). The expo was brilliantly organised- we got our numbers, a big bag to leave while we ran, an envelope for valuables, plus a bum bag (I saw some people wearing these but I had my water waist pack), sponge, compeed and some ice gel!

The bag says “Stockholm marathon” so a nice souvenir, although I gave mine to my Mum!

Anyway, we put our race numbers on (they even gave you safety pins!), went to the toilets (there were loads so the queue was not too long) and got to our starter pen. I also picked up 2 pacer bands, for 5.00 and 5.15, but then forgot to put on the 5.15 one (left it in the bag). Whoops. I chose those as I thought they were the times I was capable of, although my goals were to finish (in the time allowed) and to run the whole way. Andy and I were in the same starter pen, so we chatted and tried to take our mind off the hours of running ahead. The atmosphere was fab, and we heard the gun for the first lot of people (4 groups started at 11.30, and we started at 11.40 with another group). Then it was time for us to go!

The start was through the city, and it was great because there were people in the streets, cheering (they all shout “hey-ja”), people with cowbells, kids high-fiving the runners. I did nearly cry several times during those first few miles, as I kept thinking about how a few years ago I did not even run (I took it up 3 years ago to run a 5k,and that was a massive challenge for me). I had to tell myself to get it together as I had a long way in front of me before I would actually finish! I was being overtaken by loads of people, but I kept telling myself that I was letting the tide go out (e.g. most people set off fast and so if I stayed steady I would catch up later- this generally does work for me!). I was going to try to keep an eye on the pacer runners, but within a few minutes the 5.00 pacers had gone from my sight. But for the first 12k at least, I was bang on time with the pacer band. At 9K there is a big bridge (I had been warned about it) and although it was long, I found it OK, and the view from the top was amazing. Not sure if I took that too fast, but soon after that my calves started to feel tight, and as I was nowhere near half way I decided to try and slow down a bit. All the way around were live bands, marching bands, samba dancers, stuff like that, so it was good to get a boost from those people as you went around. By 15k I was off target, by a few minutes, but really 5 hours was not the be all and end all, I just wanted to finish one. After about 2 hours I was running along a road, coming up to the stadium (the end of the first loop) and a helicopter swooped low over the road, so I waved up to the camera (as did other runners)- then I saw the pace car zoom past on the other side of the divide. Yes, I was not even half way and the elite athletes were on their way to the finish line!

After that was the hardest part of the race for me. The route looped away from the stadium, into a park. The park was quieter- no crowds here, and there were a few hard hills too. By that point my legs were really sore, but I was not feeling tired really. The half way point had very loud loudspeakers playing music, (and a mat with some people on a crane taking photos, so I did smile and wave at the camera then!)- I reached half way in 2.33, so by then I knew I would not manage 5 hours. Right after half way was a gherkin station, randomly! I did not partake in any of the refreshments except water. There were stations every few km, with energy drink, water, coke (near the end), bananas, some kind of veg stock at one, dextrose energy tablets and energy bars. The roads were so sticky after the energy drink stations, and I was having to peel my feet off the ground after the coke one! I had my clif shots to keep me going until this point, and topped up my bottle (water with a nuun tab in it).

Anyway, back to the race (I did warn you it was a ramble). The park was soooooo hard, and knowing I was only just half way done was difficult as my legs hurt. I was still being overtaken by other people, and also lots of walk/ runners who kept running away, then I would catch them up. I was tempted to walk, but I really wanted to run the whole way and I was being stubborn! I did some mind games (I play ABC games- name a fruit for each letter of the alphabet- then I did it with veg and got stuck on D, then got annoyed and stopped it!), I thought about all the runs I have done before, thought about my parents watching at home on the computer each time I went over one of the timer mats. The time passed, anyway, as it does. I got overtaken by the 5.15 pacer runners, and as I had not put the band on I had no idea how I was doing for that, I just knew I had been running for a long time! Then it was back into the city, and the same loop that was from 3k-16k. I still cannot decide if it was better knowing what was coming. I kept thinking I knew what was coming, and thinking it would be right around the corner, whereas it was another few km away. I also think the km thing was harder, as I am used to miles. By this point I was telling myself “ok you have 16km to go, that is only a 10k and a 5k- they are not far”!. Then I worked out how many miles it was, and wished I hadn’t. I had a nakd bar at this point, as it was a long time since that porridge and I fancied some real food. It also made me think about that instead of my legs. The bridge for the second time, at 33km, was really hard. I was tempted to walk, but I knew that re-starting would be so much harder, so I kept to my plod and counted the railings (over 300 on the way to the middle). Soon after was a stand with bananas on it- the people were peeling them and holding them out, but I decided I wanted one for the end, so I went up to the table and chose a nice looking one, which I then held for the rest of the way. Again that was something for me to think about other than my legs. All the drinks stations were being tidied away (people sweeping up all the rubbish etc)- drinks were still available and I did think that it was a bit disconcerting as I was not right at the back, but really they were being efficient.

By this point, the mind games were starting again. “Only 7k to go, that’s only a little more than a 5k. Now only 6k to go, that’s only a little more than a 5k. Only 5k to go (at last)- that is not too far. Then I got overtaken by the 5.30 pacer group, and I started to worry a little (as the 6 hour limit was strict)- I had been running for over 4 and a half hours I think, so I am not sure if the pacer group decided to pick up speed (it was a small group) but they must have finished before their time. I had a little bag of jelly tots, which got me through the last few miles (past the sticky coke station!). There were a few bands playing, and the last 3 km are a bit of a blur in my mind now (I stopped looking at my watch by this point).

Suddenly I could see the entrance to the stadium, and thought for a second that the inflatable arch was the finish line. No such luck- I had to run under that, into the stadium, over the 42km mat and then around the stadium. That was an amazing feeling. During parts of the race I was really worried that I would not finish, so to see the end in sight and know that I would make it was just fantastic. By that point my legs did not feel like my own- my brain was having a hard time moving them naturally. The stadium had loads of people sat in the stands cheering, and there were photographers all around (I was crying by that point and tried so hard to make myself smile for the cameras)-I was trying to take it all in as I ran around the track- then it was across the finish line- relief, happiness, amazement, pride- so many emotions were flooding through me.  Just thinking about that now is making me feel so emotional. The lady that gave me my medal gave me a very sympathetic look (as I was properly crying by that point!) and said “well done”.

Then I had my banana while I walked from the stadium to the expo. I was handed some water on the way, and at some point remembered to stop my Nike+. Then we had to walk down stars (what a killer) to get to the expo. They had these clever ramps which you walked up, and some lovely people cut the timer chips off, then I was handed my finishers t- shirt(which is a real technical t shirt) and a bag with raisins, nuts, another banana, chocolate bar, coke and protein milkshake.

Andy was waiting for me, enjoying his free beer. He had found it tough too-(he did it in 4.36 which I think is pretty respectable for a first marathon- I would love to run that fast anyway)- his legs were sore too, so we are not sure if it was the flight maybe. But anyway, we finished. “If it was easy, everyone would do it” he said to me when I was saying how much harder I had found it. I did think it would be hard, but because I had managed the long training runs ok, I was only expecting the last bit to be hard. But it felt like more of an achievement as I did find it so hard from early on.

Here is a close up of the medals! They are about the size of a coaster- pretty hefty.

It was a shame the medals did not have ribbons, as you could not wear them, but I put on my t-shirt right away!

This is about 5 minutes after I finished! So happy! 🙂

We hung around for a bit (well, basically Andy finished his beer while I had some more water and went to the toilet), and then we decided to make our way back to the hotel. We were going to get the bus, but the roads were still closed and we had no idea where the bus would go from (and we were not 100% sure where our hotel was!) so we walked. Very slowly! I had some of the milk drink but it was so sweet that I only managed about half. It was weird as I did not feel hungry at all by that point. We passed the very last people running- they had a van driving behind them and people were collecting up the barriers and the rubbish bags so behind them the roads were re-opening. We walked back along some of the marathon route, and you would not have known that it was there as there was no sign of it at all.

Once back to the hotel (it took us maybe half an hour which we decided would be good to help our legs cool down) we showered, I had the nuts, and covered my legs in the ice gel.

Then we went for dinner (there was a Hard Rock cafe at the end of the road, and as they do veggie burgers it meant no worries about finding a veggie place to eat)- I still did not feel hungry so had the veggie burger and side salad (not fries) but when it came I ate it so fast! I must have been starving! Maybe I should have had the fries!

Anyway, I think I have written enough to be getting on with! I will do a post later about the rest of our time in Stockholm.

I looked on the website, and I got a rather detailed list of the time splits, although not all the sections are 5k sections so it is hard to compare- I will do the speed in brackets for those of you that like the numbers;

35.22 (7.05 per km),

35.32 (7.07),

36.23 (7.17),

37.44 (7.33),

8.26 (up to half way-7.42),

30.54 (this was more like a 4k section- 7.42),

30.54 (7.55- again not 5k),

39.23 (7.53),

40.38 (8.08- that dreaded bridge on the second way around)

40.13 (8.03),

17.24 (just over 2K-7.56).

Average pace 7.38 min per km.

Total time- 5 hours 21-59. So, I finished, and I ran the whole way! Goals accomplished.

I basically got gradually slower until the end was in sight!

Weirdly, although I felt like I was being overtaken the whole time, I went from 3406, to 3350, so I must have overtaken more people than went past me. Right before the end I was number 3345, so 5 people must have put on a proper sprint finish, but I had nowt left in the tank for that! I don’t know how the placings work as there were meant to be 20,000 people running. It says I was 1789 for my age, but my placing can’t be out of the whole amount of people running.

I will leave you with the route map- not sure if it will come out but it has a rather humorous km by km countdown (eg 27- Wow -that guy looks worse than me!), and finishes with 42- Eternal pride at the great Olympic stadium! Which is what I feel when I think about it. The pain was worth it.

I am so proud that I managed to complete it. And I know I said it before, but thanks for all the advice, encouragement, support and so on that you have all shown me.  🙂

And well done for getting right to the end- virtual tea and cookies are coming your way!

Marathon complete!

Hey!

I will do a longer recap once home, but the headlines:

First 10k on target. Then my calves got super stiff and sore, no idea why. So I slowed down. Found it really hard, I cried when I got to the stadium and when I got my medal! Official chip time is 5.21.59, so very very pleased.

Thanks for all the comments- I was thinking of all your encouragement on the way around!

Laters

xx

Keep your fingers crossed please!

Hello

So first up, a little confession of sorts. Last night I was not feeling very well. To cut a long story short I went to the Doctors this morning and have another UTI, and another course of antibiotics. I did not sleep much last night (I think worrying about how I should be getting more sleep in the run up to the marathon made it even worse as I was just clock watching all night) and I was in a bit of pain this morning. I am so annoyed as before Feb (when I got one) I have never had one of these. The Doctor told me I need to drink more to help prevent them coming back, but I already have 750ml water at work (sometimes I re-fill this), 3 x 330ml glasses of water per day, rooibos/ mint tea x 2 and 1 cup normal tea. Which seems a lot to me. But anyway, drink more I will.

I got very upset when I got back from the Doctors, although he did say that it should probably be completely gone in 48 hours (the normal course of antibiotics is 3 days but he gave 7 because I already had it once this year- so I am thinking if the course is only 3 days then Saturday would be the 3rd day of it). I think last time I left it a few days before I went to the Doctors, so it got a bit worse. Anyway, this afternoon the pain is practically gone, I won’t go into details but I am feeling much better and a little more optimistic. I sat here for about an hour reading stuff on the Runners World forum about running and antibiotics- a lot of stuff was about chest infections etc (which obviously would affect running due to the breathing), but there were people saying they had run with UTI’s, just taken it a little easier. So at the moment, I am going to make sure I drink loads and loads, take the tablets, and see how I feel on Saturday morning- maybe follow the 5.15 pacer runners instead of the 5.00. I cancelled my haircut for this evening and have been making sure I sit about a lot today, and I am feeling ok so I know I will be fine for work tomorrow if I still feel like this. So fingers crossed that I caught it nice and early this time.

So please keep your fingers crossed for me (thanks to Alison for the shout out too 🙂 )- I really really want to run this marathon, but of course I am not going to put myself through 5+ hours of painful running. So if you are following online and my chip does not move, you know why.

Onto more positive news, I looked at the forecast here and it looks like perfect running weather- cool (9-13 C) with a light breeze. It does keep changing a little, but within a good range.

On the carb front, we are having a home-made pizza this evening. I tried another Eat Natural bar today;

I was so hungry when I got back from the Doctors (I felt a bit icky this morning and didn’t finish my porridge) and Andy had chosen these as he liked the idea of the bakewell flavour, but they were very sweet. I did not notice the yoghurt coating until I was eating it (it was hiding underneath how cheeky). But anyway, something like 26g carbs per bar is not bad, just hope I get to use them up! I had a bagel for lunch and a little bowl of cereal this afternoon (have to eat/ drink milk with the tablets) and am up to 196g carbs for the day, so will add some late night snack too (I was aiming for 250g which did not sound like much but I am not going to get up to that I don’t think, but I think I will have had enough as before the 20 miler I didn’t do anything different food-wise). Tomorrow I am going to take some pasta salad to work (must remember to make this later) for lunch and then take some bagels and bananas and cereal bars to eat on the plane/ at the airport for dinner.

Right, I am off to do some packing and drink some more water. I will be super hydrated. I hope everyone has a lovely bank holiday weekend (when it gets here) and please keep your fingers crossed for me! The hotel has free broadband, so I might even manage a quick update to let you all know how (if) I get on.

🙂 Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

National Vegetarian Week

So in the UK it is National Vegetarian week, and as I have been veggie for, hmm, a long time now (I think officially 15 years, but really for longer!) I thought I should give it a mention. I am sometimes a little bit of a cynic with these National days and weeks, and this one is sponsored by Cauldron foods (who make veggie foods) so for them it is a lot of free press too. And some of the leaflets and information packs are a little full of scare tactics etc too. Aside from the ethical and health reasons (which I won’t go into), there are other reasons to eat less meat, as producing meat takes up a lot more of the worlds’ resources such as water (because you have to grow crops to feed the animals etc.), so I think it is worth even meat eaters to cut down a bit. But anyway, back to the food.

As some of you know, Andy is a meat eater, so some of our meals are separate(or we start with the same base, and he adds some meat in a separate pot. But, there are some meals we both eat now which are totally meat free, so maybe good for someone who eats meat to give it a try.

Mexican bean wraps served with a salad are a popular meal in our household. The beans are chunky and filling, and the spices give it a strong flavour (add as much chilli as you can take!), plus you could add whatever veggies you like to the wraps.

Roasted vegetable calzone is another popular one. If we eat out, Andy will often choose a (meat) calzone, but this one is also very tasty!

Lentil chilli is one of my faves (but you could use any beans/ pulses).

Chickpea stew is another one which I love.

I have also discovered silken tofu- I initially loved in in Pumpkin pasta bake, but I have had success using it in lasagne dishes too- it goes all creamy and really delicious so give it a go.

So veggies and non veggies alike, what would your choice of veggie food be this week?

Onto today. First of all thanks for all the wishes and huffing and puffing regarding the ash cloud (and thanks Rose for your good luck post– made me very excited!). I am trying not to worry because at the end of the day there is nothing else I can do. At Christmas we went to the airport the night before, just in case the motorways were too snowy (and it nearly worked) but here there is nothing like that, so I am going to try to chill!

I was sad to realise that my training plan has come to an end.

Look at all the ticks and stuff written all over. I even kept the same red pen by it because I wanted to keep it all the same. Except for the black pen in the bottom corner (this is about a local 5K in the Autumn that was advertised and I wanted to write the details down and this was my only paper option!).

It seems crazy that all those weeks have flown by, and all those miles have been run.

Dinner today was a veggie hotch potch- some roasted pepper, courgette, beetroot, with basil tofu (yum I have not had this for ages and I had forgotten how yummy it is), spinach and food doctor seeds.

Yum! Another good recipe for veggie week.

Last night I had a nice snack too- I heated some pumpkin puree with a little molasses and cinnamon, and then swirled it into some ginger yoghurt.

Scrumptious 🙂

In fact I might have some more this evening.

Night