Category: Running

The tough go to sleep?

So it seems that the 20 mile run last weekend totally wiped me out. We had a walk in the afternoon, and I had a sleep, but the next day I was really stiff.

Monday– Rest day. Walk after work, foam rolling and bath with Epsom salts helped.

Tuesday– OH club run- 5 mile route but reversed so included a big hill. Tough. I kept up with the front girls for the first mile but after that my legs were not playing ball. It was frustrating as even going up the hill my breathing was not challenged but I just could not move my legs any faster. Luckily I packed my torch as two of us ended up running down a pitch black alleyway to get back to the car park (turned out we went the wrong way).

Wednesday– After the day before I ducked out of SRC and opted for a run on my own. Went on the fields but by the end it was totally dark so had to come back via the streets. Got jumped at by a dog- possibly a boxer (my google search of “horrible dog breeds” showed me a few pictures of them)- it had about 6 inches of drool hanging out of its’ mouth and kept jumping up at me. I stopped (I normally stop anyway if I come across a dog off a lead as it seems they find the running more exciting)- anyway the person walking it was saying “heel” in the quietest most un-commanding voice ever. I surprised myself by shouting at him to please control his dog and speak to it in a commanding way so that it actually followed his instructions (normally I am too scared of them setting their dogs on me, but this guy was very drippy in his behaviour and I wanted the dog to stop jumping at me). Honestly I really get annoyed by dog owners who are not responsible (eg who do not pick up dog poo etc)- if your dog can’t be safe off the lead then keep it on a lead- it’s not that complicated!!!!! Rant over.

By the time I got home I was properly shattered and my legs were so tired- another 5 miles done anyway.

Thursday– Pump. In the biceps track I decided to tack some extra weight on the end to see how I would go- my friend commented that she was surprised I was trying it, so I was extra pleased when I got to the end of the track without having to knock them off!

I was sent some high protein pasta from the folks at My Protein this week, so I had that with pesto, veggies and pine nuts before pump. The pasta is made with pea protein, durum wheat and eggs (which must be free range, as it has the vegetarian society symbol on the website) and is 50% protein. We mixed it with some normal wholewheat pasta as we had some in the kitchen already, but I could not tell the difference in texture or taste. I do like pasta but as I don’t have meat it tends to be a lower protein meal, so a little boost can’t hurt.

I also had a mini panic when I realised this marked 1 month to go.

Friday– Rest. We went into London to see Idlewild- it made us feel old as I think the first time we saw them was about half our lives ago! Anyway, it was fab, but my leg was feeling a bit sore, and so standing for all that time wasn’t good, and walking down the steps at the tube station on the way home was a bit painful.

Saturday– I had arranged to go to parkrun with my dad, but in the morning I could not decide as my leg/ hip was a bit stiff. I did some jogging in the living room, and soem dynamic things (yes that is the proper term) like leg swings and lunges, and I felt OK, so I decided to go, but tell my dad to run ahead as I needed to take it easier. After the first mile I felt pretty good so decided to speed up a bit. I also just totally loved the run- the sun was shining, there were lambs in the field that was run down through, the lakes at the bottom were beautiful blue colours and glinting in the sun. I even surprised myself by overtaking some people on the final uphill stint- I am not celebrating the act of overtaking (one girl told me “great work” as I ran past her- I love parkrun) but the fact that I was feeling strong enough to take it on. I think it was my third fastest time on that course, not bad at all. Later we walked around town, did some jobs at home, and had a walk in the evening, but the late night combined with a busy week (3 before-work meetings and 3 after work meetings) meant I was totally shattered. We spent a lot of time watching The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt which is just so funny- anything Tina Fey is involved in is great by me, and then watching a lot of Songify the news (have a look here as I can’t explain it)- sort of Flight of the Concords meets Day Today crossed with the trapped in the closet song. Anyway he did the theme tune to the TV show.

Sunday– *Only* 12 miles was on my plan this week, and initially I had grand plans of going further, but that soon changed! I was so tired on Saturday, and looking back I don’t think I have not set an alarm for 3 weeks at least. I have had a few busy weeks at work, and I really think the 20 miler took it out of me more than I initially thought. So I set my alarm as a back up, and ended up waking up at 9.15am after probably nearly 11 hours of sleep. I clearly needed it! I had to map out a route as I hadn’t done that yesterday, so it was gone 10 when I finally set out. I didn’t have breakfast, because I wouldn’t normally for a run of that distance, but looking back I should have, because of the time of day. The first part of the run went fine- I had a bear yoyo at mile 8 and another at mile 9, but then my legs got very stiff (I think actually it is my lower back, but that seems to affect my hamstrings) and I was shuffling for a bit. By the time I got home I had managed 11.96 miles and I felt so shattered that I could not even contemplate running up and down the road to get the full 12. I felt so cold when I got inside, and after getting a drink and an apple I had to sit down for about 20 minutes before I could even get the energy for a shower.

I made some chocolate pancakes this week- one egg, 5g cocoa powder, 35g buckwheat flour, almond extract and almond milk to make the batter thin enough. Alongside some cooked blueberries, Alpro coconut yoghurt, vegan butterscotch sauce (that little jar is lasting an impressive amount of time) and chocolate pb on the pancakes. I had coconut water while I was cooking them, and a teapigs chocolate flake tea with the pancakes, and still after that had a lie down on the sofa as I felt so awful. I think the last time I felt this way after a run was at the Bath half just over a year ago.

So, 4/4 runs done. 24.9 miles. Long run of 12 miles missed by .04. Next week will be better. And I have learned a lesson- just because I can run 12 miles before breakfast, does not mean that I always should.

Also Garmin keeps failing to upload my run grrr, so I can’t look at that, or on Strava, or log my final Jantastic run of the week. Sigh. I am too tired for all this nonsense!

How do you pick yourself up after a hard run?

Do you like going to see bands?

Do you get scared of dogs on your runs? (Or geese- I don’t like the big white geese either). It’s the one thing that puts me off running around the fields as I see loads more there off leads (even where the cows are, where it says clearly to keep dogs on leads, but no, of course that does not apply to your dog, only all the other dogs…)

Have you watched anything good on TV recently? 

*I was sent the pasta in exchange for a review- all opinions are my own.

I actually had to go to Strava just now and count the weeks to check that it really was week 9.

So, this week:

Monday- Rest. Sports massage. Cleaning. I felt surprisingly good a day after my 17.6 mile run, but then was ill later on.

Tuesday– Spent the morning sleeping/ having visits to the bathroom. Had toast at lunch and felt a bit better. By the evening fancied some fresh air so had a gentle run across the fields.

Wednesday– Meetings at work.

Thursday– Meetings at work.

Friday– Walk after work.

Saturday– Parkrun. My second fastest time on that course- most of the mud has now dried so it was much easier to grip.

I treated myself to a parkrun hoodie this week- it is so soft and cosy- I love it! From wiggle if anyone else is interested.

Sunday– 20.6 miles.  After a shower, a smoothie and pancakes, we had a short walk (probably less than 2 miles) and the I had an afternoon nap- I really needed it!

3/4 runs completed. Joker played (as I missed the 4th run). Distance target of 20 miles done. Weekly total of 27.6 miles- should have been in the 30’s really. But there are still 5 weeks to go.

Yesterday I was not feeling as good as I felt last Monday- I was really surprised by how little my legs ached the next day last week. But I had to do a bit of foam rolling before I went to work as my legs were so stiff. I have not been hobbling, but if I sit for a long time (eg in meetings) standing up again after is interesting to say the least. I had a walk after work, and then a bath (I remembered the salts this time) and that helped loads.

Thanks for all the comments on the last post- I think that probably the 20 mile training run is the sensible choice- even though it doesn’t start until 9.30am, so I won’t be finished until 1.30pm, and home later as I will have to drive, I think the race day rehearsal, water stations and hopefully good atmosphere will help me more than just going out alone.

Next weekend I only (only) had 12 miles on the plan, but I think I might add to this a bit, so that the 20 the weekend after isn’t such a shock, but I will see how I feel as the week goes on.

It is whizzing by! I managed to panic myself today by clicking on a link from the Brighton marathon- 39 days to go! That does not sound long at all.

So, last week went like this:

Monday– Rest. Had a bath to try and help as my legs were a bit stiff. Noticed the Epsom salts as I got out. Whoops. Must try harder next time.

Monday morning post-half marathon treat= a yummy chai latte

Tuesday– Club run. A new route which ended up being 5 miles (and some did more as they were looping back). Legs felt pretty heavy so just went at a steady rate and chatted.

Wednesday– SRC run. Only 2 of us turned up! The run leader accompanied us on a bike. Originally was going to go further but only just got home in time to make the start, so 4.5 miles was the total.

Thursday– Pump.

Friday– Rest.

Saturday– Parkrun with my dad. He was going to take it easy, so I joked I would try to keep up. It started raining at the start, so we sheltered behind a tree (the wind was making the rain go properly sideways). We had a good catch up on the way around and he even let me cross the finish line first (we got the same time). It was pretty cold and although we both enjoyed it, we were glad to get back to the car. Then I popped home for a shower before we headed over to my parents’ for breakfast. The rest of the day was spent catching up on work.

Sunday– Long run day. I laughed at my plan, as until now it just said the exact number of miles, whereas this weekend it said 17/18 miles. If you had a choice, what would you choose? In the end I mapped out a route that was just over 17 miles, and thought that if I felt OK I could always run up and down the road at the end to make it up. I woke up before my alarm (7am), had a vanilla pulsin’ bar (thanks to Jess for suggesting something more dense than porridge), had some water and then stopped dilly dallying about and just did it. The route ended up being 17.6 miles, and it was so windy that I could not face adding the extra bit on. It was slow- I think I should be doing 11 min miles but it was less than that, but then I think at least I finished. Andy even said when I got home “you don’t look too bad”. And I didn’t have to stop. After walking around town, and having a late lunch I even managed an afternoon nap- I went to lie down and listen to a few more podcasts and then suddenly it was an hour later!

4/4 workouts done, long run distance done (I had put 17 miles in) and 30.2 miles in total.

Next week the joker will be played as I will be at work for a couple of evenings and know I won’t get the 4th run in. I have set my March targets (4 runs per week and long runs of 20/12/20/12, and a time target for one of the 20 milers). Next weekend is a biggie- 20 miles. Eek!

How have the first two months of the year gone for you? If you are doing Jantastic, what distance have you chosen for your time trial? One year I predicted 27 minute 5k, did a parkrun in 27.10, and then realised I had managed to predict 27 hours as my time! I did not score well that time!