Jantastic week 11- positive thinking

Last weekend I had a very tough 12 mile run, but after looking at the stats it turned out I was running faster than I thought, and of course I learnt my lesson about breakfast. With that in mind, I decided to try and be positive.

Monday– Rest day. Walk after dinner.

Tuesday– 7.7 mile run. I finished work early so drove to the club meeting spot early, did 2.7 miles out and back, then 5 miles with the girls. Felt fine, but once I got out of the shower at home I felt totally awful. I was worried I was getting some germs (tonsillitis is going around at work and I had had a sore throat) but nothing came of it thankfully. I was questioning why I had signed up to a marathon at that point, as it seemed to be taking over my life- feeling so shattered in the evening is just not fun.

Wednesday– 3.7 mile run. Missed SRC due to being home a bit late and also worrying about keeping up with the speedy ones- just myself on the fields (and no dogs this time!). That was far enough for me and again I was shattered afterwards.

Thursday– Pump. Found it very very tough. Same weights as last week, apart from squats where I dropped some in anticipation of the 20 miles to come. My weird stiff hip had come back, but once I was warmed up at pump I was fine.

Friday– Rest. A bit of hobbling at work as my hip was stiff again, but when I was moving around it was fine.

Saturday– Parkrun with my brother. Told him to run ahead as I was stiff- did some of those dynamic stretches again. For the first minute of parkrun I was regretting my decision, but literally a minute in something small went pop in my lower back, and then my leg was fine. I took it steady and finished with one of my slowest times, but I was just pleased my leg was OK.

After pancakes for breakfast I had a lot of work to do. I did try to get up to do various jobs, and popped to town to collect post and do a few bits, but I was pretty much sat down all day so again my leg was very stiff come Saturday evening. I did a lot of foam rolling and stretches to try and help but I was getting fed up with it by then.

Sunday– 20 mile run.  My leg felt fine when I woke up, and stayed fine for the whole run (and has been fine since). I really have no idea what it is, but movement actually helps, not resting, so of course I will be gentle but I am not going to sit about. The recovery is getting better too- as soon as I got home I had some coconut water, and then had a shower. Once out of the shower I had a chopped apple in muesli (could not be bothered to make anything), Andy made me a cup of tea, and I relaxed for a bit. Then I did some foam rolling, Andy made us a smoothie, and then we went to town to get some cake (I was trying to persuade him that at the organised race they had cake, so I was due some after running all that way)- we had a free cake voucher for John Lewis so walked there and shared their delicious gluten free chocolate fudge cake (I am not normally that much of a chocolate cake fan, but this is delicious). Then once we got home, I went for a nap, and then made some cookies, and had dinner. On Monday I was feeling OK- slightly sore legs when I started to run between buildings at work, and a bit of a stiff back, but nothing awful. So despite a bit of a wobble earlier in the week, and not a great start to the weekend, it ended with an OK note.

So, 4/4 runs done. 34.4 miles. Long run of 20 miles done. Time trial missed by 10 mins (I guessed 3hr 40 and I did 3 hr 50). Onto the final week of Jantastic, and even better, into the glorious taper!