Week three of the new training block is done, and I’m knackered

trevor.george (67)in #running • 5 years ago

I started the week out quite well, aiming for a target of 160kms (100 miles) for the week. I didn’t quite make it, but I did learn some good things in the process.

Monday

I actually felt quite good running on Monday. My tendonitis in my right ankle didn’t seem to get too much worse. It hurt at the start, but once I got warmed up it was more of a dull pain, and tolerable.

40kms for the day seemed quite easy and I didn’t feel as tired as I had the previous week, so I was happy with how things started.

Tuesday

The morning run seemed to go quite fine, just ticking along at the same speed I’d been running on Monday. In the evening for some reason I seemed to pick up the pace a bit, finishing 6 minutes earlier without really seeming to try.

Wednesday

This turned into a rest day. I skipped the morning run because of work commitments and then the evening run when I was supposed to take my wife to her new karate class. (she ended up feeling unwell and didn’t go). A day off mid-week seems to be the way to go however, so I wasn’t too concerned about it.

Thursday

It was really misty on Thursday morning, but still nice and warm. So I didn’t take a jacket. It was quite a gloomy run for the first loop, but as I got about half way round the second time, the sun began to make some headway and we ended up with a nice day.

I also managed to run next to Ange for about 10 seconds before she sped off into the mist, which was nice.

The evening was a different kettle of fish however.

I had run out of home-made oat bars and hadn’t snaked on anything else during the day. So about 7kms into the evening run I hit the wall, and everything just became really hard. I struggled on until I found a shop where I could buy a chocolate bar to munch on. I walked past the hospital devouring the chocolate and trying not to choke on it.

Then it was back into the run. I felt better for having some calories inside me and managed to pick the pace up enough to finish on time. next time I’ll make sure I eat before I go out.

Friday

I was well on target to make the 160kms for the week and managed to run through the mist that seemed to cling to the city again this morning. It got so heavy on the second lap that it qualified as actual rain. I was soaked by the time I got home.

But that was fine. I had a light day at work and two more laps to make it a successful week. I got out a bit early from work, scoffed some cake and then laced up my shoes. I was pretty tired and sore, but I just had to laps to do and then I could rest for the weekend.

5kms into the first lap and I didn’t so much – hit the wall, as the wall hit me, and then put on hobnailed boots and stomped all over me. I started sweating profusely, and getting chills, everything felt weak and jelly-like. It was a struggle to walk, let alone run. I was still a good 8kms away from the shop that saved me the previous day, so I had to find another shop to get my chocolate fix.

Feeling pretty rubbish I bought the chocolate bar and walked up the hill that I usually run up. It’s not a big hill, but I was panting hard by the time I’d walked up to the top. My body was just miserable and nothing wanted to play anymore.

I could have gone all ‘David Goggins’ and just continued on, breaking my body down until there was nothing left. But I chose not to. 150kms is still a good week, and more than I’ve ever run before. So I figured I’d bank that, take the weekend off and relax, then come back on week four and try again.

Lesson learned – make sure there are still oat bars left for the end for the week!

It does seem to be getting easier to do my morning and evening runs. My body does seem to be adapting to the extra workload. The tendonitis in my ankle was nearly gone on Friday morning, but the disastrous afternoon session saw it return. I’m not too worried about it. Some massage and rest will set it right.

Everything else seems to be coping quite well.

I’ve got one more week of 20kms in the morning and 20kms in the evening, and then I’ll take a whole week off to let my body heal and sort itself out.

Then we start hitting the hills, for monster hill repeats. And that’s going to hurt!

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