Holidays, Heat and Training

Trying To Stay Motivated!

It has now been almost 3 weeks since my last marathon and only a month until my next challenge.  I have, as planned, allowed my body to get some well needed rest and am now in a position where I can kick start the training back in again.  If I'm honest, allowing myself to rest came so much easier than I had thought - not only was I physically incapable of running (I hurt beyond belief in the days following the last venture), I was also extremely tired and, to boot, had also managed to lose the will to even 'want' to run! 

I had anticipated that the end of term tiredness and emotional state would kick in at some point and when factoring a marathon into the equation, I was even more tired than I had planned for.  The inevitable need for rest and anything other than running had, by mid July became too much to ignore.  Perfect timing!

So, in the days following the marathon, I ran very little but instead swam, walked and used the stepping machine.  For someone who has been a hobby runner for years, I'm surprised as to how much I had stopped enjoying the running and have really appreciated the lack of intensive training runs.  On the downside, my muscles have clearly suffered as a result of the marathon training: the constant fatigue, tightness and ache in them has not been fun.  To the point that even the gentlest of runs has been painfully hard and any real exertion has produced a much lower performance than I thought could ever be the case.  If nothing else, I've learnt that repeated training at this level actually lowers performance.  I suspect that a lack of stretching, recovery exercises and rest before setting the training in again has ultimately not served me well.

Note to self - RECOVERY is as important as the training:

http://www.howtobefit.com/marathon-recovery.htm

I knew when I actually ran the endurance event in July that I wasn't really prepared for it.  The over training between Edinburgh and the track event had knocked me back.  So, now I'm in a position where I've had to rest and am now trying to pick up the pieces and train for another event that is only 4.5 weeks away - Wolverhampton.  Having spoke to a few people, read several forums and actually applied some common sense, I've now put together a training plan that will, I hope, give me a chance of coping with the next marathon.  In reality, however, I've lost some of the enthusiasm that I had at the start of the year and the warm weather isn't doing me any favours... with this in mind, I'll happily take getting round unscathed!

My training over the last week (1.5 weeks after the marathon):
w/c 23rd July (start of school holidays, woo hoo)
Monday - around Nowton Park.  Hot, slow and very difficult but actually easier than I thought may be the case
Tuesday - 5 treadmill miles
Wednesday - 5km (slow and painful) followed by 20 minutes of cardio on the step machine (my right calf and Achilles were really not good!)
Friday - 10km on the treadmill and surprisingly easy!  Go figure.
Saturday - 10 miles in total but over two sittings (6 miles and 4 miles) before heading out on the hen night for the lovely Jess. 
Sunday - I had hoped for a few slow miles but too many Pimms and Wine on Saturday put pay to that.  (FYI, too many Pimms by my standards probably serves as little more than an aperitif for most hen party participants; I am officially dreadful at drinking.)

So, now well over two weeks since the last marathon, my legs should be feeling OK but yet the fatigue has still been prominent.  5 miles on Tuesday felt slow, painful and almost unbearable at times.  Until today that is when Sheryl worked her sports therapy magic on my legs.  This afternoon I actually feel as if someone has given me a new pair as an early Christmas present.  So today, Wednesday, I wanted to enjoy this feeling of happy legs a little longer so merely worked for half an hour on the stepping machine.  Tonight I plan on drinking plenty of water and am hoping to complete a slow 14 miler tomorrow, Thursday (hopefully with a cycling companion in Zoe).  I think my legs are ready and mentally, I'm ready to give it a go but I'm also nervous.  Ridiculous really given that I know I can do this but I've been shying away from any distances and hard miles of late so this really does feel like yet another challenge to overcome!  Rest day on Friday, a short run on Saturday and hopefully 10+ miles on Sunday with a few of the Pacers.  Bring it on!

I hope that tomorrow works well for me so that I can actually look forward to Wolverhampton in the way that I had originally set out to do almost 32 weeks ago!