This week I was reminded about the importance of taking recovery seriously.

Monday

I thought I’d have felt tired after my two hour run the previous day, but I felt great.

Work was a bit meh, but had a really good yoga session that evening.

Tuesday

Another track Tuesday!

It had been a really long day with me chained at my desk more or less, and I was looking forward to a run.

During the warm up we tried something a bit different and I was a tad too eager… I ended up hurting my calf.

I could still run the session but the niggle was there. Eek!

The session was 400m, 800m, 1600m then back down. Then each recovery was half the effort (apart from the 1600m, the recovery was 1 lap).

I found it challenging with my leg but looking at my efforts after I did alright. Patting myself on the back for getting it done.

Wednesday

I had foam rolled my legs the night before but I was generally feeling tired.

I fancied doing something a little different, my Les Mills app has lots of workouts to choose from. I chose a hybrid workout that combined the best bits. It was called Functional Fitness.

It was brutal haha!

Thursday

Up early to run an hour and ten minutes with 6x hill sprints.

It felt awful. My left calf was still sore and I slogged it out with loops around the park.

I’m glad I did it, but I felt like it was a full on struggle. Meh.

My calf still feeling sore made me realise, I need to start doing more foam rolling and yoga.

Friday

My PT was on holiday so no session today.

I still needed to get a weights workout so I decided to do the latest BodyPump release. I chose lighter weights because of my calf. There was no point in pushing it and feeling worse.

It was still a tough workout, the reps are quick and I still have a long way to go with strength training.

I then did another yoga session to stretch out my hips. It felt lovely and relaxing.

Saturday

Parkrun day!

My leg felt loads better but I know from past experience, not to push it. So I planned to take it steady.

I woke up to rain and wind so I wasn’t expecting much anyway, but luckily it stopped raining by the time we got to the start line.

My friend Melvyn was pacing 28 minutes and I was very tempted to run with him, but I reminded myself that I needed to be strong for my long run the next day.

I finished with a time of 29.01 so not bad at all for a steady run.

Sunday

Today’s plan was 2hrs 20 minutes. I can confidently run a half marathon in this time, but that wasn’t on the plan!

The plan was 1hr 30mins at an easy pace with the final 50 minutes at an effort.

I chose to run on the canal up to Standedge tunnel and back.

I forgot how awful it is from Slaithwaite onwards. The canal path is full of puddles and mud. So boggy! Then having to squeeze past people as well, urgh! 🤣

When it came to my 50 minutes of effort I tried not to waste too much energy on the boggy bits and save myself when I got back to the nicer paths. Of course, this is easier said than done.

I found it really mentally challenging, I’m really glad I got it done.

Losing an hour due to the clocks changing didn’t help either…

Overall Thoughts

I had my first niggle of marathon training, a warning for me. I need to take recovery more seriously and not half arse it. Yes, I’m guilty!

Running hasn’t felt as easy this week because of it, but I have to keep going. Not every run will be a breeze!

I’ve finally started building my marathon playlist and listened to it on my run today. I didn’t always pay attention to it, particularly whilst I was busy trying not to lose my trainer in the mud 😂

This week’s song gets me really pumped up! It came on today whilst I was feeling fed up and it got me all fired up again. Let’s go!