10 weeks in and I experience the true highs and lows of marathon training. But I ain’t worried…

Monday

Ain’t gonna lie, I was a bit creaky today after Sunday’s long run but I was still feeling smug.

No zoom class as it was Easter Monday, which meant I didn’t have to work! I did do my 30 minutes of yoga just to stretch my body out. All good.

Tuesday

What a different a week makes! Glorious sunshine last week, this week involved heavy wind and rain. Beautiful.

Several fellow club runners had Manchester marathon on Sunday, which meant attendance was low – although I don’t think the weather helped.

Still, a few of us turned up and it was one of those where the weather could be worse. Result.

Not such a result was that it was a hills session, with TWO PARTS.

I’m sure you can understand my outrage at finding this out haha!

Part one was gradual increase in speed as we approached each lamppost, then recover back down. The final lamppost felt like ages away!

We did this 3 times before moving to part two which is where I run my hill sprints at the end of my Thursday runs. Sprint hard up, then recover back down.

We did this several times before we got fed up. Well, me and Jason were done haha.

It really pays off running with others, I’m much faster with my efforts than I am on those I do alone.

Wednesday

I admit it wasn’t a good day. Work was jam packed and after work I went to the hospital to see my uncle.

It’s really difficult seeing loved ones suffering, I wish I could do more. My support will have to do.

When I got home I could have quite happily gone to bed and sulked for the rest of the night, but I did 30 minutes of yoga.

I was treated to a special guest, my kitten who has worked out how to open the door. She burst through and looked so chuffed with herself, I fell out of the pose I was doing as it was funny!

Thursday

I was tense today! I know it was stress and sadness from yesterday but I had to tell myself to relax. I was tensing my legs and glutes. It was ridiculous.

The plan said 70 minutes with strides. Considering how I felt, I just stuck with the 70 minutes.

I ran faster than planned and didn’t feel easy but I did have a lot on my mind. I did find it mentally relieving and finished feeling pleased.

Friday

A very wet and rainy run down to PT today!

I even had to wear gloves because my raynauds was playing up!

The session was good though, working on the fast twitch muscles and balancing me out to ensure I run strong.

Of course one of my least favourite workouts, the chest press was added too… Pah! I got over it haha.

Saturday

Parkrun day!

I felt alright this morning, heading to parkrun my legs felt switched on. I was confident I’d hit 28 minutes.

I did the classic move of setting off far too fast, something I hadn’t done for a while. So it was a case of holding on as much as I could!

I focused on catching friends, which I managed to mostly do. I even managed to sprint in front of a friend just before the finish line! Brilliant feeling haha.

I ended up running 27.11, my fastest time since before lockdown. It’s a fantastic achievement and I’m chuffed.

Friends and regular readers of this blog will understand how tough I’ve been finding running after lockdown.

There is hope for me yet to get back to 25mins!

I then went to the spa and had a lovely relaxing massage. It was a birthday gift and I truly felt relaxed after.

Sunday

I was due a bad run really.

Doesn’t make it any less gutting.

Today’s plan was a total of 3 hours. 50 mins easy, 1hr 20mins effort with the final 50 minutes easy.

Set off easy, bang on the pace I wanted for the easy effort… But something didn’t feel right.

Felt tired and a tad achy.

Then the effort came, I set off at the correct effort level. I could do this. I’ve got this. I kept telling myself it’s going to OK but I started to ache more.

I kept going, worst comes to worst I just end up running easy.

Oh how naive I was. 30 minutes to go and the aching became painful. The pain spread to a headache and I started to feel sick.

20 minutes to go I started to feel like I was going to pass out. Just run these 20 minutes, we can do this, I told myself.

With 15 minutes to go, a few gips, I had to stop.

Knowing I had another 50 minutes afterwards didn’t help and really I felt horrendous.

I’m a bit sulky about it, but I’m not injured or seriously unwell.

An unfinished long run will not ruin things! (if I keep saying these things, I will eventually convince myself)

Overall Thoughts

Despite aborting my long run, I live to run another week.

Deep down I know why it went wrong.

I ran hard at parkrun, with my best time since March 2020! Ridiculous. Then I went to the spa, had a massage and sweated it out in the sauna!

I’m glad I’ve had a bad run now, and not for my longest run. I still have 6 weeks to go!

Many of my friends ran Manchester marathon today and absolutely smashed their times. Their training plans didn’t go exactly to plan, but they still got it done.

So will I. Once I stop sulking, obvz.

This week’s song is something that came on shuffle during my easy pace this morning. I knew something wasn’t right but I was convincing myself I wasn’t worried.

In the grand scheme of things, I’m not worried and it’s a catchy song. We go again next week.