Half-term adventures, some more gardening and back to training...

Hey readers, its been a while.  Over a week and a half in fact.  As you've probably guessed, I've been quite busy.

First it was the bank holiday weekend, which rolled into half-term, so as it turns out I've only actually been in the office for one day over the last week and a bit, which has been great from my perspective as I've had a nice extended break away from the office.

With it being half-term, I also had the pleasure of Izzy's company from Wednesday lunchtime through to Saturday evening so we had some quality time together.  The best bit of all was that her long awaited Birthday trip to see Katy Perry at the O2 was finally upon us.  Now by pure chance, our tickets had been upgraded...to VIP.  So rather than watching from down the front, we'd been given seats in one of the best boxes of the lot.  Check out the view below...

Izzy at the front of the box...

So what shall we do while we're waiting for Katy Perry to come on Izzy?  Shall we watch the football???

Katy Perry suspended above the crowd on a zip wire...

Now, I'm normally more into more rock, indie, metal and dance/house music rather than pop, so my pop concern experience is more limited to the likes of X Factor but I knew a fair few of KPs songs because of Izzy listening to them in the car over the years.  I came away from the O2 being wowed by the show KP put on and was amazed how good her voice actually is.  I'd read a few reviews of the opening night and it didnt go down too well but I'm pretty sure that most of the people at the O2 went home very happy indeed.  Izzy absolutely loved it.  The good thing about living in South East London is that I'm only a 20 min bus ride away from home and we were climbing into bed just after midnight.

Thursday and Friday saw us back out in the garden.  We had a fence to finish off.

As you can see, the garden is beginning to look like a proper garden now.  Just the new gate to be fitted and the garden will be secure for the first time in the four years I've lived there.  Woo hoo.

Izzy loved being outside and was a dab hand with the shovel and fork.  I was more amazed by the fact she was quite comfortable with the snails.  I'm not sure I'm as brave as her...

The good news is that I've resumed training but am being very sensible about it.

On Sunday, I ran 7.5 miles.  Bank Holiday Monday I ran 10k just less than 24 hrs later.

Rest Day Tuesday.

I ran a lumpy 5 miler on Wednesday morning before Izzy arrived.

Gardening Thursday and Friday, which included some heavy digging.

Back running 8 miles on Sunday after a somewhat heavy night at my parents drinking Stella whilst watching the Froch v Groves fight.  Followed it up with a good upper body and abs workout for the first time since the marathon.  

Now the Sunday 8 miler was a good run but I was beginning to flake by the end and my legs felt very heavy indeed. I'm going to put that down to the alcohol which was drank on Saturday.  For the first time in a very long while, I felt my legs begin to cramp up after 5 miles and my pace drastically dropped off as you'll be able to see from the mile splits.  Not a bad thing but is to be expected after a session on the sauce.  I'd only drank half a glass of water than morning and I would have been dehydrated, I have no doubts about that.

Its really time to start watching what I put into the body to ensure I'm getting the very best out.

 

Resting is hard...

As I sit here typing at lunchtime on Thursday, I've spent the last three evenings doing very little.

On a normal week, I would have ran twice and I would have visited the Gym at the bare minimum.  This week has been different.  I needed a distraction.

I've tried to avoid watching TV box sets over the years as I never wanted to devote large chunks of my time to just sitting in front of the TV.  It just doesnt rest easy with me.  However, given the circumstances with trying to rest as much as possible this week, it seems to be exactly the right thing to do.

Get home from work, make dinner, eat dinner, wash up.  Sit on the sofa.  All done by 6:30pm.  So what to watch?

A long time ago, many many years ago, I watched the first season of 24.  I loved it.  That was when Izzy was a baby and sitting about was the thing I done in them days.  I went to watch the new series based in London but a couple of friends suggested I should watch the others first.  So I've started on season 2.  As of bedtime last night, I've managed to watch to the end of episode 18 last night, so not many more left.

I'm not feeling tired now.  I think I've managed to catch up on some sleep.  My legs still feel like they dont belong to me though which is a concern to be honest.  My hamstrings seem to be permanently aching.  I can "feel" the outside of my knees.  I can also feel my hips.  I just seem to be all out of line.  I just dont feel right.  I've vowed to have the whole week off doing nothing and thats exactly what I'm going to do.  Friday and Saturday will be easier as I've got the nice distraction of Izzy being with me.

Apparently, I'm not alone.  My friend Kelsey (my old boss from KCL) runs the Ashford Run England group and she's got a few of her runners that are struggling with overtraining since the spring marathons.  I think its a case of getting some rest, getting back up to speed slowly, shift a little weight, only about 4-5 lbs then I'll be right as rain again.  Well lets hope, eh?

 

Trying to get back in the groove...

After Sunday's Hill Reps session, I was keen to up the ante with the training stakes this week.  However, trying to stay sensible, I decided that after my first hill session, I'd give the legs a bit of a rest before going again.

Well, when I said rest, I had gardening to do.  The turf was all dug up but it had to go on the skip.  So I spent 2.5 hours lifting, carrying and filling.

As you can see, plenty of turf too.  The whole digging process really has given my hamstrings a proper working over...but the good news is that at least the garden is now back to the blank canvas, next stop the new fence going up this weekend, now all the fence post holes have been dug.

Anyway, back to the running...

So on Tuesday night, I was all raring to go.  I wanted to test my fitness and see actually how far it had dropped off, so I decided to run a 10k at 85-90% effort...

52:48. 8:31 min/mile pace. Compared to my 51:42 10k PB. Not bad at all really. I havent run any short runs at pace for several months so this would be around where I expected it to be. The legs felt reasonably good and I still felt like I had some left in the tank to do a bit more. I only ran with water and didnt touch the High 5 at all, so I was running on only my in-built fuel reserves. The average HR of 163bpm was a little higher than the 161bpm of my PB but that is to be expected given I'm carrying a couple of extra pounds right now (13st 3lb as opposed to 12st 10lbs). 

I woke up fine the next day. Then I tried to run with the Plums that evening.

OMG. I cant tell you how bad I felt. My legs totally deserted me after 2 miles. I was having second thoughts about turning back. Its like I'd gone back a few weeks to the last 20 miles of the 50 mile ride with Rich after the marathon. I felt awful. I battled on but the 8.25 mile run was a big struggle. Ok, my average HR says it was around the level I should be expecting to see but its still a little high compared to runs of similar distance and pace from earlier this year and last.

I'm assuming that because I'd trained with just water the night before, my glycogen stores had taken a hit and they hadnt really been replenished before running again, despite eating sensibly all day Wednesday, including a porridge pot at 3pm for extra fueling. Its either than or there's something very badly wrong with me at the moment.

It was always going to be the case that I wasnt running on Thursday (as out with Chandra), Fri or Sat (gardening awaits) so Sunday will be my next chance but I now need to factor in how hard I'm working in some sessions, so that I have a rest day directly after running my energy levels right down. Frustrating but needs must. 

However, I'm pleased to say that my Garmin indicates I'm going back in the right direction, as my VO2max reading has gone back to its pre-marathon state of 47. It'll be interesting to see where it pans out to after my next run. 

Back after a "rest"...

After the last disasterous run, I decided I needed a break.  I felt fatigued more than I had ever felt before.

So thats exactly what I done.

As you can see from the May 2014 calendar, my last run was on 29th April then I didnt actually run again until 7th May.

I didnt feel great in the immediate 4 days and my legs didnt stop aching properly until Saturday morning.  Yes, thats right, I'd ran a 10k in not a particularly quick time and here I was taking almost 4 days to recover.  A month ago, I was running a marathon and then running a gentle 5k cool down the next day and then getting on a bike and cycling almost 50 miles...although I realise that was probably my downfall.

So anyway, back to the present.

4 days off from everything you can imagine in the aftermath of the 10k disaster then I made a start on the gardening.  When I say gardening, there's an awful lot of gardening to do over the next couple of months and I'm counting it as my strength training.

Operation Green Fingers 2014 is my new DIY project.  Now I've got the inside of my home sorted out, its about time I got the garden and garage sorted.  That means a full back to basics job.  Replace the garden fence and add a gate to make the garden secure from the main road, install a long overdue garage door after clearing the garage of all my decorating junk over the last four years.  Then of course digging up the lawn so it can be relaid and then I'll have a blank canvas to work with.

Its has been absolutely back breaking work so far which has seen my hamstrings ache for England as when digging and shoveling, your body is stuck in a squatting position...and trust me, after digging up a complete lawn (even though its only a 36ft x 20ft garden), its enough to make your hamstrings feel alien.

Check out the Operation Greenfingers photos here

So 4 days of complete rest then an hour in the garden, followed by a 6hr day in the garden (an absolute killer) then another 90 minutes the day after led me into my first run since the rest, the Wednesday night club run.

I cant say I felt particularly great...

 

It was my first time "leading" the medium pace group. I have to say, I found it a lot harder than I usually would have done. My legs felt heavy and my HR was still higher than I felt it would have been usually. I got through it though but felt very tired at the end.

Then I ran again on Saturday morning. The plan was to go and do my first ever Park Run on Saturday but despite setting the alarm for 7:30, I didnt wake up until gone 9:00 so I'd missed the start. Knowing my parents were heading to mine for 11am to help in the Garden while I went to watch Izzy compete in the Meapa Gymnastics club Invitational competition, I knew I didnt have a big window so got changed and set off on a 10k. Out up Welling Way, a quick loop round Eltham Park before cutting back down the A2 and then back past Danson Park and looped back home.

Again, I didnt feel great. However, I didnt have breakfast before the run and I also had another 2 odd hours of digging in my hamstrings from the night before. Not ideal preparation and the legs felt stiff before I hit the road. Not too much to panic about but the HR was still higher than I expected for a run of that pace.

Almost 36 hours later, after Izzy had gone home for the weekend, I decided enough was enough and it was time to take the training up a level again. I'm happiest when I'm working my socks off.

Not ideal preparation for this though. From 9am through to 12noon, I'd been carrying heavy garden and garage rubbish and was filling a 6 yard skip. Plenty of effort on the body, including smashing up the old fibreglass bath with a Sledge Hammer. Not for the feint hearted

I felt reasonably good going out the front door. The plan was to run around 2 laps of the local block (somewhere between 10-15 mins) to warm up before hitting 3 reps of Shooters Hill and then depending how I was feeling after that, do a bit of a call down.

I have to say that although I didnt run my quickest up Shooters Hill (looking back at previous Strava segment data), I felt reasonably good. Second time up I was feeling a little queasy and the third and final time up I was actually enjoying it. On the way back down the last time, I allowed my legs to open up a bit and just run my natural pace down rather than try and hold back and keep the HR down. By the time I hit the bottom of the hill, I felt so good I decided to carry on running at the same pace. With the 0.75 mile descent and then the following 2.25 miles afterwards, that is without doubt the best I've felt during a run since Paris. Although my average pace for the run was 9:19 min/mile pace, my average HR of 155bpm seemed much more apt for the session I'd run. I felt so pleased. Its nice to know the speed is still actually there, it just needs some coaxing out. I'd spent so many months marathon training and running at 9:30 min/mile pace in preparation, it has felt all my runs have been a struggle since but maybe this just highlights the need to build regular intervals into my training, whether I'm training for an event or not. 

As I write this at Monday lunchtime, my legs feel a little tired today. Only the 14.5 miles in two days but thats enough for the time being. I'll be doing some more work in the garden tonight then may just do a gentle session tomorrow night before running with the club on Wednesday. I'm so pleased I felt much more like my normal self last night and I'm feeling much better today as a result. Long may this trend continue.

The reality check of all reality checks

Apart from the LiRF training course on Sunday, I hadnt actually run since the last Plums run. I'd rested Thursday through to Saturday and didnt exactly do a lot on Sunday and rested again on Monday. So 4 rest days in 5 is pretty good for me. You only have to look at the training I've done over the last two years to realise that I train 4/5 times a week with a max of 2/3 rest days. 

So I'd decided that as soon as I got in from work on Tuesday night, I'd go for a run.  Somewhere in the region of 8-9 miles, a few laps of Danson Park then a gentle jog back home.

I have to admit my legs didnt feel anywhere near 100% before I ran but they felt more than well enough to pound the roads as per usual.

Done some gentle stretching beforehand, concentrating on my hamstrings as my Physio told me to do some weeks ago now.

Then I hit the road.  I felt ok through the first mile, a conservative 9:11 as my warm up and then the plan was to run somewhere between 8:45-8:50 min/mile pace for the rest of the run, something which I dont normally have to think about doing.  Its natural.  My HR should be around 150-152bpm and all would be well.

It didnt go like that!

The second mile was ok.  It heads slightly downhill alongside the A2 so its not exactly difficult to keep with the pace along there.  Halfway along the A2 section and just after the second mile, the downward slope flattens out and starts climbing again, albeit very gently but I could feel my legs struggling.  This was unusual.  I'd run that section countless times before and for some reason I just didnt feel right.

At the end of the path, it breaks away from the A2 and back into the suburbs.  Into Danson Lane and downhill to my old school Bexley Grammar and into Danson Park at around 2.75 miles.  I was fried.  I felt like I was blowing out of my backside just to keep the pace under 9 min/mile pace on a downhill stretch.  My HR was up around 160bpm.  Much higher than normal.   Before Paris, I'd done a 30 min interval session and my average HR for the session was 152bpm so running at 160bpm sets off some alarm bells in the head.

I went on to do 1 lap of the Park Run course but at the end of the second climb, I decided to take the short cut and run the road from the main gates to the car park and back down to Danson Lane.

As soon as the Garmin hit 6.2 miles (10k), I stopped.  I walked just over a mile home.

I my legs felt heavier than they did when I crossed the finish line in Paris.
It was a struggle to walk home.

WTF is happening to me?...

Check out the calendar for the last 3 and a bit weeks below (click to expand!)

• Marathon was on Sun 6th.
• Gentle recovery run on Mon 7th.
• Medium length bike ride with Rich and hit the wall on Tues 8th (probably my biggest mistake in recovery and took me a good few days to get over).
• 8.5 mile run on Mon 14th followed by Gym.  I noted then that my HR was higher than it should have been for the pace I was running.
• Back in the Gym on Wed 16th to see Chandra and sort out the next phase of the building blocks.  A gentle 2 mile run to the Gym then 2.5km on the treadmill.
• A slow gentle run with Izzy on Fri 18th.  HR nearing normal again.
• Plums Sunday 10 miler on Sun 20th followed by an off roader of 7 miles 24hrs later.  The 10 was slow and gentle, the 7 was a slow pace and felt hard.
• My last club run on Wed 23rd.  It felt brutal to me and felt awful afterwards.
• Then last nights run.

Count the blank days.  12 rest days. (excluding the course content on Sun 27th)

I'll be honest, I really dont think I've over done it.  There have been months and months where I've only had one or maybe two rest days in a week.  I feel I've made a conscious effort to cut back my training but maybe I havent done it enough.

I've been told that 2 weeks complete rest after a marathon is normal.  But then is it really?  I've got friends that have run 3 marathons in 3 days and then run the next weekend.

So what next?

I guess I'm in need of a rest.  I know my parents and brother were suffering with a virus which were affecting them just before the marathon and after and maybe, just maybe, I've got it now.

It would certainly explain why my average HR is up on an easy pace run which wouldnt normally be touching the sides.

As I write this on Wednesday lunchtime, things really havent improved overnight.

The half mile walk to the station this morning felt like a struggle.  You know you're tired/knackered/f*cked (use as appropriate) when your legs feel like they are in need of a gel within 5 mins of being out of the front door.  Time to go back to being sensible again.  I've had my 3 week blowout, now its time to watch what I'm putting into this athlete's engine.  One thing is for sure, the way my legs feel right now, they ache more now than they did after the marathon.  It really is time for a rest.

The Easter Holidays and more recovery...

After the 45 mile ride with Rich, I have to say I felt pretty exhausted in the following 48-72 hours.  If the Marathon hadnt finished me off, the bike ride pretty much did.

Thankfully, I had Izzy with me from Wednesday through to Saturday, so my first chance of any sort of work out was going to be Saturday evening.

After dropping Izzy home, it was a case of running a "gentle" 10k, although the HR on my Garmin suggested otherwise.

Av HR of 160bpm, Max HR of 170bpm was a lot for recent runs. I put it down to tiredness and recovery from the Marathon.

Then I hit the road again on Monday evening, within 10 minutes of being in the front door from work...

Again, Av HR of 159bpm and Max HR of 171bpm was an awful lot for me on a run averaging 9:17 min/mile pace.

Into the Gym and on the treadmill, my HR was still much higher than usual.
Tuesday off. Back to the Gym on Wednesday for my first training session with Chandra for a good three or four months. My HR was still higher than it really should have been on the short two mile run to the Gym.
Same again on the 2.5km treadmill warm up, averaging 161bpm.

My lungs have felt wheezey, I havent felt 100% by a long way. Did I have a virus? I have to say that when Chandra was working with me, getting me to use the VIPR I felt like I was in pieces, something which is very rare for me these days. Was my asthma playing up again? It was something to check, thats for sure.

Another day and a half of recovery with Izzy again gave me a rest so I took her over Danson Park on Friday morning and I have to say I felt much better.

With Izzy riding her bike alongside me while I ran three gentle loops of the lake, my HR looked pretty much back to normal for a run of 9:30 min/mile pace. Panic over. Perhaps it just took me a lot longer to get over the marathon than I thought it would.