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.

Call me "Coach"!

It has been almost a week since I posted last.  I'm slacking (but I'm sure you're all secretly glad!)

What have I been up to?

Last Wednesday was my last proper run.  I'll explain a bit more in a moment why.  I had Izzy for 24 hours over the weekend and it didnt really leave me much time for anything else, with what I had pencilled in for Sunday.

Right, the Plums Run.  Brutal.  Well I thought it was.

I was suffering. I'd run a nice warm up of 1.5 miles down to the club and I felt raring to go. Ok, maybe a little lacking in energy but not too bad. To be honest, I was really prepared as I'd just assumed that we'd be doing another road run but it turns out we were going off road, over Bostall Heath and Lesness Abbey. I was in my road runners, not a major disaster but would have been better off with trail shoes but I went with the flow. 

Now considering I'd run a "gentle" off road 7.5 on Bank Holiday Monday, to run off road so soon afterwards came as a shock to the system. My HR was all over the shop. Well I felt like it was.  I was ruined by the time we'd got back to Wickham St and I headed straight home, so unlike me.  Ok, with the warm up I'd done 9.5 miles for the night but I felt absolutely spent.  Its so rare for me to feel like that.  I'd run 10 miles with the Plums on Sunday, run again Monday evening then had one day of rest but even so.

So with that in mind, I decided to rest on Thursday and then because I had Izzy on Friday and Saturday, I had three rest days.  It was lovely.

Sunday was an altogether different day for me.

I went to Norman Park in Hayes to attend a Leadership in Running Fitness (LiRF) course, which upon completion, would give me a licence to be able to lead running groups at the Plums.  Given where I have come from in terms of my fitness, I think I'd be a good role model for any beginners signing up.

It was a long 9-5 course but I learnt an awful lot.  The day was made up of interactive classroom lectures and practical sessions on the track.  We were given the skills and then we had to go out and put them into practice by creating warms up, main sessions and cool downs for beginners and the more able runner.

A thoroughly enjoyable day but maybe I felt a little out of my comfort zone as I didnt actually know anything about running technique apart from what I learnt on the course.  At the end of the day, I was never taught how to run.  I just run.  I've never given any thought at all to my technique but today was the day I looked at things just a little differently.

Unfortunately for me, a lot of the drills and sessions organised involved a lot of sprinting and I felt as though I'd pulled my groin in the afternoon session and I'd felt both hamstrings tighten.  However I got through the day and subject to my CRB/DBS check or whatever the authorities call it now, I'm now a licenced Leader in Running Fitness and I'll be able to help out the beginners at Plumstead Runners.

Stephen Sutton...the inspiration

I have to admit that its not very often I get emotional but as I type this sitting at my desk, I'm welling up again.

I'd just climbed into bed last night.  I logged into Facebook on my iPad and I noticed a post made by my friend Kelsey via the comedian Jason Manford.  I must admit I dont normally read everything which gets posted, especially the junk, circular stuff but this caught my eye...

Then onto Jason's timeline I went and I found this post from Stephen Sutton, quite frankly the bravest young man I've encountered...

 

I'm not ashamed to say that I was in floods of tears at reading that post.  Was an incredibly brave and inspiration young man.

Stephen Sutton has fought the Big C since the age of 15.  He was told it was incurable in Jan 2013, so he created a website called Stephens Story and made a bucket list of things he wanted to achieve, one of which was raising £10,000 for the charity which had supported him and his family, the Teenage Cancer Trust.  He smashed that target and had raised over £500k within a year.  His dream was to get the target to £1m and with Jason Manford helping out as best he could with an incredible effort of promoting Stephen's story and getting his celebrity pals involved, Stephen hit the target this morning.  On St George's Day.

I'll tell you what, it goes to show how brilliant our country is you know.  We get knocked all the time but when the chips are down, we really do come up with the goods.

I'm proud to be English today.  Not British but English.

I've been a bit teary eyed every time Stephen has come to mind in the last few hours.  As I type now, the target has just passed £1.1m.

There's one quote of Stephen's which Jason has posted up on Facebook this morning which is so true and sums up life pretty much...

"Life shouldn't be measured by time, it should be measured by what you achieve".  How true is that, eh?

Stephen's story makes me realise how lucky I am quite frankly.  To lose life at such a young age is tragic but he leaves behind one hell of a legacy, one of which his parents, family and those close to him can be bloody proud of.

I'm glad to say that Stephen, although very poorly, is aware of what he has achieved in meeting his target and helping a lot of others in the process.

Stephen - I've never met you nor will I but your story has truly touched me.  You've got bigger balls than I ever will have.  What am amazingly inspirational man you are.  God bless.  The Pearly Gates are missing a true Angel.

Sorry, I'm off to get the tissues again :(

Easter Weekend Training

The Easter Weekend has already come and gone and the first May Bank Holiday is nearly upon us.  Summer just around the corner, woo hoo.

I kept myself busy over the Easter break.  As you would have read in the last update, I had Izzy staying with me Wednesday through to Saturday on both weeks, so its been a case of keeping her entertained and the training hit the back burner, although on Good Friday we did get out together, her riding alongside me as I ran a gentle 4 miler.

Izzy went home Saturday evening so I had Sunday free.  I was planning on joining my first Eltham Velo ride but looking at the forecast, it really didnt look great (and so it proved later), so I opted for the Plums Sunday run.

For once, it was leaving from Bexleyheath Sports Club rather than the usual Plumstead Common, which meant it was pretty easy for me to get to without relying on the 51 bus.

The plan was to run the Plums 10 mile handicap course with a view to giving the newbies (like me!) a recon...and a pretty brutal course it is too.

 

I'd run some of the roads before but not all at the same time.  Putting them together is a real test.

Out of the club, up Welling High Street, Bellegrove Road to turn left into Welling Way.  At the end of Welling Way, you're pretty much at the end of a 2 mile upward drag all the way from the club.  The course then dips down to the Well Hall roundabout when it turns right up and kicks up Well Hall Road to the old Shooters Hill police station.  Then downhill to Woolwich common, before turning right into the hilly ups and downs of Plumstead down to Wickham Street and then the lung busting climb of Bostall Hill to fill the quads with lactic acid.  The final 2 mile is literally a downhill sprint for the line.

We ran it at a nice leisurely pace on Sunday.  Its good to have a run like that at times and I really enjoyed catching up with Dave, Graham and Richard.  We got back to the club about 10:15 just before the heavens opened.  You cant say fairer than that.

Bank Holiday Monday saw me hit the trails over at Oxleas Woods.  I'm really fortunate that living in South East London, I've got the best of both worlds.  I'm near enough to the City but I'm still near enough to wide green open spaces and the Kent Lanes.

I was really intending to have a rest day.  I'd spent the majority of the day catching up with chores and housework and I finally had a nice clean and dust-free home but sitting on the sofa for a couple of hours watching SSN had started to get to me so I thought about running but had a brainwave to hit the trails rather than the roads again.  The ground would have been soft because of the rain 24hrs previously and the impact would have been less on the legs...

A nice 7 miler. A really easy pace but the previous days 10 mile run with the Plums was still evident in the legs and my HR was a damn sight higher than it should have been for that pace. However, it was still fun.

The majority of the route follows the Plums XC course but for some reason, I get a little lost on the west-side of the woods and end up coming out behind the hill top cafe, rather than further down the hill. Not a problem but will have to pay more attention when out with the Plums next time we run the course otherwise I'll end up getting lost.

I ended up running two laps of the woods, which means running up both sides of the hill twice so its a challenge but that makes it more fun.

On the second lap, I stopped a couple of times to take a few pics.  Sometimes its good to stop for a few seconds and just take in and appreciate the beauty around you.

Seriously, how could you just run past that and not let it take you to somewhere else for a split second...

Garmin Connect fixed or is it browser compatibility issues?

As of this morning, it appears my fears with Garmin Connect have been rectified by Garmin.

By going into reports and clicking Progress Summary...

...it appears all is well again.  Relieved.

It may well be that its down to a browser compatibility issue.  My work machine uses Internet Explorer.  I did have a few issues using Firefox in March and early April in the run up to the introduction of the new interface, so will put it down to that.

I'll have a proper play with Connect later but I'm a happy man again as I like to see the numbers (can you tell I'm an accountant?!?!)

The monstrosity which is "modern" Garmin Connect

Oh goodness me.  Where to start.

I've been a Garmin user for years now and although Garmin Connect had its issues, its basic functionality met my needs.

I was able to dump chunks of my data determined by my own specified time periods into Excel and my Excel skillset created various reports and charts for my needs, some of which you get to see on this blog.

However, some people dont have the abilities I do with Excel and I appreciate that Garmin have tried to make things "simpler" for the majority of users and have now created a suite of reports which most users with probably find useful, as long as they want to know what they have specifically done in the last day, 7 days, 4 weeks, 6 months or 12 months.

For whatever reason, Garmin have decided to removed the "custom" period setting, so now I cant run current month, previous month, YTD periods across various categories which pretty much ruins Garmin Connect as a training tool for me.

So how the hell do I now find out how many miles I've run in April?  I cant!

When I get some time I will have a look on the web to find how the new version has been received.  I accept it looks a damn site better than its predecessor but removing what I class as essential functionality it looks like a disaster.

What donut at Garmin decided using a line graph would be the best way of showing the count of activites over a bar chart?  Hopeless, hopeless, hopeless!

The running total distance report.  7 days, 4 weeks, 6 months, 12 months options.  Where's the current month to date, year to date options?  Garmin Connect is now unusable as a training tool.

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.