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?

 

Operation Green Fingers and overtraining...

Regular readers of the blog will know I've been struggling for any kind of form since completing the Paris Marathon.

It just so happens that I've been spending a significant amount of time out in the garden, starting a complete revamp of my urban jungle.

After the club run last week, I really wasnt feeling great.  I had a relatively easy Thursday, albeit spending the evening in the pub with Chandra and his mate Pete.  Friday and Saturday, I'd spent 14 hours in the Garden, digging fence post holes, lugging around 20kg postcrete bags and generally putting myself through the ringer.

Saturday evening, after the disappointment of Ars*nal winning the FA Cup Final, I decided I'd go out for a plod.  It wasnt going to be fast as I was feeling quite tired and my legs were still feeling the run from Wednesday, obviously one day of alcohol-fueled recovery followed by 14 hours in the garden wasnt ideal preparation.

So off I went...

A slow, ploddy and very painful 5 miles in 47:11. 9:25 min/mile pace. It was not going to be fast but I never dreamt it would be as slow as that, not at 154bpm. The fact my HR peaked at 162bpm is testament to the fact I was trying to run within myself but even so, even with being deliberately careful, I was still seriously struggling. 

The worst thing is, as I write this on Tuesday lunchtime, my legs are still feeling the effects of that run right now, approaching 3 days later. Ok, I'd done another 6 hours in the garden on Sunday but even so. After the marathon, I was able to run 5k the next day. My legs ache more now than they did after the marathon.

• I have felt constantly tired for weeks now.
• I seem to be taking much longer to recover from efforts. 
• I seem to be sleeping much heavier than I usually do.
• My average HR seems higher for similar efforts.
• I feel unable to complete workouts (although I battle manfully through to the end).

All 5 points listed are key signs that I'm suffering from over training.  Check it out on Google, there's plenty of information on it.  Although other key signs of loss of appetite and sex drive, haha, dont think that would ever happen!!!

I'm going to have a rest again.  Well, when I say rest, I'm still going to have to work in the garden.  I've got to get it finished.

I guess that although I've recently cut my miles, when you look at my training breakdown graph, including the gardening hours as strength training, its little wonder I'm feeling frazzled right now.

 
I'm going to be sensible.  I'm at a point now where my lack of performance is killing any sort of enjoyment I'm getting from running.  I didnt work my backside off to get to a point like this.  I dont want to slip back, I dont want to put weight on.  Asking me to not put weight on when not training is a massive ask quite frankly.  I'm always hungry whether I'm training or not.  I'm already the wrong side of 13st and got help me if I ever get back to 13 and a half as it'll be a slippery slope then.

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.

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 :(