Week Four. That’s a month. A MONTH HAS GONE BY. Crappity crap crap crap. Still don’t feel like I’m doing much proper ‘training’ (still sometimes less than what I used to do) and this week I’ve not been very well so I’ve not managed to do everything in the right order that I should have done. Feeling like a month has gone by and I’m not sure I feel any further forward. Apparently this is OK though (so says Mark, who I have total blind faith in).
This week should have been:
- Rest Day x 2
- BMF x 3
- Run 60 mins x 1
- Run 45 mins AM & run 45 mins PM
I got to Wednesday without actually having done anything apart from drive home from Lincolnshire, drive to and from work and feel sorry for myself being ill. Nothing active. But, I’m also sensible and figured pushing myself to go out when I’m feeling shit actually would be counter productive.
So, I ate loads of vegetables and tried to get loads of sleep, and then on Thursday I went for a walk up the hill at lunch to get some fresh air, found it made me feel better, so went to BMF that evening and did the session (or, more accurately, ‘minced about’, according to Mark).
Still feeling no better, but not feeling worse, I hit the weekend (don’t forget, Friday is part of my weekend) all guns a-blazing, with running, running and more running. And a cheeky little bike ride. So not quite all the right types of sessions according to the plan, but the same amount. I’m coining this the ‘normal person training’ – hopefully showing that anyone can give these things a go and life sometimes gets in the way.
Fave run this week: Saturday with Rachel on the trails right on her [beautiful Costwold stone cottage] doorstep in Slad. Rach is one of my oldest friends (back from secondary school, way too many years ago now) and is the person who tempted me to come live in Cheltenham (for that I will be forever grateful, as I love it so much here). Why the fave run?
- We get to catch up and gossip
- Rachel made it into a £2 training plan run and gave me £2. She was disappointed I didn’t have my tutu on though
- We always mainly run on trails and hills. As much as I moan about them, I am getting used to running up hills now
- It’s BEAUTIFUL around there
- We laugh
- It was just FUN
- It reminds me of being a kid, just running around in the countryside getting muddy, stung by nettles and avoiding cows
- I got to try out my new Salomon running backpack which is what I’ll be running the Wadi Rum Ultra in (it’s the S-Lab Adv Skin 12 litre) – impressed so far
- There is no way in hell we would have gone running as teenagers – so the fact we both got into it as adults and now love it and mainly spend time together running in beaut countryside makes me very happy ❤
Saturday night I decided to tackle the foam roller again after our run. I’m a bit scared of it but my sports massage person (what ARE they actually called?!) said I should be doing it at least every other day, and given I’ve becoming a super athlete (you know, I’ve started yoga and everything) I thought I need to Man the Fuck Up and get on it. Literally.
And I mean, what better way to spend a Saturday summer night? All those people posting pictures of beer & BBQs on social media; give me my prawn stir fry, glass of water and foam roller any day. Sigh. The sacrifices.*
Sunday morning saw me wake up achy at 6.30am and unable to get back to sleep (FML). I had to do 45 mins so I forced half a Tribe bar down before 7am in the hope it would give me a bit of energy. I’ve subscribed to their endurance packs (like Graze but for sports people) to have a few ready-made go to bars and recovery shakes. I’ll mainly be using them when I’m doing the longer runs but it was handy this morning when I couldn’t really face any food that early.
The run was actually pretty good, and I followed it with a big bike ride with the BMF crew. But, I just couldn’t eat enough food after my run to replace the calories lost on a run and fuel a bike ride. My legs just didn’t want to go, and I struggled with the few miles just before we stopped for lunch. Much better for the last bit after I’d eaten. I’ve cancelled my last run of the week that I was going to do tonight, I just feel a bit too shattered and am going to be sensible about it. The training plan didn’t account for a 58km bike ride in between runs so I don’t feel too guilty. Lesson learnt about food though. Must eat more.
Week four roundup video:
*Shhhh, don’t tell anyone but I’m actually quite enjoying the sacrifices and feeling healthy at the moment.
The Paps Life 