Another race, another milestone, another week 1

I think I might class this as my first official week of marathon training for London. That makes this week one of 15. I still don’t have a proper training plan. I’m not even sure I have one in my head. I keep meaning to come up with one, but I just haven’t got round to it. It’s fine. Hopefully this time I’ll get past week four!

This week I had my first road race in months, and the first one I’d actually raced in well over a year (I paced at one back in September). I knew I wasn’t as fit as I’d have liked to be, and I’d signed up to the 5k race knowing that but hoping to get back into racing and use it as a benchmark. I was horribly nervous! I’d done the same race multiple times previously, and my official PB was from the same race in November 2019 – 21:56. I’ve run a few faster 5ks since then (including a 21:28 at a parkrun) but knew I wasn’t fit enough to run that quickly. I warmed up with Paul, did a few strides and mobility exercises, then it wasn’t long until we set off. Once we were running, my nerves disappeared thankfully – although the 5k running pain set in!

I knew I wouldn’t be able to run as fast as I would have been a few months ago, but I wasn’t really sure exactly how fast or slow I would be. I decided to aim for 7min/mile ish, which would equate to a 21:40 ish 5k. I was really happy with how I executed the race. I slowed a little in the second mile but picked up again in the third and at the end, and averaged 6:58/mile overall (so fairly close to my estimate!). The course measured slightly long, so my time came in a little over at 21:49, but still an official PB and a good return to racing post-injury. It’s not the easiest course either – it describes itself as flat but it actually has about 40ft elevation/mile. Which to be fair, is flat for around here.

I wasn’t actually too well at the start of the week so ended up cancelling a couple of swims – just nausea, I think from heat stroke, nothing more serious thankfully. Luckily it improved as the week went on and I was able to get out running.

Monday
I woke up, got up, cancelled my swim and decided to go for a little walk instead of swimming as I felt pretty nauseous. I did my slow, heavy achilles rehab exercises though, and managed another walk after work to get some movement and fresh air. In the evening, I did the online Yoga for Fatigue class with Yoga Hero, which was really lovely – it felt really good on my muscles as well.

Tuesday – 7 miles easy
I felt really nauseous again on waking, so cancelled my swim and opted to sleep longer instead of getting up. It did me the world of good, and once I did get up I felt a lot better. I spent half of my lunch break outside doing some weeding which felt like a really good break from work. After work I did my various glute and mobility exercises, then went on a club run on the Meanwood Valley Trail. It was a gentler pace than my usual group, but I wanted to keep it nice and easy so it was perfect. It was a beautiful route on a lovely sunny evening and I really enjoyed it.

Wednesday – 5k race (6.4 miles total)
I felt far less nauseous on Wednesday, which is kind of ironic given that it was race day and I was feeling quite nervous. I didn’t get up too early, but had time for a little walk before work for some fresh air. I got out in the garden at lunch and again after work – the race wasn’t until 8:10pm, and I really needed to distract myself! Eventually I did my mobility and glute exercises and drove up towards the race circuit, then ran over there as a warm up, raced, then ran back to the car as a cool down. My achilles and foot felt pretty good throughout, so much so that I totally forgot to ice them when I got back! Not ideal, but at least they were feeling okay.

Thursday – 5 miles recovery run
This was a big milestone: the first time running three days in a row and the first time running in the morning after running in the evening the day before since mid-March. I’m still not 100% sure it was sensible, but given I’d been feeling good I really wanted to give it a go, and we did keep it very easy. It was a lovely, social recovery run with a couple of friends (both of whom had also raced the evening before, though only one in the same race as me). I did ice my achilles and foot after this run! I also did my second (of three) sessions of slow, heavy resistance rehab exercises for my achilles, and made sure to give my muscles some TLC with the massage gun.

Friday – 1 mile swim and strength session
I finally felt well enough for an early morning swim again. I was feeling a little wary about it to be honest – although the leisure centre is doing a great job with their covid adaptations, there’s no denying cases are on the rise. However, I thoroughly enjoyed my swim and was glad I went. I’m not very fast, and have no proper technique, but I really enjoy being in the water. It’s very therapeutic. I also did my first strength session in months. After realising how far I have to go to get back to where I’d like to be fitness-wise, I also realised that when I was at my fittest, I’d been doing regular strength training for several months. I want to get back into those habits, so I made it my aim to do one strength session this week. It was fewer reps than I used to do, and mostly bodyweight, but the important thing for me was to do it. It felt really good, and it gives me something to build on. My achilles was slightly twingy at points throughout the day, but given I had probably overdone it the previous couple of days I was completely prepared for that and in all honesty, it didn’t seem too bad.

Saturday – 5 miles easy
Some of our running club had plans to run the Middleton Woods parkrun route in the morning, but I wanted to do a low heart rate run and it’s much easier to do that alone. I therefore decided to get up and do my run before not-parkrun, which meant an early start as I needed to do all my physio exercises, warm up and get out running by about 7am. On a Saturday! I slightly regretted that when it was time to get up! However, I ended up having a really enjoyable five mile zone 2 run. It wasn’t an exciting route, just one of my standard ones, but it felt really good, and my pace is finally getting a little quicker in Z2 again. After a quick shower and breakfast stop, I headed over to Middleton Woods to be part of the walking contingent. We had such a fun time, even if it was a very slow walk – I love spending time with my favourite five-year-old and three-year-old!

Sunday – 14 miles long run
I had another early start, as I was to meet a friend at 8am for a run. I need to get back into the swing of early starts and long runs on Sundays! We did a mostly off-road run around the local area, and I tagged a tiny bit onto the end to make it up to 14 miles. It felt really good, I didn’t feel horribly unfit (I mean, I’ve not suddenly miraculously gained my fitness back – it wasn’t speedy!) and it was a beautiful route. Unfortunately coming out of Esholt Woods towards the canal there was a rather pungent sewage type smell that was completely overpowering, and it took a good while to get far enough away that the air was fresh again!

I did some online yoga videos through the week, as well as my usual mobility/glute exercises/foot exercises/achilles rehab.

All in all, it was a very good week. A race, five runs, about 37 miles – I feel like I’ve made a lot of progress. I don’t want to get complacent as I know I need to keep doing my rehab exercises, even once the achilles seems fine. I’m also not under any illusions about it being better – it’s definitely still got some healing to do and the pain isn’t completely gone yet. But I’m really happy with how it’s improving, and I feel a little more hopeful about being able to run a marathon again!