livslarder

Let’s just say this: if you were to look through my Google history from the past week ‘marathon training fatigue,’ ‘runner’s knee’ and ‘running motivation’ would all be top of the list. Oh, and ‘what to do when your cat won’t sleep.’

The mental and physical fatigue really hit me in week 6, to the point where I started doubting my decision to run a marathon at all.  The combination of increasingly painful knees, a 6 month old cat waking up at 4.30am, 5.30am and 6.30am every night and another stressful week at work meant that not only did I miss 3 of my runs (including my long run – cardinal sin number one) but the ones I did manage to do I didn’t enjoy at all.

Monday

Rest day

I’ll justify this with the fact that I had a terrible headache and a horrible day at work and all I really wanted to do was get home and watch You Tube videos of other people’s fitness routines. Slightly ironic and extremely counter-productive.

Tuesday

5km 5:04/km

Back on the treadmill, this time trying out some intervals.  I had the treadmill on a 1.5% incline, with a base rate of around 5:35 and an interval rate (40 seconds each) of around 4:20.

Glad I got this session in, but I actually think a much slower and slightly longer run would have been better.  The knee issues I’ve been experiencing tend to flare up a lot more during speed work, but I was lacking so much motivation that I took ‘the faster the better’ approach to get this done as quickly as possible.

The plus side was getting home and making a delicious stack of Honeyed Mango and Cashew Pancakes for supper in honour of Shrove Tuesday.

Wednesday

You guessed it, another rest day.

Thursday

8km, 5:28/km

I really, really did not want to do this run when my alarm went off at 7am, and I still really, really, really didn’t want to do it whilst I was actually doing it. The cold spell over London makes morning running a lot harder, what with the icy pathways and frozen canal, not to mention the effect it has on my breathing patterns.

The silver lining is how beautiful everything looks in the frosty morning light and the sense of the calm before the storm which often accompanies the early hours. Running alongside the riverboats and watching the owners start about their day is what keeps me going back for more again and again.

The only additional downside to early morning running is just how tired it makes you for the rest of the day. I’ve been steering clear of coffee most days, but a giant Planet Organic Almond Milk Latte gave me extra little nudge I needed to get through another busy day

Friday

Rest Day. Yep, that’s 3 so far. I had actually planned to go spinning, but after waking up with an awful headache accompanied by 3 hours of relentless meowing, I ended up working from home in the afternoon.

Saturday

Rest day. Whoops, here’s another one. 4 rest days in one week – a new record!

Sunday

6km, 5:37/km

I’m honestly surprised that I managed this at all. I’d been out the night before to celebrate my boyfriend’s birthday and we were both suffering from terrible wine hangovers, but just when I’d resigned myself to staying in the warm and drinking tea he said he was off out running. I don’t know about you, but I get serious Running FOMO. And that was it, I was up, dressed and out of the door, albeit seriously regretting it 10 minutes later when I could feel the wine seeping out of my pores with every stride.

Our prize was an amazing 3 course meal at The Crown at Bray (definitely not sugar free!) and an afternoon rambling around the countryside.