I was feeling pretty tired and run down last week after Great Ocean Road, but kept up all my sessions, swapping Monday's long interval session to cross training on Thursday. My long run was 2 hours 25 mins and I was hoping to hit between 25-26km's. We ended up getting out 25km's and this was definitely the worst I've ever felt during a run! I felt good for the until the 18km mark, pace was a bit slower than normal but it didn't bother me too much as it had only been 6 days since GORM. By 18km's, my hips were feeling incredibly tight and sore and as I kept going, I could feel the pain all through my glutes and lower back. I'm pretty sure if Lisa wasn't there with me, I'd have given up but I kept plodding along, almost at walking pace at some points, but finally managed to finish it off. I'm expecting to feel tired and sore at some point of the marathon, just not the 18km mark!
I'm not going to lie, that run affected me mentally as well as physically (my body was tired, sore and I had come down with a head cold), I've had thoughts of chucking in the towel, that I can't possibly run 42km's if I can barely manage 25, it's all too hard etc etc. I guess this is when you need an amazing support crew around you, lucky I have Ronnie to listen to me whinge and moan, Lisa to be there pushing me along during the run (I know I would have felt 100% worse if I'd given up) and Mel to reassure me that I'm doing ok, remind me it's training and not to put too much pressure on myself. Plus the running group to keep me accountable, helped get my ass out of bed and along to sessions this week!
So my recovery week has come at a great time, Mel has given us a forced break from FIRE sessions this week and it's given me a break mentally, extra time to catch up on sleep and mix my running sessions up a bit. I'm in a much better mindset than I was earlier in the week, that's for sure!
I was also way overdue for a massage and dry needling treatment so made sure I had that scheduled in for this week and my body is feeling so much better for it now. My massage therapist seems to think tight ITB's contributed to my hip and glute pain so we'll see how we go this week.
.JPG)
Yes, that's me with needles in my back ;-)
Mel is also running a recovery information session tonight with sports physio Ross Kinsella so I'm looking forward to finding out some more ways to recover properly from my long runs. Told you it was Recovery Week!
As I mentioned in my last post, I trialled a hydration pack during my long run last week after seeing a few people using them at Great Ocean Road. I can't stand hydration belts as they always tend to ride up around my waist when I'm running and I find it annoying to fiddle around trying to get the bottles back in and out. And while I got away with not really hydrating during training for half marathons, I'd definitely need to have some from of hydration during any 25km+ runs.
So I got my hands on the Camelbak Classic 2 litre hydration pack - it is not specifically marketed towards runners but I read some good reviews on it from runners and was recommended a similar one by a friend on Instagram.
It's very compact and sits nice and snug on your back once the the straps are adjusted. I filled it approx 3/4 full for Saturday's run as I didn't want it to feel too heavy on my back. It did take some getting used to at first, obviously I'm not used to having something on my back when I'm running but wasn't long before I'd forgotten it was even there. When it came to drinking, it was amazing! The straw made it so easy to get water in, 100% better than drinking from a bottle or cup while on the run. I would highly recommend using a hydration pack! This week we're trialling Endura (the electrolyte drink they'll have on the marathon course) and over the next few weeks I'll make the decision whether use the pack for the actual race or not.
Thanks for reading - sorry for being a bit of a Debbie Downer at the moment!
Bec xx
No comments:
Post a Comment