Recovering from a marathon for two weeks and now onto the next Race The Train!

I read quite a bit about why not to run a marathon with no training and also how to survive one. So I survived running a marathon without it's fair to say enough to training. The longest run I had done previously was probably a half marathon 3months before.  I had done a 100mile bike ride in Wales a little over a month before but my wedding was in between and it mean my activity levels were significantly reduced to mostly just park run and the odd ride in the previous 4 weeks. So. I may have had some residual fitness left from the ride but my joints and muscles were not strong enough. Which is why I broke.

I was even told tonight that I shouldn't have run the marathon by the person who agreed to it. To be fair he had removed all pressure and encouraged me to run what I wanted. What I wanted was to do the marathon. For myself mostly but also because I have this ridiculous person inside my head saying if so and so can do it I can do it. I need to calm down. There is no need to be competitive. If anyone it needs to just with me. 

I have now raised my own question in my head that what am I doing? Am I the same person I was a year ago? What is really driving me? It always used to be me and now I am not so sure. I have to get my head in a better place I am just not sure where that is right now.

Anyway. So I was running on marathon day by half way / 3/4 of the way with agonising pain in my lower back kidney area, latteral upper quads and hip, latteral aspect of my knees.  The back pain hasn't hurt since the medal was out round my neck. The latteral aspect of my knee (over LCL ligament) has lingered a bit and hurt after parkrun last week too but has been fine since I have stopped running, I jogged a bit and it seems fine now, need to slowly progress my mileage and I should be fine. I also have some strengthening exercises for ITB, adductors and quads which i need to crack on with. My hip has lingered the longest and was what has prompted my decision to have a whole week off running. It really hurt on Saturday and few days after so it had to be sorted. I did see a physio last week and they only said what I knew and I can't credit her much with her anatomy knowledge but I got given some exercises and told to use the roller. 

I went for a brief ride last night and all injuries felt good it non existent although I do need to roll my quads for sure. All feels a bit tight.

So I am not doing parkrun I don't think on Saturday, I am planning on kayaking though there is an adult session on the lake at 10am so in Os absence from wanting to kayak for the moment if I want to learn this sport I just need to practice and so I need to get on with it myself though am more than happy to be coached and would prefer to be coached  by my friend however I am impatient and I want to be better now. And if it's going to be about me then I will just have to make it happen. 

I also want to get a long ride in this weekend so whether it is on my own or not I am planning on a ride, hopefully to dorking and back nice and early as want to go on the A24 a bit, as it is the ride London event and I want to be nosey. This is what I need to do to not run for a bit longer. I am going to run on Monday or Tuesday morning next and do a nice easy run and if my hip or knee start hurting I am going to stop. I a also aiming to get in the pool 3 times next week.

There we have it a short term plan. Race the train stuff came in the post today so that is in two weeks I need to sort myself out in my trainers and I my head. 

We did a marathon!!!!!!

So a bit late writing this but we did it! We ran (mostly) a marathon! Took about 5:30 or something but we did it!

Firstly massive thanks as always to the support crew, here she is showing off her cute new hair! 

So both of us were reasonably calm given the occasion and it was a lovely start to the event. There were a god few hundred people and some chaps that we recognised from the Larmer Tree. It was their first marathon too. White Star Racing did pull of a fantastic event, there were some great costumes and there was even a horse and a horn to start and the weather was awesome (until it got too awesome and was too bloody hot!). Anyway, cracking on 27miles to go! Said farewell to Ley and we were off.

So as per previous post we were going to walk all the hills. I was a bit worried O wouldn't stick to this, but he did and we were walking quite early on up the first hill as planned. This was good, but he does walk slower than me, I just need to worry about keeping up with him when we are running! We were talking about our next marathon and future events within 5 minutes.... It hadn't started hurting yet.

So first feed station 5k in was earlier than expected but a couple of nibbles and we were back on our way. 

So a few new gadgets in tow. My new Garmin FR920XT which I haven't really taken off since the day it arrived (and I love it even if it is huge!) I will save my love for this to another post once I have tested out a few more functions.  I also aquired a new Camebak the Aurora. Very pleased with this hydration pack, love how easy is to fill and drink from, also love all the extra pockets! I took 7 gels and it had a ful 2litres in. I used 6 gels and refilled it once. I needed the fluid, it was a hot day!

O had a few issues with his sloshing. I tried to help fix it but I think I made it worse as it ended up leaking and he had a wet bum and then I think I pissed him off attempting to help some more. Eventually he stopped and fixed it so it stopped leaking. We got used to the sloshing. He has now got a new Camelbak too, the marathoner I believe but I haven't seen it though it was one i shortlisted but they had sold out mind I am chuffed with the one I have.

So buy 1/4marathon I needed to sort my feet out as I could feel a blister developing so compede blister patch applied. I was anxious this was going to stop me later but it didn't. The blister patch did its job but the cause was because I wore my road trainers and because it was a trail and very uneven underfoot the front of my foot was moving around too much. I am going to look at getting some new distance trail trainers ASAP. My current Trails are good but my feet swell a bit when I am doing longer distances and so need a bit more room. 

So we pushed on, we kept walking the hills and we're both feeling pretty good. We were on track for a 5-5:30 finish. When we were running we both were keeping our watches somewhere between a 6:00-6:30 km pace although this tended to creep up on the descents (and was around the 7min/km towards the latter half of the race). 

We both needed a comfort break at one point and the plan was to walk until the other caught back up. I climbed a 6ft gate into a field but on my return over the gate landed badly and caught my ankle but luckily all was okay and caught back up.  Never had to stop during a run before, luckily I was prepared. Boys get it so easy... 

So all was going ish to plan. I was starting to hurt though. O was bouncing around still and full of it which didn't really change. I had the energy but my legs were hurting. Particularly the upper lateral part of my quads around my hips, and the outsides of my knees. My quads were what was hurting on my Monday run so wasn't completely unexpected. There was that but also my lower back around my kidney area. This was only going to get worse and it was getting hotter. 

As I had expected I found 28-35k the worst. I was in so much pain, and although I didn't tell O, I had a headache and felt a bit faint and so hot I found it really hard to keep running and start back up again. There were some great people we got chatting to at times and it was lovley. O was amazing as well. I wouldn't have got through those 7km or the subsequent last 8k either tbh if he wasn't there and being a huge support (and feeling a lot better than I was). I didn't talk to him much for an hr or so I don't think, bit of a turn of the cards to it usually me doing too much of that. I just had to get my head down and push through what I was going through, if that was the wall I think I found it, still it was the pain in my back and quads that was just the worst. Energy wise I was okay, just oh my, my back was agony. Every step I landed was agony. O kept me smiling. Well it's the best I could do, I couldn't find the focus to call him a jerk or tell him where to stuff his idea to start running again.

Anyway, for the last parkrun it was easier to run and focus on the finish. I think I did actually smile a bit more. There was a section that was really overgrown and we couldn't run it even if we wanted to. Because I walk a bit faster I got a bit ahead but I quite liked the excuse to stop and wait.  I think that there was a short period O went through a bad patch, he went a bit quiet and wanted to walk when it wasn't a hill. He resolved himself quickly, if it even was that, either way he was back with me after 10mins. We were now looking to the finish and I think it is fair to say I quite enjoyed the last 5k, down the hill through the tall crops was fun (although still agony, I was ignoring it now). We could hear the finish!

Pushing on there was a cheeky hill right near the end which we walked to save us for the last bit. We were just going through a wooded section and we could really hear the cheering now, this was really motivating and we past some volunteers who were encouraging too. Then out of the woods and down to the finish we could see it. Ley said she saw me put my arms in the air. I, well O, found me running into him as I for some reason wanted to head to the right. The finish was to the left!

Eventually corrected we came down the hill at quite a pace and crossed the line together and got the most awesome medals!

Ley was waiting for us! We also got a goody bag with jam in it and Ley got me a biscuit, she knows me too well. Was fed up of sweets and gels and just wanted something proper so we all had hog roast bap. Was yum!

And home. O even got a record of me getting some kip which might explain why one minute we were in Dorset and then in what felt like 2minutes we were in Chichester. 

Oh and we have new tshirts too!

I will save post marathon week report for another post. Was a tough run, so pleased to say that I am a marathon runner now though. Now just looking at next ones, we have booked the Larmer Tree 20miler for March next year! 

Another great event White Star Racing (WSR)! Thanks!! 

Let's do a marathon. Today

Okay so today O and I were due to do the Invadar Half. Last Saturday we were over theirs for dinner and I casually mentioned that White Star Racing (WSR) had announced a few spare marathon places O and then a short conversation followed where I asked WSR if there were two and then what followed was that me and O were now signed up to do a marathon. Shit!

So I have experienced a range of emotions this week, I was and the wasn't and then was going to do it. But ultimately it is happening. We have been called nutters amongst other things and I can't disagree. So here I am on the way to the Invader MARATHON at 06:47 with O and Ley.

I went for a 6+ mile run Monday and that was okay. Today is going to be hard and it will hurt for sure. O had a plan (much more comprehensive than I was expecting but reassuringly detailed enough to put my mind at rest.  

Goal is to finish. And not be last.

That means less than 7.5hours. So the plan. Well plans....(fully quoted from O)

Anyway, the plan. I actually have 3 plans, all very similar but with slightly different outcomes.

 

Plan A. (I am going to call this, the realistic plan).

Aiming for approx. 5 hours 

Average 7min ks. (That is about a minute slower per K than my usual pace so pretty comfortable).

Walk most hills, anything that I feel the HR starting to elevate, or where my quads start to burn it gets walked.

I am going to sup goo after the first hour, and then every half hour after that.

 

Plan B. (I am going to call this, the feelin’ good plan).

Aiming for approx. 4:30 hours 

Average 6:30 min ks. (Still easy on).

Walk most hills, anything that I feel the HR starting to elevate, or where my quads start to burn it gets walked.

I am going to sup goo after the first hour, and then every half hour after that.

Towards the end, approx. 5k. If I feel there is more than enough left in the tank, I will pick up the pace and try to use up anything that is left.

 

Plan C. (This is called… Why Hannah? Why are we doing this?)

Plan C may kick in at any time. 

Aiming to finish is now the only plan.

Sod the averages, probably keep looking at the watch mournfully wondering why I am doing 20 minute Ks.

Walk. Walk everything!

Proclaim often that I hate things, especially marathons and other runners.

So I reckon we'll start with B then move to A and then C will kick in at some point. I think 5-5.5hrs and O is going for 5 but both prepared mentally to be moving for 6+hrs as needed.

We have both been drinking lots last few days and eating well. I personally drank 3litres+ every day of squash and O was playing a non drunk drinking game of everyone go to the loo drink another glass.... He reported to be going to the loo increasingly frequently (surprisingly!).

I have also been deliberating over a new gadget and to cut a long story short I had my Garmin FR920XT delivered yesterday and it is now set up tested and ready to use. I have no idea what alerts it's going to give me though. I am going to record on my phone too in case of failure.

Sleep: I've have 2:40hrs last night.

Breakfast: two slices of toast at 4:30, porridge, honey and blueberries at 6:30. 

Race fuel: I have a new Camelbak with 2litres of water with 2 electrolyte tablet things, 6 gels, and some dried apricots.

I have music for later if needed.  

I am okay, bit nervous about some niggles that I have particularly with my back/hip but if we take it easy should be okay.  CV wise I can do it, it is just the very high risk of injury.

So. Here we go then. Let you know how we get on.

Ride, run, ride, kayak, swim, kayak, swim, sleep.

After a good afternoon/evening out I was in bed by around 8:45pm last night with lots planed for today.  In summary after one too many bottles of Rosé I was still rather fragile this morning and probably could say that I still am, but I'm fine.  I'm not the sort of person to let that stop me doing what I want so everything happened as planned.

O, Ley and I set off on the MTBs to go to parkrun at about 8am. Unfortunately Jules didn't make it as he was up quite a bit in the night (not alcohol related mind) so passed.  Was good fun rolling down the hill into Horsham.  I stuck with Ley for parkrun and a finish time of 32:18 was awarded for my 33rd parkrun.  It's not great but I struggled and it was good to stick with Ley.  O finished his 20th parkrun in a respectable 24:49 (even himself claiming he only sobered up at 3am this morning after 24 odd hours of fun and games) and Ley her 25th in 32:52 (she wanted a sub 33min so all good).  Breakfast at the conservatory cafe and an easy ride home (well back to the pub to get the abandoned car) via a few geocaches.  So about 14.5km on the bikes and 5km run.  I am so out of shape but it's fun to be getting back into it.

Kayaking lesson #1

Then after a short breather O and Ley picked me up for my first kayak lesson early this afternoon at Southwater Country Park.  Jules was going to meet us down there, not to have a go mind, he is not so keen on the whole water based activity.

So in my true fashion, in preparation I ordered and have read a book on kayaking for beginners this week, not that I am going to claim to be an expert but it just means that I might have a bit more of an idea what O is on about when he is coaching me, I will probably keep consulting it and YouTube for the foreseeable future.  O is a 3* in various disciplines and Level 2 trained BCU coach and we have been talking about going kayaking for a while now (was postponed untill after the wedding) he has kindly offered to teach me all that he knows and we are aiming for me getting to 2* BCU award (which apparently won't take long).

First things first. get the kayaks out.  At this point I am completely out of my depth (no pun intended) but I have no idea what to expect. I was on my best behavior today, sometimes difficult around these two but I really wanted to learn and quickly and not piss my best friend and coach for the afternoon off which would surly have me in the drink. I get frustrated if i can't pick things up though I am completely prepared to put the effort in to practice and as a coach myself in other sports I understand the concept of being taught and listening this way round.

Ley came out too which was really nice.  I was trying to listen and action everything I was being told and relate it to the text and pictures in my book and the YouTube videos.  O really is very good at kayaking and teaching.  He is very patient and made me feel really relaxed and unpressured, just kept encouraging me and helping me out with a few pointers to improve technique here and there, he didn't bombard me but moved on to other lessons too.  I didn't put myself under pressure today, I just wanted to enjoy it and get out on the water.  This is the first time I have been in a boat on my own after all.

All started out well, got in the boat (a red dagger) and I didn't fall in.  Went round in circles quite a bit at first, but did start to get better at going forward (I am not going to say straight).  Need to remember to lean forward more to place the paddle and draw back from my core, not hold the paddle so tight and also need to keep my forward strokes closer and straighter along side the boat with a higher angle too.  One thing O kept telling me was to lift it out earlier in the stroke than I was as that what was causing me to spin out.  I was trying to use my legs, i.e. brace with the opposite but after reading about this again, I'm not gong to worry about that too much at this stage, or at least which one is bracing anyhow.  So much to take in though as well as unlearning this balancing thing.  We did back paddling, sideways and bracing.  Oh and then an unplanned capsized.  I had quite a bit of water in my boat again and so that seemed to make it more tippy. Anyhow I got out and actually other than drinking the lake water (must try and not do this), was quite nice to have a little swim as it was quite hot this afternoon.  So as a result of this I covered emptying the boat of water and getting back in again too.

It was really nice paddling around the lake, I wasn't under any pressure to master anything and I felt like had made some good progress but towards the end of our 1.5hrs on the water I did falter a little and everything seemed to be harder.  It was quite busy though at the country park today, the beach was heaving; they were opening the new dino land (kids play park) so there was live music and dragon races as well as other things going on but it was nice to escape the hubbub and observe from the water.

So seeing as I was wet, after some noted procrastination I did attempt another capsize and I didn't drown. Wasn't perfect but did some bits right and I didn't drown and O didn't have to rescue me.  I did drink quite a bit of lake water though which is odd as I don't normally struggle being underwater.  A bit more practice and I am sure that I will get used to the experience and what to do (and not to do).

I did come over ridiculously tired and a fuzzy/light headed about 5-10 minutes before we got out.  Maybe it was because I knew we were heading in and my body was getting ready to stop. I think dehydration, tiredness and being out in the sun most of the day caused this.  Was a pain as I couldn't even lift myself out of the water and then some how fell back in again.  Felt a bit stupid.

Anyhow a great time had and can't wait to go again.  Not sure how much of a  rush O is to take me back out but he said I can go in a different boat next time and as soon as he doesn't think I will fall out at any moment we can go further afield than the lake which will be fun.

Headed home and spent a few hours with the hubby dozing out in the cooler evening sun which was nice.  I never sleep during the day but resting enough has giving me this second wind of energy and I am still up at 11:30pm.  Though still feel a bit lightheaded and my ears are still full of water which I hope a good nights sleep will resolve.

Today was good fun. Plan for tomorrow will depend on how I feel in the morning.  Will attempt some kind of run/ride/swim/gym/tennis and also do my training plan for the next 5 weeks.

Starting over

I am writing this after a busy month.  This is my 2 week anniversary as a married woman.  What with the preparation for, the big day, the aftermath and our minimoon there is lots to report but not much actual training has taken place although lots of fun has been had for sure.  Back to work and reality/normality Monday though, with the promising outlook of my Husband starting a new job soon after a few months of no work following redundancy (which also has added to the challenges we have faced recently) but fingers crossed an offer will come his way soon.

Anyway, I finally took my road bike out for the first time since the Dragon last night, off road (it coped but I don't want to do that too often).  It started off as an afternoon cleaning and oiling the bikes at Os which resulted in us being in the sunny pub garden with the Boss (Ley) before 5pm.  My hubby and some of my other favorite people H and Z also joined us later.  O was still probably drunk from the night before and I missed lunch and then proceeded to drink way too much in the sun.  I have been informed of my embarrassing resulting actions by husband (still getting used to that) but it was still fun and I still insisted on cycling home.  Well we walked the last bit.  Probably shouldn't have cycled home.  I am recording this merely to remind myself to avoid doing this again for a while.  This was not conducive for the planned activities for today.

Over the past month I think I have mostly managed one or two easy runs a week (parkrun usually) and have been out on the mountain bikes a bit too while on holiday in Cornwall for a few days.  Although I didn't manage parkrun on my wedding day as planned, O and I (albeit somewhat worse for wear) did manage a 7km run the morning after. Jules and I visited Lanhdyrock parkrun on our minimoon (2nd hardest parkrun in the country apparently, we aren't going to disagree) and back to it now as of today.

I also messed about in the sea and went kayaking for the first time on the river Fowey while away which was great. We had a great time, and been looking forward to my first lesson with O since.  Even having done the Dragon about a month ago now, I haven't done half enough to keep my form so I have a lot of work to do as well as a half marathon (Dorset Invader) next weekend.  Eeek!.

So now I have brought you up to speed.  I am married, I have put on loads of weight, I am rather unfit, I have a half marathon next weekend, I am still hungover and I have taken up a new sport.

Now I have done a half mara or 2, 96miles on the bike, 10k and 5ks can just happen, I am really looking for something that is going to make me train and motivate me to get out there.  At the moment the next biggest event is Race the Train in Wales in August which is 14odd miles which will be the furthest I would have ever run.  I need to put a training schedule together I think to take me to that then we'll see beyond that.  I also need to shift some fat and tone up again and my parkrun times are suffering so that needs to be addressed as well.

Jules has set his sights on and signed up to the Barns Green Half in September so it will help that we can train together too depending on his work schedule.

I know I can do it.  I need to set my mind to it, put a plan in place and take bloody control. It's happening.

Run, bike, swim, kayak, gym, My Fitness Pal.  Beep beep beep Go!