Not quite a marathon

I sat at work on Thursday looking out of the window and dreaded the impending hill reps I had to do later that night. I felt really tired, so much so, I pondered the possibility I was trying to do too much from a training point of view. I'd spent the whole night before up every hour to go to the toilet. That normally happens when I am due for a monthly visit from my "friend" but I take a pill to stop that coming because the pain is horrendous. Of course, there is always the possibility of it still coming on, but that is quite a rare occurrence and has only happened once in the year that I've used this pill.

So, fortunately for me, the heavy rain that was forecast managed to stay away and I felt a bit better when I realised the session was "downhill running". How hard can that be? I wore my XL vest (which weighs about 6lB) for the first time in around 18 months and shocked the hell out of myself to find that downhill running is, in fact, hard work. I did reps (with fast walking recoveries up the hill) and ran a 7.07mm pace for the first rep and ended on a 7.32mm pace for the last rep. Waaaaaaay harder than I expected them to be and I ached for the rest of the night.

The next day I ached too, which again, I didn't expect. And again I spent the whole day really tired and I just couldn't be bothered to do anything at work. Even eating didn't perk me up. I went to the gym after work and did rowing intervals (now putting the rower to level 10 which is the highest level) and worked hard. When I got home I slouched on the sofa for the rest of the night. I again, wondered if I was over training, and then pushed this aside knowing that my sleeping had generally been good, my eating was good and apart from feeling lethargic, I had no other symptoms of it.

Waking up on Saturday morning gave me the answer... my period had arrived. I was surprised. I had had no other symptoms other than lethargy. I hadn't felt depressed and teary, I'd managed to do every single training session during the week (this is a first!), and there was no pain, although my weight had gone up by half a stone. I felt nervous about picking such a hilly route for my run that day, because I now knew the tiredness was genuine and it would be harder to run than usual. I was also a little worried about getting pain. On previous occasions, I've had to ring Graeme and ask him to pick me up only a mile away from home because the pain was so bad I couldn't even stand up. Graeme was at work, so going out to run was a gamble. I couldn't afford to not go either.... I have a training plan all worked out in my head... add half an hour on to each Saturday run (I know this sounds a lot, but you have to remember I'm run/walking on a 3:3) and add 2 miles onto the walk that I do immediately after getting in and eating something, so that eventually gets me to around 41 miles for my last training session, the day before my taper for the 24 hour race starts. Todays' plan was a 3 hour run followed by a 10 mile coastal walk.

So, off I trotted. I was very tired from the outset but I was pain free. All of this attention to my diet must be really working after all! The hills were really really tough... especially the one that goes on for 3 miles with no let up. I was absolutely shattered when I finally got to the top and I took the one gel that I'd taken with me as an emergency. I've been training without fuel, but today was always going to be the day where I introduced 1 gel, so at the top of that hill with no energy left at all and 8 miles to go, I thought that was probably the time to take it. The rest of the run/walk went well, although I was very very tired. Because I'd worked so hard on the rowing the day before, my legs were battered anyway. Every hill I had to run up I just kept telling myself it was fantastic training and I needed to just get on with it. Any other time I'd have given up by now and walked more than my plan dictated, but I didn't. I just carried on. The last 3 or 4 miles, despite being mostly downhill or flat, were knackering, and when I finally finished on 15.78 miles, the thought of going out and walking another 10 seemed virtually impossible!

I had my recovery drink, a bath and then had some rice crackers covered in coconut oil and salad with a cup of lemon tea. I sat there for half an hour dreading going back out, but I pulled myself together, got a bottle of sports drink, and went. The first mile was horrible. Everything ached, but after that first mile everything settled down and I enjoyed walking along the beach banks. I discovered another part I'd never walked before and the time flew by until I reached about 7 and a half miles. I'd had to step over a few stiles, and as I'd done so I said, "ow...ow...ow...ow...", each step over the stile hurt like hell. The last couple of miles were very hard as my back ached and my calves felt like they were going to seize up. I was soooo glad to get home and rollered my calves straight away. I was amazed to find that the elevation of this walk was only slightly less than the run I'd done, as I'd deliberately avoided any steep climbs. At one point I saw steps going down so steep I couldn't even see the bottom and then rising high on the other side of the hill. I simply thought, "Shit to that... I'm not going that way!" :-)

All in all, I did 25.78 miles... so, not quite a marathon, but I'm very pleased, especially considering the week of my period is normally a right off. I'm OK today too, just a little bit stiff but not as achy as I expected to be. I slept very very well last night so I'm ready to tackle my deadlifts and sauna today.