Training blog
A few weeks of ups and downs but I'm feeling pretty good just now. Lots of friends and family have received their vaccinations, we've had a couple of weeks of very beautiful weather and if I escape from work on time I can just about see the sunset. It's been such a long year since March 2020 but I feel like there's a glimmer of hope ahead.
In the last week or so I've felt tired generally - work and training don't always align and I often feel like I'm not managing both very well. I try to remind myself that consistently good in training or work is better than occasionally perfect.
Week starting 8th Feb - 64.96 miles
The aim was to stay strong and injury free. And also to take one day at a time. I'm guilty of worrying about big sessions in the days before I do them and in reality it's a waste of my energy and time. Overall I was really pleased - a great week of training in difficult weather conditions.
Monday - Recovery run split into 2 parts, with Tom for company. Absolutely freezing - I think it said -3 on the way home in the car. In the middle I did Andy's WADAC S&C session. 7.19 miles.
Tuesday - 20 x 1 min on, 30 seconds off. I did this session in absolutely baltic conditions. I don't think I managed to produce any sweat for the whole thing. 9.63 miles total.
Wednesday - Cold and very beautiful long run to Sparsholt and Farley. Fitted it in before work as I was on call so started a bit later. 12.59 miles. Should have worn an extra layer!
Thursday - Rest day :)
Friday- Lovely run in the sun with Ellie - all easy pace. 6.24 miles. Weather is starting to lift so although today was cold it felt more manageable.
PT in the park with Tom Smith afterwards.
Saturday - Tom Craggs described this as a VO2 session. It could also have been described as 'This is going to really hurt'. 5 mins at threshold followed by 5 x 2 minutes up hill with a jog recovery. I did the hills on St James Lane in Winchester. Really tough! 9.18 miles. Legs feeling a bit achy from PT yesterday.
Sunday - Tired legs today (mixture of session and PT). The aim was 2h 30 with the last 60 minutes picking up the pace. Was so thankful for Ellie dragging me along for the 60 minutes. A grind today.
Week starting 15th February - 32.63 miles.
A great start and then things went downhill fast at the end of the week. Just feel really sad as training had been going so well and disappointed that I'm sick again within 6 months of the last bout. I definitely push it too hard with work and training sometimes (stress is stress is stress!) so when I do get sick I go from hero to zero within hours. I retrospectively found out that a few people had been sick at work and we had pancake day on Tuesday so perhaps that was the source of my problems.
Monday - Easy run with Dani followed by Andy's S&C session for WADAC. I really should run in the morning but I feel like I can't drag myself out of bed after the weekend. 6.09 miles.
Tuesday- Warm up, 10 minutes at 10 mile/half marathon pace, 14 x 30 second hills with 60 seconds recovery followed by 2 x 5 minutes aiming for 10km/10 mile pace. Felt slightly off and didn't quite hit the paces I wanted to. Feeling a bit premenstrual today - just not quite as sharp and a bit heavy.
Wednesday - Soggy run and a bad tummy this morning. I quite often struggle when I run in the morning but I had to make several trips back to the loo during my run and I struggled with nausea a bit which is more unusual. Ran on an empty stomach. 9.69 miles.
Thursday - Easy evening run with Ellie. Really bloated - so much so that my normally super comfy leggings were really uncomfortable. 7.39 miles.
Friday - Woke up feeling ok. Took the dog for a short walk and moved my car to avoid a parking ticket. On the way back felt a bit dizzy. By the time I got home I had sudden onset diarrhoea, shaking and sweating. I thought I was going to faint as everything felt a bit fuzzy. Temperature 34.4 when I crawled back to bed. Severe nausea too. I had some ondansetron from my hospital visit last year so took that to stop vomiting. Spent all day in bed and felt so weak I needed help to get to the bathroom.
Saturday - Very nauseous all day. Slept from 7.30pm last night to 8.30am this morning. Severe abdominal pain when I am awake. Feel totally wiped out. Tried to make it downstairs but too exhausted to sit on the sofa so went back to bed.
Sunday - Tried to go for a very slow walk with Goose and Tom but the nausea made it impossible. A walk that should have taken 15-20 minutes took an hour with multiple breaks to sit down. Managing to get some food in today though as haven't been sick. Really frustrated with myself - I've got really good hand hygiene being a vet and we're in PPE all day - so to get sick again is infuriating.
Week starting 22nd February - 37.66 miles
Monday - Luckily my working pattern has changed so I didn't have to take a sick day today from work. From now on I'll be working long days Tuesday to Friday instead of my normal Monday to Thursday pattern. My nausea started to go today meaning I managed two very slow walks with the dog and my first day without ondansetron (an anti-vomiting drug). I also got approx 70% of my normal meals down which felt like definite progress.
Tuesday - Back at work today. Some lingering nausea which meant my drive to work wasn't fun. I managed to complete most of the day but felt totally exhausted by the end. Home, some food and straight to bed.
Wednesday - 30 minute jog this morning before work and on call. 3.52 miles. The run made me feel a bit better. My husband Tom joined me on the bike for a little bit, to check I was ok.
Thursday - Easy run after work. 5.3 miles Starving today - appetite is definitely back and feeling keen to run again. I know I'm sick when I don't have an appetite and have no interest in running!!
Friday - Rest day. I had hoped to run today but I'm on call this weekend so my normal Friday working day finished very late.
Saturday - I knew about some emergencies coming so went out for a run fairly early. The aim was 60 minutes with 2 x 15 minutes at marathon effort without worrying about pace. Surprised myself by running faster than I thought. 8.31 miles total.
Sunday - The run was set as 2 h 45, all at an easy pace. I split this run and did some on my own and the other half with Ellie. We ran a very hilly but beautiful route. Legs tired by the end but really pleased to get it done. 20.54 miles. Chilled the rest of the day, waiting for the phone to ring!
Week starting March 1st - 78.83 miles
Monday - Early run with my club mate, Sam. Lovely, chilled and chatty run around one of my favourite loops. Legs felt really stiff but eased off. I had PT mid-morning with Tom Smith. My left hip seemed to have some nerve pain which suddenly appeared and then disappeared so we kept it very easy with no sprint work today.
Tuesday - I had a 90 minute pre-breakfast run on the program today but I opted for more sleep. I really struggle to get up before 6am - it just wipes me out for the rest of the week. Ran after work instead, the first hour with Ellie and the last 30 minutes or so on my own. Legs feeling tired today.
Wednesday - Mega session of 16 x 1 km alternating between threshold and marathon pace. A real tough one and I had to really work hard throughout. I got my reps wrong in my head approximately halfway through and realised I had 2km more than I thought. Really pleased I managed to finish.
Thursday - Recovery run tonight with my friend Ben. Lovely to chat but struggled with some abdominal pain. 6.50 miles.
Friday - Easy after-work run with Tom. Felt really tired so really pleased I got out the door and grateful for the company. Some pick-ups at the end. 5.95 miles
Saturday - 90 minutes with 4 x 8 minute hills at threshold effort. Tough session over a very hilly route (Dean Lane and round Sparsholt). A few Queen of the Mountains so really pleased! I've run the same session a few times so nice to see some progression. 12.23 miles.
Sunday - Long run today. I was dreading it as I knew I'd be on my own for 3 hours. Listened to an excellent couple of podcasts and had some decent gels to look forward to (Gu Roctane - coconut and chocolate flavour and Torq - strawberry yogurt). Really pleased with the pace and the feeling in my legs. Even managed a long dog walk in the afternoon afterwards. Steak, chips and ice cream for dinner!
