Success, whatever that means for you, is certainly not linear. As the image shows below, there's a lot of wiggling about and that's definitely how it's felt over the last month or so. I've written about some of the feelings of failure I've experienced recently for my Fast10 Blog on FastRunning - https://www.fastrunning.com/fast-10/fast102021/karla-borland/how-to-fail-and-that-its-okay/32558.
Week starting 10th May: 4.96 miles running + 30 mins on the bike (unknown distance)
Monday: Following my ill-fated attempt at the Thames Path 100 on Saturday my right leg has been in a world of pain. I can't get downstairs, I can't hop and I spend most of the day panicking that I've done something really serious. Not a great day. My dreams of a fast recovery and return to training look less positive. It hurts to walk Goose, our dog, which is really frustrating.
Tuesday: Feeling really low today. The combination of a painful leg and some other stuff going on in my personal life has meant there were quite a lot of tears today. Feeling really fragile.
Wednesday: On call tonight and it's a late one. I make it home after 11pm and then get called during the night. Manage some cereal before bed. I didn't cry today because I didn't have time!
Thursday: Meal with some good friends at a great new restaurant in Winchester - Inn the Park. This was supposed to be a celebration meal/part of the post-race fun but despite my best attempts at being the normal 'life and soul' I feel pretty empty. Get home and have a cry. My husband it unfailingly supportive - I'm normally buzzing with energy so it's quite hard for him to see me feeling so sad.
Friday: Try to run today. Some discomfort but it's not awful. My knee isn't too bad but my quad still hurts. 1.83 miles.
Saturday:I chatted to my coach Tom Craggs this week. I'm keen to get some training done and I'm lucky to be able to use a watt bike at a rowing centre where my husband coaches so we decided it would be good to try some cross training while I'm building back up. 30 minutes easy on the bike. Did an hour of S&C today with Tom Smith - we had a good session and he made me feel a lot more positive - he was genuinely excited about being able to work on some strength while my running load is lower. Silver linings. My parents arrived later in the day to help with our house - it's so lovely to see them and hugely appreciated.
Sunday: Run with my mum today. It was good but we definitely both have the same run-shuffle. She asked if she could wear earphones while running with me. Surely my chat isn't that bad?! 3.13 miles. A good day with mum and dad but somehow it involved 5 (yes, 5!!!!) trips to B&Q.
Week starting 17th May: 30.3 miles + 30ish miles cycling
This week is all about accepting I'm injured and not thinking too far into the future. One step at a time.
Monday: Morning run 2.82 miles, all easy.
The magician physiotherapist, Michaela did a lot of treatment today. Very painful but feel 100 times better afterwards. Still have some residual knee swelling and a lot of trigger points everywhere from my calf to back. Manage an hour of S&C today. Really enjoying the strength work I'm doing. The rest of the day was designated to more work on my house.
Tuesday: Watt bike - 55 minutes with 10 x 30 seconds. 27.02km. Not bike fit! A very sweaty session.
Wednesday: 4.11 miles easy pace.
Thursday: 5.03 miles all easy. Getting there I hope. Having the usual panic about which trainers I should wear for this period of training.
Friday: 5.40 miles - running 3 days in a row. The heady heights!
Saturday: On call so up early to get any training done. 5.55 miles first thing, followed by 1 hour S&C with Tom Smith - hamstring rollouts are killer! Some progress with my deadlift technique. Bike in the evening - 5 x 3 minutes off 75 seconds - 22.8km. Sweaty!
Sunday: One of my favourite routes around Easton - first run where I've felt more 'normal' - 7.35 miles.
Week starting 24th May: 50ish miles running + 27ish cycling
Slowly, slowly making some progress.
Monday: Early morning run with Sam, my clubmate, for 5 miles. Great S&C session with Tom Smith afterwards. Feeling pretty knackered today - my parents were with us last weekend and the weekend just gone I was on call. Not ideal to start the week tired but it is what it is. The big spanner in the works is that our bathroom floor came up today and so we're shower free for a week.
Tuesday: 1 hour easy run in the morning before work (7.2ish miles) and a bike session in the evening on the watt bike aka Not My Friend. 15.10 miles of cycling with 15 x 1 minutes on off a varied recovery of 60, 45 or 30 seconds.
Wednesday: Another easy run today - 7.60 miles. Reduced pain this week.
Thursday: Another bike session - 10 x 3 minutes with a progressive effort throughout the 3 minutes. 22.35 miles.
Friday: Rest day of sorts. Decided to go and recce Day 1 of the Dragon's Back race in Wales with Minna this weekend. A bit risky with my healing leg and I'm knackered but it's not often I have a free weekend. Manage to get out of work at 6pm and drive 5 hours to North Wales.
Saturday: We decided to do the first day of the race course over two days. A slowish start because I was so tired from work. We did the first 18 miles today with 6500 feet of climb - some beautiful scenery and an excellent cheese bagel as we bimbled over the tops. Overall we realised a few things - there isn't often a path and that much of it isn't runnable. 6ish hours to cover 18 miles. I ran out of water by the end - very glad to get back to the car for a drink. We decide we're both too tired to go out for dinner so resort to chips in bed and watching the Giro d'Italia highlights.
Sunday: Legs don't feel too bad. An early start today which meant that I didn't realise how hot it was going to be. Lesson number 1 - I should have brought and worn sunscreen. Lesson number 2 - bring more water! The day got off to a fairly tough start with a scramble up Tryfan followed by a fairly sketchy climb up Glyder Fawr. I'm pretty scared of heights so I had to be talked through some of the bits and I was pretty mentally exhausted with only a mile or so done in just over an hour. We went across the tops and then descended to Pen-y-Pass before climbing Snowdon. The weather and bank holiday weekend meant that Snowdon was packed. I decided not to do Crib Goch - my vertigo got the better of me and the queue to get up and over was too much - so Minna and I parted ways for an hour or so. I ascended the Pyg Path and met Minna at the top of Snowdon. By the end of the day we'd spent approximately 8 hours getting over 12ish miles and 11000ish feet of climb and that was with a strategic detour as we'd run out of water. A long day followed by a very long drive home. I started to feel pretty rough on the way back - we had been out all day in the sun with not enough water - nauseous and sore. I think I have heat-stroke.
Week starting 31st May: 35.2 miles
A tough start but a great finish to the week. Starting to believe my leg is on the road to recovery.
Monday: Woke up feeling pretty terrible. Sunburn is not fun. I'm normally a factor 50 girl. Cancelled my S&C session as I felt so ill. Legs pretty battered too. First vaccine this evening.
Tuesday: Ouch! Sunburn and a post-vaccine arm. I could barely get into my scrubs today. A long day - feeling pretty exhausted. MRI Scan today too - I decided it might be wise given how stop and start my recovery has been from an innocuous fall.
Wednesday: Easy run - leg feeling ok, sunburn not so much! 4.2 miles
Thursday: 75 minutes after work. Leg felt ok but it felt like a bit of a struggle today. 9.2 miles.
Friday: Easy run tonight after work - lovely evening - 4.3 miles.
Saturday: First session! Felt like absolute baggage and considered calling it a day but persevered. I know that it's going to be hard trying to get back to my previous form. 4 x 6 minutes off 90 seconds. 7.3 miles. Did a great S&C session afterwards. A lovely dog walk in the afternoon with a friend and an early night.
Sunday: The WADAC test relay this morning. A bit apprehensive as I've done exactly 1 session (yesterday!) in 6 weeks. A tough challenge but really pleased to get it done and it felt so lovely to hang out with my teammates for the morning. And more importantly - PAIN FREE - HOORAY!
