I've been quite pleased with myself recently when it comes to my running progress. Looking back over the last 18 weeks I'm aware I've come a very very long way from where I was and I've been pleasantly surprised at what I've achieved. A little bit of pride has probably crept in; so it was with quite a thump that I came crashing back down to earth yesterday during my evening run.
I spent a fair amount of the day surfing around the net looking at videos regarding ultra marathons and proper form, that it got me enthusiastic for a run. I had in my mind that there was a 10k race looming in 4 weeks time and I needed to get a few more 10k runs in the bag before then. I'd not nailed one of those for a while so had it in my mind to push out for the full 10k tonight.
Got home, had dinner, waited an hour and then got into my new shorts and t shirt (bought earlier that day during the wave of enthusiasm) ready for the big run. I thought I was being pretty careful about things and taking it slow with the Vibrams so this would be a run in the old Adidas running shoes. I was also intending to use Strava to log this run rather than the very clever (but ultimately useless) Wahoo app that had let me down so badly on the last two sessions.
So off I set...
What I had forgotten in my careful planning around shoe selection was that actually I'd already done 5k the previous two nights and racked up 16.5k over the Christmas week. This is nothing for most people but for me it's a lot of miles. This would be my third run in as many days and it was just too much.
Made it up 'Nemesis hill' at a good pace and was doing ok until around 2k out when things started to go a bit wonky. Legs were tired, mentally I was started to flag and crazy thoughts were leaking into my sub-concious. I was actually, unusually, feeling like I wanted to stop and go home. I'd battled thoughts like this in the early weeks but in the last 3 months I'd been confident and assumed those sort of thoughts were behind me (literally).
Everything I've read about running tells you to 'listen to you body' but I guess I'm still not used to doing that; usually I'm trying to ignore what my body is telling me (eat some crisps, have a lie down etc) and so I pressed on a bit more. Soon the times were dropping and I was lolloping along like a wounded goat.
Eventually at the 4k marker I stopped. Took a breath, had a think and then decided this would be a 8k day so turned around and went back the other way. 500m later I stopped again and, feeling cross, I decided I had to quit and walk back.
At the time I was pretty disappointed and cheesed off with myself as I did the wobbly 3.5k walk of shame back home - exhausted from my 'run'. This was the first time in 18 weeks that I had bailed out and not completed a task I had set myself, but in retrospect I realise that I have been overdoing it and need to be more sensible about my rest days.
I guess when I read about people banging out 10 miles a day after just a few months of running I'm frustrated as to why that isn't me....yet. I'm only a few months into this and I've still got another 20kg to lose. I live to fight another day.
I spent a fair amount of the day surfing around the net looking at videos regarding ultra marathons and proper form, that it got me enthusiastic for a run. I had in my mind that there was a 10k race looming in 4 weeks time and I needed to get a few more 10k runs in the bag before then. I'd not nailed one of those for a while so had it in my mind to push out for the full 10k tonight.
Got home, had dinner, waited an hour and then got into my new shorts and t shirt (bought earlier that day during the wave of enthusiasm) ready for the big run. I thought I was being pretty careful about things and taking it slow with the Vibrams so this would be a run in the old Adidas running shoes. I was also intending to use Strava to log this run rather than the very clever (but ultimately useless) Wahoo app that had let me down so badly on the last two sessions.
So off I set...
What I had forgotten in my careful planning around shoe selection was that actually I'd already done 5k the previous two nights and racked up 16.5k over the Christmas week. This is nothing for most people but for me it's a lot of miles. This would be my third run in as many days and it was just too much.
Made it up 'Nemesis hill' at a good pace and was doing ok until around 2k out when things started to go a bit wonky. Legs were tired, mentally I was started to flag and crazy thoughts were leaking into my sub-concious. I was actually, unusually, feeling like I wanted to stop and go home. I'd battled thoughts like this in the early weeks but in the last 3 months I'd been confident and assumed those sort of thoughts were behind me (literally).
Everything I've read about running tells you to 'listen to you body' but I guess I'm still not used to doing that; usually I'm trying to ignore what my body is telling me (eat some crisps, have a lie down etc) and so I pressed on a bit more. Soon the times were dropping and I was lolloping along like a wounded goat.
Eventually at the 4k marker I stopped. Took a breath, had a think and then decided this would be a 8k day so turned around and went back the other way. 500m later I stopped again and, feeling cross, I decided I had to quit and walk back.
At the time I was pretty disappointed and cheesed off with myself as I did the wobbly 3.5k walk of shame back home - exhausted from my 'run'. This was the first time in 18 weeks that I had bailed out and not completed a task I had set myself, but in retrospect I realise that I have been overdoing it and need to be more sensible about my rest days.
I guess when I read about people banging out 10 miles a day after just a few months of running I'm frustrated as to why that isn't me....yet. I'm only a few months into this and I've still got another 20kg to lose. I live to fight another day.
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| Knackered... |
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