I took 5 days completely off from all running in order to rest up after race day. My calves and quads in particular were in a pretty bad way in the aftermath of the marathon, and I was definitely ready for some time away from running to get myself back to normal. I did do a light gym and swim session on the Wednesday after the race, and also managed to get a massage booked in to shake out some of the badness from the legs.
By Saturday I was fed up of kicking my heels and felt ready to have a little run out. I wasn't looking forward to it and knew that I would probably suffer, but I decided to jump back in with a park run at Preston, to try and have a little short, sharp blast out to wake the legs back up. I didn't expect much, and actually ran ok - albeit well short of my form when I set the course record 4 or 5 weeks previously! I got around the 3 laps in just under 17 and a half minutes, holding a steady 5:43 average pace throughout, and although my legs felt pretty battered again as soon as I finished, it felt good to be back up and running.
I followed that up on the Sunday with a steady 10 mile run on heavy legs, averaging just a touch under 6:30s. By the end I was starting to realise just how much the marathon had sapped from me energy wise, and knew that it may be a process that takes a good few weeks to get back to my normal shape and form.
Week one of recovery stats:
Total mileage for the week: 18
Average pace for the week (m/pm): 6:30
Total mileage for the month of September: 219
Total mileage so far this month (October): 10
Total mileage for 2017: 2730
Average miles per day 2017: 10.00
On to this week, and thankfully as the week has gone on, my legs have started to feel more and more back to normal. I have enjoyed a steady week of running, just making the most of being able to get out for an hour or so each evening and turning the legs over without the pressure of particularly having to chase specific targets or aims. It has been nice to just enjoy running for running's sake for a while, I will probably return to some proper sessions in the coming week, but this week was all about ticking over and enjoying getting out there again.
I used the Parkrun again as a way of motivating myself to get out of that little comfort bubble of running steady, but decided to extend the session by running the 8.5 miles from my house to the event venue at Avenham Park. I enjoyed the run there, averaging a decent 6:15 pace there, but once I got going in the park run itself I started to feel a bit unwell. I had a dodgy stomach (I have also suffered from a bad cold in the aftermath of the marathon) and felt quite quezzy from pretty early on, so I was pleased to run just a little bit quicker than the week previous, in spite of the illness and the extended warm up.
I finished this week off with a good paced 12 miler. I averaged 6:15 pace overall, but miles 6-11 were very consistent and I found a really nice rhythm, ticking over with splits of 6:07, 6:06, 6:07, 6:06, 6:07 and 6:02. I couldn't have been any more consistent than that - which was especially pleasing the morning after a heavy session on the ale at a beer festival!
Total mileage for the week: 66.5
Average pace for the week (m/pm): 6:20
Total mileage so far this month (October): 76.5
Total mileage for 2017: 2796.5
Average miles per day 2017: 9.99
I have started to plan for my next block of racing and targets, although things are still at an early stage and I need to meet with Rob Affleck to discuss properly the direction that we take from here. For now, I am entered into Brampton to Carlisle 10 mile road race and Wesham 10k in November, and Telford 10k in December. Depending on how things go between now and then, I may also add Ribble Valley 10k to the list at the end of the year, as well as hopefully a few crosscountry events.
My main aims for the rest of the year now are to really target pb's at the 10 miler and also to reduce my 10k time. I have taken a lot of confidence and learned a lot about myself and my training over the recent months, and I believe that I still have scope for big improvements across all distances. I am determined now to get my 10k time down as far below 31 minutes as possible by the close of the year.
Up until now, my targets have always been incremental improvements, and small aims to gradually move in the right direction. That is still very much the case, and each time I hit one of those targets, the bar gets re-set and adjusted accordingly. The marathon performance was by far my most accomplished so far I would say, but I now believe that there is plenty more to come where that is concerned. I am not in a rush to do another one, and it may be that I don't attempt the distance again now until as far away as 2020, but when I do I want to ensure that I maximise my chances of fulfilling my full potential. To do that, I need to get faster, stronger, fitter and cleverer with my training.
Next year will have to be all about getting as fast as I can, whilst I can. I want to reduce my 5 and 10k times as much as possible, and to do that it may be the case that I finally have to dip my toe into the world of track racing. It is a difficult one for me, as that would probably have to mean joining another club, either as a second claim, or a higher claim for track purposes - as Wesham aren't affiliated to any leagues or track competitions. I don't really know how that works, so it is something that I am going to have to research and look into over the next couple of months.
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