33. The One Where I Was Back on the Treadmill

17 September 2015

I've been taking it easy this week in an effort to let my knee heal up a bit ... oh and cos IT WAS MY BIRTHDAY!  YUPS!  That wasn't the reason I didn't run on Tuesday, but it was sure the reason yesterday!  I had a fabulous day full of food (by which I mean a four hour lunch, followed by popping into work for an hour or so - I wasn't on a day off - and then drinks and supper at my club, the House of St Barnabas).  I hadn't actually intended to do anything for it because I'm celebrating properly after the ACC, but since people insisted ...!  And I'm so so glad I did go out, I had such a lovely time.  And also cocktails.  Lots of cocktails.  Mmm cocktails ...!

I can't say that the cocktails, the heavy food and the late night did wonders for my running today, however ... more like almost finished me off!  I was doing a nice sub-130 work out to try and get back into the groove and test out my knee.  It was at least the perfect work out because I can guarantee you that if I'd done sprints, it would have been unpleasant for everyone.  My heart rate generally behaved itself though, although it did pop over 130 twice and I had to slow to a walk to get it down again, so it wasn't my best effort.  Never mind.  Maybe next time.

In better news, my knee felt loads better!  I put this down to kinesio tape - I've been taped up all week and it's done wonders (together with the rest).  I'd definitely recommend learning how to use and apply kinesio tape if you do distance training!  Or any heavy training really; I had the benefit of three hours' tuition in it in 2012 and it has come in handy so many times.  I wouldn't recommend just doing it if you don't know what you're doing, but if you do it can save a lot of physio's fees (and a lot of pain).  Obviously I was training on the flat today on the treadmill, but there wasn't a shred of pain which is a massive relief!

20. The One Where I Didn't Go Quite Fast Enough

27 August 2015

Holy snickerdoodles I was knackered this morning!  I had sprints on the schedule, but I figured last night that if my DOMS wasn't any better (given that it was being incorporated into my dreams it was so bad) I should do a recovery run instead.  Sadly, it was in fact better, although I can definitely feel every single muscle between my knees and my hips!

That meant that I decided to do the sprints, but not absolutely kill myself over them - I didn't want to risk an injury, so I thought I'd be sensible about it.  Well that was the plan anyway ... What I'd forgotten is that ALL my competitive side comes out with this particular work out, so when I realised I was at a similar level to last week (my current PB) I nearly killed myself trying to beat it.  Oops.  I didn't quite manage to beat it but I did match it with another 1.97km which I was soooooo proud of!  Even if I did almost fall off the treadmill at the end, and I couldn't put my makeup on for an hour after I was done because I was still sweating so much.

This DOMS has definitely been one of the worst I've had - I don't know WHAT I was doing to my quads on Tuesday!  However it's been a good kick up the arse to work out how best to manage recovery.  Even though I've more or less managed to run over it, I can't help feeling somehow that that is not really my best strategy ... As I was lying prone on the sofa last night, one of my WhatsApp groups started chatting about Ride Across Britain, which two of my friends are going to be doing next week.  Since that's the cycling version of a multi-stage ultra, I immediately started quizzing them on recovery each night throughout the event, especially as on of the other girls in the group is a doctor of sports medicine (sneaky!).  Our strategies are all pretty aligned - here's a basic summary

• Keep fuelled throughout with good quality nutrition
• Take an electrolyte drink throughout which contains magnesium and sodium 
• Eat good quality protein immediately after the day is finished
• Drink a good recovery drink immediately after the day is finished (does Mars Refuel count?!  Bwahahahaha)
• Stretch fully at night
• Put compression tights on as soon as possible after the day is finished, and sleep in them overnight
• Sleep as much as possible
• Drink a milky drink before bed so that the casein aids recovery throughout the night. 

As you can see, having a sports doctor providing advice is definitely a winner!  Thanks Jess ;).  With all that in mind I've been shopping on Wiggle for compression tights, I've lined up a playlist on YouTube of a bunch of good stretch videos, and I'm going to roadtest some recovery drinks this weekend.  I am feeling totally efficient right now!

Just for the record, today's splits are here:

1.       0.12

2.       0.25 (+13)

3.       0.38 (+13)

4.       0.52 (+14)

5.       0.66 (+14)

6.       0.79 (+13)

7.       0.92 (+13)

8.       1.06 (+14)

9.       1.19 (+13)

10.   1.31 (+12)

11.   1.44 (+13)

12.   1.58 (+14)

13.   1.71 (+13)

14.   1.84 (+13)

15.   1.97 (+14)

15. The One Where I Ran Quite Fast

20 August 2015

Got me a lil PB today!  Yep!!  Uh-huh!

It was back to sprint sets on the Curve (those ones where I do 30 seconds hard out, with 90 seconds full stop rest - totally killer).  I never thought I would manage a PB because I started off my sprint set so badly - usually on the first rep I manage at least .13km but I only managed 0.12 today and I thought that was it for me.  All the way up to the 9th rep I was only at the same level as I managed last week, and although I was happy with last week given that it was my first set back in ages, it was nowhere near my previous PB of 1.96KM overall.  I managed to really kick it up for the last few reps though - and just tip it over the line to get to 1.97KM overall ... woop woop!  It's only a 0.01KM PB, but honestly, you don't understand what that ten metres means to me ... that set is so so hard!

1.       0.12

2.       0.25 (+13)

3.       0.39 (+14)

4.       0.52 (+13)

5.       0.65 (+13)

6.       0.77 (+12)

7.       0.90 (+13)

8.       1.04 (+14)

9.       1.17 (+13)

10.   1.30 (+13)

11.   1.44 (+14)

12.   1.57 (+13)

13.   1.70 (+13)

14.   1.83 (+13)

15.   1.97 (+14)

I also obsessively checked my body stats on the Boditrax (I'm sure the novelty will wear off soon, but for now I am still in love with it) and despite the fact that I've increased my carbs over the last few days, my body fat has taken a nosedive by 0.8KG and my overall body fat percentage has gone down to 17.7%.  I think it's partly because the carbs I'm eating are so clean - we're talking berries, oatcakes, and pearlised spelt for the most part, plus those lovely little two-ingredient bites of heaven - and partly because my body obviously needs that extra fuel at the moment.  My performance has shot up since I increased the carbs (and, as I said yesterday, increased the sleep) so it's something I'm going to be keeping a sharp eye on to make sure I'm managing it right (oooh managing.  I almost sound like a real runner ...!).

9. The One Where I Didn't Run Very Fast

11 August 2015

One of my regular sets is to do 15x 30 seconds sprint as hard as possible, then rest for 90 seconds (at a full stop), doing it on the Woodway Curve machine at the gym.  This sounds like a perfectly do-able workout.  It isn't.  It's the hardest one on my schedule, and I've been neglecting it for a couple of weeks while I focus on long distance.

However, after a chat with my PT, who is the ultra-marathon man (he's doing the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc in a couple of weeks time), and after some shocking 800m rep results, I've come to the conclusion that doing the speed work is as important as doing the long distance work, not least because I don't want to lose everything I've been working towards!  In addition, the Curve is the best training tool around - it's a manual treadmill and the belt is incredibly heavy to push around, so you're adding the weight of the belt to your own weight while you run.  Obviously the heavier you are the easier that is, so for a midget like me it's seriously horrible!

Therefore, I hauled myself back onto the curve and completed my sprints.  My ultimate aim is to get to 2km in half an hour doing these (seriously) and the best I've ever done is 1.96km.

I was a little nervous about getting on the Curve again, not least because it is HORRIBLE and because I expected to have lost some real speed on it.  The set felt appalling, but in terms of overall distance it wasn't too bad - a total of 1.92km which isn't great, but could be worse in the circumstances.  Here is the breakdown of my splits:

1.       0.13

2.       0.27 (+14)

3.       0.40 (+13)

4.       0.53 (+13)

5.       0.66 (+13)

6.       0.78 (+12)

7.       0.91 (+13)

8.       1.04 (+13)

9.       1.17 (+13)

10.   1.29 (+12)

11.   1.42 (+13)

12.   1.54 (+12)

13.   1.67 (+13)

14.   1.79 (+12)

15.   1.92 (+13)

I am looking forward to getting faster again soon ... please!!!!