In these blogs, I'm gonna be pretty real. I wanna share progress pics, weight, and down days with you. If you feel like this could trigger you in any way, please don't read. The last thing I want to do is upset people.
Current weight- 158llbs
Day 1, Marathon Training
We’re finally here. After 3 stress fractures in my feet, struggling with food, weight and bad corona mental health, we’ve finally reached the training for the thing I’ve been working towards- The Edinburgh Marathon in May.
Now I’m not as prepared as I was. Firstly, I’ve been off running for 3 months due to my injury, and although I kept up general fitness with swimming and gyming, I didn’t run at all (under instruction of the physio) so inevitably I put on weight and lost some running fitness.
However, I will now be following a 20 week marathon plan, starting on Monday.I'm also currently in a calorie deficit to ensure I lose that bit of christmas and injury fat to get my runners bod back in shape.
Now before I was injured, I was planning to do a much shorter plan, of much higher intensity, as I had been running 25-30 miles, 6 days a week so didn’t necessarily need a beginners running plan. However now I have taken the time out to rest up, I decided I should probably be sensible getting back into running so am following the longer, less intense plan. Like I said, I’m officially starting it on Monday, but for the rest of this week I will be running some v short, 2-3 mile runs, to try and ease my foot back into it.
This started with what I planned to be a 3 mile run this morning. It was not even close to 3 miles. More like 2. And I will explain why.
The minute I stepped outside my front door in rural Devon things began to go wrong. Firstly, my headphones wouldn’t work. I debated going back in the house to swap them but decided If I went back in the house, I probably wouldn’t ever leave. Because honestly, the thought of running again really scared me. I was partly terrified about getting injured again and having to take another 3 months off (which is every athletes nightmare) but I was also scared because I’d started the running thing before. I knew how hard it was to get into, and I knew how much you had to stick at it.
Anyway, after the old headphone debacle I decided to continue. I walked for about 5 minutes before I broke into a tentative jog. So far, so good. No feet breaking, check. Nobody laughing at me, check. No uncomfortable booby/looby chaffing, check.
So as you can probably tell, I was feeling pretty good. The cold air was delicious on my face, and I was reminded of how much I really loved running. And I’m not ashamed to say I did picture myself in an Elsa-like costume running through the cold. Then, I woke up. I snapped out of my Disney princess paradise and the pain started.
It started in my legs. Damn you lactic acid. Nothing gets rid of that pain, and it’s pretty much guaranteed to affect you at the beginning of all your runs. In my view, that’s what puts so many people off- they work up the courage to go for a run and it’s hells kitchen for the first mile so they give up. Luckily, I’d been through this pain before, so I knew that it would pass and I would cruise into the soft paradise that is miles 3-4. However, I didn’t quite get that far.
I was about half way through mile one when the tummy ache started. Then the sweat. Then the breathlessness. Believing I must be running some Mo Farah esq pace to be struggling this much, I cockily took a look at my Garmin watch (who for future reference, is called Getty). Disgustingly, I wasn’t running anything close to a Mo Farah pace. More like a snails pace. I then started to feel so sick-the sickest I’ve ever felt on a run… I genuinely thought I was going to have to ruin a poor cullomptinites peonies with a tactical chunder. Lovely image I know.
After about 2 miles I decided I’d had enough, as my foot was starting to ache. I dragged my broken body into the house, ran straight to the loo, and stayed there for a decent length of time, incredibly disheartened.
I can’t lie, I went into that run slightly overly cocky. Pre injury, I was running 15 miles casually, pretty fast, so I thought I’d be able to slide straight back into it. But I couldn’t, because I’m not superhuman.
So what have I learned from the v first run in 3 months. Listen to my body ( really need to start taking my own advice ) and realise that I’m not going to be as fast as I was straight away. It’s going to take more time, and more hard graft. GO SLOW. I’m so bad at pacing- I get all worked up with my music and start sprinting like I’m in a flipping music video/musical. And don’t be so hard on myself. I did it once, so I can do it again. Am I shit scared to run 26.2 miles now? But of course. But it’s not meant to be easy. This is my favourite running quote yet-
"There is a moment in every race. A moment where you can either quit, fold, or say to yourself, 'I can do this.'"
-Gatorade Ad
I will be braving another run tomorrow, and if I can do it, trust me, you can too. Whether it’s couch to 5k, or training for marathons/ultras, take the leap and sign up. Make 2021 your year. And let me know so I can come cheer you on when you cross that finish line full of well deserved pride.
E x
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