Training Mon 22nd September - 5th October

I finally let greed get the better of me. I tried to do too much and it came back to bite me. I fell into the trap I had avoided so well for the last four months. Having followed my coaches set weekly schedule to the letter since we started working together, I suddenly decided to add an extra mile here and there to his plan, to push harder on the steady runs, all in order to get that little bit extra from my training. Which all ultimately ended with my body breaking down under the pressure, and me missing time away from my trainers, tucked up in my sick bed.
Tuesday’s track session on the 23rd September was the start of my gradual downfall. I felt so good as the session began. For the first time my legs weren't that little bit fatigued from my previous training runs. I was feeling bouncy and I felt like I was skipping over the ground as we begun the session of 1600 metres, 1200m, 800m, 1200m, and 1600m. So I pushed myself that little bit faster than planned, hoping to take full advantage of how good I felt. I reached the halfway point, still feeling ok. In the back of my mind I knew the extra few seconds per lap I'd taken off my planned pace might take an effect. I began to struggle a little with the final 1200m rep. I was unable to help push the pace, I had to rely on the pace setting of another group member, as I hung on and actually lapped at the planned pace, ten seconds down on my previous 1200.
I then completely switched off. I was fatigued and concerned about my pace for the final rep. Then the athlete I was training with decided to call it a day as a precautionary measure due to a sore Achilles tendon. I fell further back, and dropped more time each lap. I relied on another member of the group, who had only just started training after a break, to get me round. Without him I don't know what would have happened, but I would have been even further off of my first 1600 metre time, which was thirty seconds down as it was.

Far from learning a lesson from my over exuberance, I set about doing the same thing again on Wednesday. Having completed an easy thirty minutes in the morning, as set, to recover from my track session, I decided to do 60 minutes rather than the set 50 in the evening. Not that much difference, but I also decided to push on the pace, so it became more of a long tempo run rather than a steady turn over of the legs.

The next day I was tired. My legs were heavy and it took a lot of will power just to get out of bed. I had no “get up and go”, and the set 20-minute tempo that was waiting for me filled me with dread. It wasn't going to be pretty! I felt like I was running slower during just twenty minuets of tempo running than I did in my hours run. Every hill I came to felt like Mount Everest. I got it done, then spent the entire steady evening run with my club at the back, not saying much, dreaming of my bed and Friday’s rest day.

Friday came and went, but when it came to Saturday’s session, I felt no better. I was tired, my legs were stiff and heavy, and I was beginning to feel the early stages of a sore throat coming on. Needless to say I struggled. It was a simple session of three times ten minutes, a basic session set by my coach because he was unable to be at the training session. It was a shame he wasn't there. I'm sure he would have seen that I was working hard and getting nothing back, that my body was struggling and that I was tired and needed to ease back. I'm sure he would have told me to take Sunday off and to ease back for a couple of days. Instead I rose early for the pre planned 90-minute morning run. I felt dreadful the whole way. I don't know why when I woke up feeling worse than when I shut my eyes I didn't pull out. My legs hadn't recovered and my throat had become worse, I had a headache and my sinuses were beginning to block. I guess my eagerness to improve got the better of me. I wanted it all, and didn't take note of the clear signs my body was giving me, a clear case of the craziness of the long distance runner!

So I spent the next four days in bed, feeling sorry for myself. Itching to get back into my running shoes, but more than aware that I had to give my body time to recover. I made mental notes not to deviate form my coach’s plan - he's set it for a reason so why change it. I also needed to stop blinkering myself from the signs that my body is breaking down. Maybe I see them as a sign of weakness, that I need to work through it, but there's a difference to pushing a tired body and an exhausted body. After all by pushing to much in the hope of the gains it would give me over my rivals in races, I lost four days of training, rather than just the one it may have taken for me to regain my strength.
Thankfully I took note before it became anything more than a cold, and I was back in light training before the week was through. Lesson learned me thinks!