Marathon training has it’s ups and downs. This week, week 7 of Tarawera Miler training was a down.
A long list of downs.
With only 34 days to go, I didn’t really want to have a crappy week. I had taken it easy during the You Yangs New Years Rock around the Clock marathon, walking the hills and going slow.
I think the wheels started to fall off that night. I had two Gu gels during the run. Not unusual for me at all and during a marathon I would usually have a lot more but the caffeine kept me awake all night, throwing my week into organized, tired chaos.
I had my usual Monday rest day and got back on the very early (3:50am wake up for 5:15am run) horse. I noticed a bit of a niggle in my left inner thigh and just like that the training plan got thrown out the window.
Just get out the door I would tell myself but I was tired and fueling on the newly discovered Vegan Ben and Jerry’s peanut butter and oreo ice cream.
I work in a field that changes every day and I’m pretty much always on call which means my life is pretty much in the hands of someone else. When I put it like that it sounds like I’m complaining but I love my job and the $6 per hour they pay me to own me but it means that if I don’t do my run as soon as I wake up there is a high probability that it won’t happen at all. So the 3:50am wake up call and running around in circles so not to be too far from my car is just part of the parcel.
This is easier some days than others and being tired from the get go doesn’t help.
So with all the eating and the complaining, I managed 4x10km sessions, half the distance of the past few weeks of training. I’m trying to keep the glass half full and not let this crappy week derail all my progress.
I’m not going into my “nutrition” because lets be honest, it was mostly oreos, peanut butter and oreo/peanut butter ice cream. It started well with a “whole foods only” New Years resolution and yeah it turned to shit by the 2nd.
Tomorrow is a new day and a new week. The last of the long distance weeks before strength, speed and tamper. I’m hoping this little rest will help with next weeks big week which culminates in the Two Bays 56k trail ultra.
34 days to go folks, thanks for sticking with me.