Lessons in Love

Well smack me sideways and call me Judy - I have finally found a small window of time to update my little blog!

Sorry to have been so absent but juggling marathon training with work has left precious little time for anything else. But here we are in the days leading up to the Reading Half Marathon, aka Taper Week, aka A Week to Get Shiz Done.

Training has been going pretty well for me and Him Indoors. Even though his sleep patterns are still all over the place we've managed to stick pretty closely to our training plan. We had a proper belter of a long run a few Sundays back, a good 17 miler at a steady pace which took in St. James's Park, Green Park, Hyde Park and Regents Park. Tempo sessions have been going well and have become something I actually look forward to. He even did a ten mile run and came back with the words I never thought I'd hear: I quite enjoyed that.

A couple of Thursdays ago I had a really good fartlek (snigger) session. During the faster bits of running I felt strong and really confident that I'd made progress over the course of my training plan but when I hit my cool-down I noticed an odd sensation in my right leg, like someone really big had kicked me really hard wearing boots made of rocks. Friday was a scheduled rest day but this pain wouldn't go away.

Undaunted, on Saturday I treated to blokey to his first ever hill session. Eight lots of up-and-over Primrose Hill with a 30 second recovery in between.

Imagine it but more in focus and with a LOT more weather

Now the weather was not kind - it rained, it was freezing, it hailed and the wind was so strong that it almost took my legs out a couple of times - but he dropped me like a hot potato. If I didn't think so much of him I'm sure I'd have become sick of the site of the back of his head as he galloped, seemingly effortlessly, uphill.  After the session he landed another bomb on me: I think we should do more of those sessions.

Say whaaaaat?

Our long run the day after was not quite so joyous. I think I'd be generous to say that he had slept for around an hour on Saturday night but was still determined to bosh the three hour run on the plan. We set out at a pretty conservative pace and things were not going too badly. In fact we had a lovely surprise when we hit Green Park as we ran past the Run with Haile group, organised by Adidas. It was brilliant to see the man himself and a whole bunch of run-bloggers that I admire. We decided to pip in front of the group so as not to seem as though we were hitching a ride on someone else's star but every time we turned to look back there was a tide of blue t-shirted runners coming up behind us!

After about 1hr 45 blokey was showing signs that he was struggling but kept it to himself and managed to keep going. At just gone 2hrs 15 he had a small walk break but managed to carry on a bit further but I was a bit worried for him and myself. He couldn't breathe and every time we stopped it felt as though my leg was going to explode. We carried on with walk / run the rest of the way home and he was just in pieces, physically and mentally, in no way convinced that he will make the 26.2 miles we've committed to and it was hard work to try and help him understand that he'd still achieved so much that day. It was the longest and furthest he'd ever run and to do that when you're so barrel scrapingly tired is not a feat to be sniffed at. We all have bad days at the office and the best thing you can do after a bad run is just forget about it. Beating yourself up about is not going to change anything but it might just set you in the wrong frame of mind next time you're lacing up. Let go. Move on.

My leg pain forced me to take a week's enforced rest before I owned up to the fact that I might need some help. A very nice man at HFS physio gave me a thorough checking over and eased my fears that I'd have to drop out of my upcoming races, explaining that I'd tightened a muscle with my high mileage and that it was in a place that stretching just would reach. Cue some deep tissue massage and me trying my very best to man right up and not whimper too loud and Robert's your mother's brother* - woo hoo!

So why did I call this piece Lessons in Love? Yes, I may have seen the Level 42 video twice in the past week, but it's more than that. I certainly did not go into marathon training thinking that it would be a doddle. I love running and I don't regret a single moment of the journey so far but there have been down sides to the process:

• I am tired a LOT of the time which makes me cry at dog food adverts on TV. After some sessions I can barely string more than two words together.
• People keep telling me that I look tired. Even strangers.
• I can't commit to any social engagements and am turning down friends left right and centre and because no-one knows that we're training this must be coming across as just plain rude.
• People also tell me I've lost weight in a healthy looking way (which is good) but the downside is that I'm losing my boobs.
• Hurting my leg and the pain required to get it fixed.
• Etc etc

And that's the thing about marathon training. You've got to accept that for three or four months, this is your life and there are some tough balances to strike. As well as lots of positive things (and there are many) there is some pain and uncertainty but you have got to push through and you've got to REALLY want it.  I'm not sure why this has come as a surprise to me as I'm not new to running. It's been a hard lesson to accept to a certain extent but there it is.

I'll be running Reading Half Marathon this Sunday as prep for Brighton and I hope my legs and asthma both hold up to see me through to a sub 1:50 PB time. In the meantime, I'll leave you with this:

*Or Bob's your uncle.