Sunday 30 January 2022

Plodding along

30 days 185.9 out of 600 miles 

It's 30 days into the Centurion Running virtual slam now. I'm still on target but it's been hard going. Work is very tiring at the moment, partly because of the fear of getting Covid, but there's a lot of other things going on which leave me feeling wiped out most days. It's busy being the teens' taxi driver too- they are both involved in their school's show so I've been driving them to and from rehearsals on top of the usual after school stuff.

A lot of my running has been squeezing in 4 miles here and there either in between the early morning chores before work, or after work before driving to get the teens from school. It's kept the miles ticking over but it's not really how I want to be running. It's begun to feel like a chore and in order to keep on target I've had to drop my strength work and CrossFit to a minimum. This is not something my body is best pleased with. However, the initial deep fatigue I felt with running more often has subsided and my 'easy' pace is now quicker, so there have been some fitness gains.

The lower leg issues continue to grumble. I haven't been able to unpick what's going on- there's some swelling, reduced range of motion plus some nerve impingement but it seems to be more or less manageable at the moment. I'd rather not have anything to manage and I don't know if this problem will ever properly go away, but all I can do is focus on running with good form, doing what I can to keep a decent ROM in my ankle and remember to do self-massage on my lower leg.

I will keep up with the mileage target for as long as it's compatible with staying healthy, but so far running regularly hasn't rekindled my love for it and I wonder if I ever will truly find joy in it again. 




Monday 3 January 2022

Hitting the ground running



The Centurion Running One Slam has begun. I signed up for the 600 miles option back in October when I had a moment of feeling optimistic about running. By December I was regretting it but I've decided to give it a go and see how far I get. So far I've run 23 miles- more than I've run in a weekend for months! Although today is a bank holiday, I'm taking it as a complete rest day as I mustn't get over-enthusiastic and break myself doing too much too soon. 

I've been running to heart rate for the last week and I think it's already paying off. Twenty three miles in a weekend wouldn't have been manageable without pain and fatigue, I think, if I'd run faster, and both days there were moments when the running flowed and my body felt free. When it feels good like that it's so tempting to push on and do more, but I've learned that lesson the hard way. 

How easy it's going to be to fit in enough miles once term starts I don't know. I'm genuinely scared about being in an environment where very little will or can be done to keep everyone safe and healthy- and four evenings a week I'll be on taxi duty for the teens. I guess it'll have to be squeezing in 2 or 3 miles here and there in between everything else. If I'm lucky I get 20 minutes for lunch so a middle of the day run isn't an option. Let's not think about how tricky it'll get if the weather turns cold enough for heavy frosts or snow!

Anyway, today I will do my best to rest. There's chores to get done before being back at work but I will endeavour not to attempt too much. And we had our first Odd Box overnight so I need to do a bit of searching of recipes and creative cooking in order the make the most of the contents. It did make me eat a tangerine- there were quite a few in the selection and they're not so easy to put in recipes- so that's good. Getting better at eating a wider variety of fruit and veg is going to be an important part of completing through the Slam and staying healthy at work!