Post 25 - Tough rest

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My plan for this week was to have a nice, easy recovery week, so that the following week I would be fresh, well-rested, with good legs, ready to launch into the final stretch, the last few weeks of tough training before Ironman race day. The plan for this week was to do some easy training, lots of stretching, foam rolling, have an ice bath and wear my compressions socks as much as possible.

In the middle of the week, on Thursday evening, the Crisis charity running relays were being held on a 2-mile course by the Thames. Crisis are a charity who look after homeless people, providing them with a safe place to stay, food, medical care, washing facilities and so on. Crucially, they also provide education and training for the homeless, to help them find meaningful employment and ultimately help them to get off the streets for good. London is quite an inhospitable place at the best of times, and I can’t imagine being homeless here. I’m a big fan of Crisis and the work they do.

Corporately, I have helped to develop really worthwhile links between Crisis and the company I work for. I’ve organised quite a few events/fundraisers/donations of old computers, and last year we took part in the Crisis charity relays, raising money for them. From an Ironman training point of view, running hard for 2 miles is fairly pointless and risky. I don’t train to be able to run at 5 minutes per mile for 10 minutes, I train to run at 7 minutes per mile for 3 hours. There’s a big difference between the two. The problem is, I’m still more than fit enough to run at a fast pace for a short distance, but my legs lack the conditioning to do this.

Years ago, I could have blasted out 2 miles and my legs would feel completely fine. However, if I blast out a few hard and fast miles now, my leg muscles will get really sore and it’ll take days for the pain and tightness to subside. Last year at the Crisis relays, we had quite a few company and client teams participating, and I ran hard and I paid for it. It’s a busy course, with lots of pedestrians to dodge and sharp corners to negotiate. Last year at the relays I tweaked my knee and had to take 4 weeks off running in the lead-up to Ironman UK 2014. I was only able to start running again a few weeks before race day, so I told myself that at the relays this time around, I absolutely would not run hard. I would just jog around, and treat it as an easy run day. Plus, it was only a few days after the Icknield 100 mile time trial and I didn’t need to be running hard.

On Monday and Tuesday of this week, I was very fatigued. I didn’t have painful legs, it was just a deep tiredness that would need a few good, long nights of sleep. So earlier this week it was a case of getting home from work, eating, doing some stretching/foam rolling/hot and cold shower treatments, and getting to bed as soon as possible. I did a short spin on the turbo on Wednesday evening followed by a short run, and then Thursday night was relay night.

From a corporate point of view, it went really well. We got all our teams down, no-one got lost, everyone completed the run, the sun was out, conditions were good, and we did some reasonable fundraising for a worthy cause. We had seven company/client teams participating, with each person on each team of 4 completing a lap of about 2 miles by the Thames.  

The "Stunner Runners"...

 

From a personal point of view, it was a bit of a different story. I started off as the first runner on one of our company teams, thinking that I would get the run out of the way and then jog around the course to support the rest of the runners and thank the marshals. I did a short warm-up, then lined up at the front, thinking that even a slow run for me would probably still be faster than a lot of others who were also toeing the start line. The old start line feeling built, the run started, and I went with the leaders. I didn’t run flat out, but I was running harder than I should have been. I knew it was only a ten-minute run, and I thought I would hang with the leaders and see what happened. One by one they dropped off and I was left leading the run after about 5 minutes of running. So I carried on at my hard-enough-but-not-flat-out pace.

 

Don't run hard, he said

 

Coming into the final stretch on the south bank of the Thames was like the dodgems, or some sort of pedestrian gauntlet. There were so many pedestrians to avoid. I was very conscious that I didn’t want to twist my knee or my ankle, and I tried to pick my way through them as best I could, occasionally giving a shout, but it’s not an easy thing when running at 5 minute mile pace or faster. I skimmed a couple of people, and then with about 2 minutes left to run, my right quad smacked into someone’s hand. It hurt a little. Anyway, I finished off, grabbed a bottle of water and went for a warm-down, thinking I would jog out any stiffness or tightness in my legs, while giving a cheer to the other runners and doing some stretching.

What I really wanted was to have a banana and a protein shake, but I had only planned to run easy and hadn’t planned to need any post-run nutrition. I got to the far side of the course and was stretching with my bottle of water sat on the wall beside me. Participants were streaming past. A big, sweaty guy came lumbering up and before I even had a chance to say anything he had gasped “Do you mind…” and grabbed my bottle and helped himself to a big swig. I watched in disbelief. No more water for me – I couldn’t risk drinking out of that bottle after he had slobbered all over it.

I didn’t want to just leave the bottle, so I carried it with me as I jogged on, thinking I’d drop it in the next bin I came to. Aaaaaand, stupidly, without thinking, after a few minutes I had opened the bottle and taken a drink. A second or two later, when I realised what I was doing, I had spat it straight into the Thames in disgust. What a way to put myself at risk of getting sick. I jogged back to the start/finish area, got myself another bottle of water and gave my mouth a good rinse out. At this point, my leg muscles didn’t feel too bad and I thought I might have gotten away with the unnecessarily hard run. However, I was worried/annoyed/angry about the water incident, and also about the blow I’d taken to my quad.

Anyway, the event finished and I got home, and went straight to the freezer for the big bag of frozen peas that I keep there for emergencies like this. I got the peas straight onto my quad and gave it the ice treatment. I got some good nutrition down me, including a dose of vitamin C, echinacea and a few oranges to try to help my immune system. Then I went to bed.

I woke up the next day and my legs felt a bit worse. I winced every time I coughed, fearing a cold or a cough. I was a bit peeved with myself. I shouldn’t have ran so hard. Idiocy. So I stretched, foam rolled, took on more vitamin C, ate oranges and iced my quad. The next day my legs were no better. So it was more foam rolling, stretching, and I “treated” myself to an ice bath. It was so cold that it hurt, but I thought it would help. The next day, today, my legs did feel a bit more normal, I don’t have sore knees, and I still haven’t developed a cough, cold or lurgy. However, I haven’t really exerted myself and pushed my legs hard.

Bags of pain

 

Next week sees the start of another tough 2-week training block that will start with a day off on Monday to cook food for the week, so I will have one more day of rest and I hope this will be enough to get my legs back to normal. I hope I don’t get sick after the bottle incident, I hope there is no damage to my quad, and I hope that I will be able to train as I want. Fingers crossed. And while Ironman training, I will never run a short hard event ever again. Ever.

Training this week was as follows:

Monday 2^nd June: Rest
Tuesday 3^rd June: Rest
Wed 4^th June: 1 hour turbo, 20 minute run
Thurs 5^th June: 30 minute run (10 minutes hard: Crisis relays)
Friday 6^th June: Swim 3.3km
Saturday 7^th June: 1 hour turbo, 20 minute run
Sunday 8^th June: Swim 3.3km (single arm drills), 1:05 turbo (single leg drills, 4 minute intervals)

Totals: Swim 6.6km, Bike 60 miles, Run 11 miles