Workout And Recovery

"How you recover from a workout tells you more about your fitness than the actual workout itself"

I am putting the above wisdom to the test right now. Thursday's workout hadn't exactly gone to plan with me running slower than expected and still ending up totally knackered. However, I felt surprisingly good on Friday and Saturday, so recovery was certainly going well. Well enough to dare another workout on Sunday, again a slightly cut-down version of the workout that had been in the original plan. I did 18 miles with the last 2 at marathon pace, and since I ran around the lake it was a very hilly workout as well. I felt pretty good and wasn't exactly hanging around when climbing up those big hills but from 11 or 12 miles onward I was suddenly heading into an unexpectedly strong headwind which seemed to suck the strength out of my legs and I very much doubted I'd be up for 2 fast miles at all. However, when I got to mile 16 I gave it a go anyway, waiting to see how long I would last. Well, turns out I lasted until the end but truth to be told this was probably more than marathon effort.

I marked contrast to Thursday's workout I felt pretty good for the rest of the day but suffered from sore legs on Monday, so almost the reverse reaction. I'll see how it goes tomorrow before I decide if I will do another midweek workout.

Now that the base phase is finished, I have changed training. As long as things are going to plan I will run 2 workouts per week, a long run on Sunday and a midweek one either Wednesday or Thursday, depending how recovery goes. All other days are short and easy and all about recovery. The mileage will be lower as well, in case that's not obvious already.

Having a treadmill turned out to be helpful when I was finding myself a single parent for a day, looking after a sick child on Saturday. There was no way I could have gone out leaving her alone for an hour, but I managed an hour on the treadmill while she was asleep. Thankfully she gradually started feeling better as the day went on.

My high HR continues to be a concern. I suspect I have the same bug in my system that Maia is still suffering from but I seem to be able to hold it off without any actual symptoms. Apart from the elevated running HR I do not notice anything being amiss.

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Last week I posted something on facebook, more thinking out loud typing away than asking a real question. Spartathlon is in September, the European 24 hrs championship in October, which caught me by surprise as I had not expected there to be a championship this year at all. My gut reaction was to run the Spartathlon but the response was 2 for Sparta, 2 for doing both and 18 for the Euro, which was enough to sway my mind (or maybe I was changing my mind anyway). After a few more days of contemplation I fired off an email to the national team manager and confirmed my availability, and he straight away confirmed that my selection was secure as long as I was fit and healthy. So that's that. A return to Sparta will have to wait for a year.

13 Feb

8 miles, 1:04:07, 8:01 pace, HR 144, treadmill

14 Feb

18 miles, 2:16:29, 7:35 pace, HR 154

   last 2 miles @ 6:53 pace

15 Feb

6 miles, 49:31, 8:15 pace, HR 140