(Post written on 31 January)I have no idea what happened to January in terms of training. Today is not a training day, so for me January is done and I'm looking at my month's training.
January has involved a total of 219 miles with 6,149 feet of elevation climbed. It isn't all about distance but I'm satisfied that there's been some quality training amongst that, particularly over the latter three weeks. I've done one legs weight session every week plus a body weight and resistance band session most weeks. Core training once or twice a week, one harder session and one little top up.
Next month I don't necessarily need to run farther, but I do need more elevation and more strength work. I'm hoping to hit around 2,000 feet a week for the next four weeks. That's nothing compared to what some do, but I know it'll be hard for me. In terms of strength training I feel like I'm operating at a bare injury prevention minimum and would like to do more, but it has a huge impact on my running for days afterwards.
I'm not really sure how to deal with that one.
The big down side this month is that I haven't raced at all and in fact I haven't even done a hard parkrun - the one I was meant to do was cancelled due to ice. Really I should be doing at least one race a month. Next month I have two races, a 10 mile and a half marathon, and I've promised a hard parkrun on the alternate Saturdays. Both races are off road, both are undulating, and both will put me well out my racing comfort zone in a way but the nature of the races means the pressure in terms of trying to get near to PB times is off. They aren't PB courses, I just need to go and race as well as I can. I'm really excited to see what I can do while also a little daunted by the idea of trying to feel ready for racing in a month where my training is also going to be taking a lot out of me. Generally I would tend to have a light training week when I have a race at the end, but this isn't feasible when I'm building towards a target race further down the line. I will just have to race with tired legs.
Cummulative fatigue has started to be a thing. This will get worse and I will need to get used to it and adjust training if necessary. On the flip side I have absolutely no injury niggles. The closest thing I've come to running related injury so far is a bit of chafing from wearing a jacket with only a sports bra underneath and slightly bruised feet. The bruising has been solved by doing more runs off road and wearing more cushioned shoes for a lot of my steadier running.
In terms of my lifestyle I have made some significant improvements. I'm not drinking at all on the days before I run, which means five days a week with no alcohol, and on the days I do drink I'm limiting it to a glass or two of wine (please see photo for evidence of said wine consumption). My diet has also significantly improved and in general I'm feeling a lot better for that. I wouldn't say it was perfect, there's been the odd evening of excessive pigging out on utter crap, but overall I'm doing much better. This being said with a Sunday evening glass of wine in my hand of course, but it's only the second day of the week that's involved wine, so definitely much better than I was doing a month or two back!
So bums up everyone, here's to January done, not a great month but a solid month of good training, and February to come where I hope to turn it up a notch.
The big down side this month is that I haven't raced at all and in fact I haven't even done a hard parkrun - the one I was meant to do was cancelled due to ice. Really I should be doing at least one race a month. Next month I have two races, a 10 mile and a half marathon, and I've promised a hard parkrun on the alternate Saturdays. Both races are off road, both are undulating, and both will put me well out my racing comfort zone in a way but the nature of the races means the pressure in terms of trying to get near to PB times is off. They aren't PB courses, I just need to go and race as well as I can. I'm really excited to see what I can do while also a little daunted by the idea of trying to feel ready for racing in a month where my training is also going to be taking a lot out of me. Generally I would tend to have a light training week when I have a race at the end, but this isn't feasible when I'm building towards a target race further down the line. I will just have to race with tired legs.
Cummulative fatigue has started to be a thing. This will get worse and I will need to get used to it and adjust training if necessary. On the flip side I have absolutely no injury niggles. The closest thing I've come to running related injury so far is a bit of chafing from wearing a jacket with only a sports bra underneath and slightly bruised feet. The bruising has been solved by doing more runs off road and wearing more cushioned shoes for a lot of my steadier running.
In terms of my lifestyle I have made some significant improvements. I'm not drinking at all on the days before I run, which means five days a week with no alcohol, and on the days I do drink I'm limiting it to a glass or two of wine (please see photo for evidence of said wine consumption). My diet has also significantly improved and in general I'm feeling a lot better for that. I wouldn't say it was perfect, there's been the odd evening of excessive pigging out on utter crap, but overall I'm doing much better. This being said with a Sunday evening glass of wine in my hand of course, but it's only the second day of the week that's involved wine, so definitely much better than I was doing a month or two back!
So bums up everyone, here's to January done, not a great month but a solid month of good training, and February to come where I hope to turn it up a notch.
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