Recovery and goal setting…….

It’s been 6 weeks since the Barcelona Marathon, the scene of a near- perfect race resulting in 50 minutes being taken off my marathon PB- it’s also 1 week away from the Newport Marathon, my ‘A’ race for 2018, the one that Barcelona was supposed to be a warm up for……

The last 6 weeks have been up and down; post Barcelona I was tired- every session felt like an effort. 2 weeks later I ran in the Cardiff Bay 10km, and managed a new 10km PB of 57 minutes with legs that felt like lead. The next weekend I followed it up with a new 5km PB at Parkrun. The weekend after that I did the Vale 18.5 mile trail run- it was cold and wet and the terrain was horrific; think mud, swamp, and puddles the size of lakes. I hated every second of this run- which in hindsight should have been the first hint that something wrong- I was cold, tired and the terrain didn’t really allow for a huge amount of actual running, so I got bored and frustrated.

By the following Thursday I was at the doctors getting antibiotics for a kidney infection- not the ideal scenario 2 weeks before a marathon. I spent the better part of 4 days in bed, and had a week off running completely. I’m now (I think) fully recovered; I went out this morning and did 8 miles slightly quicker than my marathon pace and felt really good, comfortable and full of energy. I ran without a set time or distance in mind, just ran for the enjoyment of it and loved every minute.

So, fingers crossed, all is back on course. I’m no longer having conversations with myself about whether I should run or not- if anything, the rest seems to have done my poor tired body some good. However, it’s left my mind in a bit of a mess. Should I still push for a time in Newport? There is a big part of me that still wants sub 5 hours, and it feels achievable- I worry that if I don’t give it my all it will be a wasted opportunity that I’ll always regret. However, I’m scared that I might go off too fast, realise halfway through that illness has left me less resilient, and bomb out in the second half. I think ultimately I’m just going to have to see how I feel on the day- I never run particularly well when chasing a specific time- Barcelona happened almost by accident, and I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself and not enjoy the day. As ever, my number one goal has to be to finish, and then anything after that is a bonus.

I’ve been resisting getting too excited about this one just in case the worst happened and I wasn’t able to run, but seeing everyone in London today has brought my marathon fever back; I’ve spent this afternoon packing my drop bag and pinning my number to my race vest!

I have no big plans for this week training wise- I will aim to run twice, neither will be far or fast. I will eat healthy, nutritious food (apart from a pizza the night before!) avoid alcohol, drink all the water, have a sports massage and generally try and rest up as much as possible. I will try to avoid listening to the demons in my head telling me that I’ve had a week off and so must have lost all my fitness. I will get excited about what is currently scheduled to be my last marathon of 2018, the culmination of a hard winter of training. And on Sunday I will go out running with a smile on my face….. and just see what happens…..