Monday 6th June
Met Cam and Marian for a gentle walkl around Preston Park at 6:00pm. The legs were bad, particularly the quads. We only did 3 very slow laps (approx 3.5 miles). No stop watches to record the time but as a guessimate I would say 13 minute miles. I finished feeling ravenous and had to rush home for a second dinner!!
Tuesday 7th June
Met up with Joan at 9:30am for another gentle walk along the Downs Link footpath in Shoreham. It was abit faster than yesterday, maybe 11:30 minute miles. We probably covered 3.75 miles in approximately 40 minutes. Not much again but my legs are still suffering. Tomorrow I have a sports massage booked.
Wednesday 8th June
The massage was painful. The quads and IT bands were not too bad. It was the calves and tendons around the ankles that caused the most pain. Did they hurt? Yes terribly!! Apparently the ankle tendons that run up my legs are inflamed and being restricted by the horizontal band just above the ankle joint that is holding them in place. It is not painful when I train but very painful to touch. I was told to try and rub these everyday with moisturiser.
Thursday 9th June
No interval session today. Again I am concerntrating on recovery. Instead of a complete rest I opted for 4km slow on the treadmill. For the last 1.5km I used my hand weights to do bicep curls, tricep flies and shoulder presses. Legs sore from the massage but the tiredness is easing.
Saturday 11th June
After a week of recovery I was returning to proper training again today. I had agreed to meet up with walking friends Trevor, Joan and Anne for a double Parkrun session. I had already given alot of thought to the time that I was expecting for the second 5km and had decided that I would be happy with 26:30 today. Thats half a minute slower than the PB which I set 3 weeks ago (25:59), but due to the relay and 20km tiredness, a slower one was to be expected.
We did the first 5km in 31:30 (1:30 slower than usual). Oh dear, I thought this was a bad sign and I was now thinking I would be lucky to break 27 mins for the next one. After a 10 minute recovery we were off again, this time in the proper race with over 300 runners. The first small lap was 6:49, the second lap was completed in 16:20. We were the same pace as when I set my PB. On the long uphill on the final lap I started to struggle and slow badly. Trevor walked away from me with ease and I tried hard to keep it together. I finished in 26:04, which was only 5 seconds outside my best but I'm sure that had I wanted to push harder I could have equalled my PB. I chose to be sensible and not push to the maximum as it would probably put my recovery back a few days.
So a very promising performance on tired legs. Now I am going to rest tomorrow (not run) and just do a steady walk with the girls on Monday, before going to Broadbridge Heath on Tuesday for a 3km walking track race. That should give me more recovery for Dublin by keeping the miles down but doing the odd fast session to keep my fitness/speed levels up.
Well finally, eleven days in to June I have caught up with my training diary!!
Julie
