Last week did not go to plan. I spent the first part of the week hugging the toilet and laying on the sofa. Running, or any sort of exercise for that matter, was not in the picture.
It’s ridiculous but I felt guilty for missing my runs; I hated not being able to get my Miles in but I knew I was in no fit state to leave the house, let alone go on an hour long run. I listened to my body, relaxed, tried to sleep as much as possible and by Thursday I was feeling better.
I went for a little run Thursday evening with a girlfriend to stretch my legs – 3 miles in around 40 minutes. I wouldn’t call it a training run as such, it was more of a catch up / recovery / slow jog but it felt amazing to be out and back on my feet.
Friday evening I was feeling even better, almost back to normal, so I decided to go on another run. When I run in the evenings, I tend to stick to the same core route but I add loops / streets depending on my target mileage. I make sure I always run where there are street lights and houses / cars nearby – I’m slowly starting to learn how many miles each addition is so I know where I need to go in order to get my miles in!
When I went out on Friday, I didn’t have a target in mind – I decided to listen to my body and run until I was tired. I ended up running 5.11 miles in 52:26 minutes with an average pace of 10:15 minutes. The run felt comfortable and my legs felt ok considering (although my feet were killing, they seem to be covered in blisters at the moment)!
I wanted to go for a long run on Saturday but when I woke up I felt tired and my legs felt heavy. I decided to still give the run a go in the hope that I would feel better once I started. I still felt a little sick but I know I need to eat before I run so I had a small energy bar in the hope it might help! By mile 1 I knew it wasn’t going to be a long run – I had a headache, I felt sick and it was a lot of effort just to move my feet. I quickly changed my route and halved my miles – I went from an 8 mile route to around a 4 mile route.
The only thing that made my run enjoyable were the views. I don’t like morning runs, I find them extremely difficult but I love being able to see what’s around me. It also means I can deviate from my usual route as I don’t need to worry about street lights.
I ended up doing 5.2 miles in 53:26 miles with an average pace of 10:16 minutes. My fastest mile was 10:07 minutes and unsurprisingly, this was the first mile of the run. Considering how difficult my run felt, I was quite happy with the pace.
Looking back, I don’t think running 3 times in 3 consecutive days was the best idea. Although I wanted to get my miles in, it meant my runs were compromised and instead of feeling good afterwards, my legs were extremely painful and I felt exhausted.
Going forward, I need to make sure my runs are planned so I have Rest days in-between. I know I can run 2 days consecutively but I will need to have a planned rest day after to let them recover. If I find a week where I need to run 3 runs in 3 days, I’ll change my plan slightly. I’ll miss out the middle run but add the mileage into the other 2 runs – that way I’ll still be doing the distance but I’ll be letting my legs rest in-between
Running is all about trial and error and finding what works for you. Just because someone may be able to run every single morning doesn’t mean that would work for you. If you need a rest day after every run, then take a rest day after every run!
Do you struggle with consecutive runs?
L x
