This should be a post about running every day for a month.
At one point it even looked like it might even have been a post about hitting
my first ever 100 mile month.
Instead it’s a post about having a really good couple of
weeks running which came to an abrupt end when the niggly ankle injury I had
when marathon training returned with a vengeance.
I decided on the last day of May that I was going to do a
running streak in June for a couple of reasons. Since the marathon, I’d been
really hit and miss with training and really hadn’t got a real love for running
back. It was all too easy to find reasons why I couldn’t fit runs in and
generally my motivation was low. As a result, I my pace remained much lower
than where I’d been before Christmas and before the long gruelling marathon
runs had started to take their toll.
So with the two summer half-marathons I’m looking forward to
in my head and wanting each of those to be a much better experience than the
Stratford Half a few weeks ago, I decided a streak was just what I needed to
get my head back in to it, and prove to myself that it is possible to fit a run
in each day no matter how busy I am, how much I can’t be bothered and… how much
I’ve drank the previous evening.
The first couple of days were fairly decent, a highlight was
taking part in a spot of Parkrun tourism in Leeds with my lovely Southbank
Running Club however that meant the run the following day was particularly tricky
following a 14 hour drinking session!
By a week in I was feeling good! The runs were enjoyable and
the love of running was really starting to come back. By the end of week two I felt
fantastic! I was starting to really see my paces fall which I hadn’t expected
while still doing the streak, I’d presumed it would be a bit of a ‘gets worse
before it gets better’ experience.
I kept thinking back to that first running streak I’d done
18 months before – advent running! I remember finding that really tough and I kept
wondering when that toughness would kick in this time. But as I crossed the
days off the calendar I was only loving it more this time around! I thought
about this a lot and I think it just boils down to how vastly different my
conditions were approaching it this time around:
·
It’s summer. I like the summer! I do not like
cold dark nights and mornings and having to wear a millions layers in an effort
to keep warm
·
No treadmills this time – I don’t need to expand
on this
·
Back in December 2016 every run was a solo run,
this time it was quite the opposite!!
So really, the combination of running in lots of different
places with lots of different people consistently in the sunshine makes for a
much better running streak experience. So much so that half way though the
month I realised that I was almost at 50 miles and maybe I’d even be able to
get to 100 for the month. I knew it wouldn’t be an easy task but I also knew
that I was capable and whoever took up running without being keen for a
challenge anyway!! So that was that, I was going to do my absolute best to get
to 100 miles by the end of June.
I was so motivated and keen to hit my target that on Monday
19th June I decided to postpone my normal lunchtime run around
Colwick Park in favour of going in the evening so I’d have time to get more of
those all-important miles in. I had noticed that my foot had been aching a
little bit it felt like the kind of ache that would easily run off if I took it
steady. How wrong I was!
Heading down the familiar paths of Colwick Park, looking out
over the lake shimmering in the sunshine and trying everything to take my mind
off it but it wasn’t working and it was quickly becoming a case of run a few
meters walk a bit until I got to just over a mile in and realised it a futile. It
was time to turn off the Garmin (just realised I’ve not even mentioned my
lovely new Vivoactive!) and hobble back to the car.
I was definitely crying a bit as I hobbled my way back,
phone in hand whatsapping the running club group to share my woes. I’m not sure
whether I was crying more out of frustration and worry that my streak was over
or more because it really bloody hurt.
Hoping that an evening of the whole RICE thing would sort it
I tried to stay positive as I settled on the sofa to enjoy the first England
match of the World Cup campaign.
Skip forward a few weeks and I fully expected that hopes of
England winning the World Cup would be long gone along with any worries of a
dodgy ankle. However despite my delight at the unfortunately we’re well into
July now and the ankle still isn’t right. It’s not as bad as it was an I did
manage my first run in two and a half weeks but I’m still limping.
It will get better – a trip to the doctors after a week in
pain confirmed that it was just a bit of tissue damage. But it’s a matter of
being patient and building back up slowly – not something runners are known for
being good at!
My next big race is 6 weeks away now, the Dublin Rock &
Roll Half Marathon. I’m really looking forward to it but definitely won’t be
worrying about speeding my way around. It should be a fantastic atmosphere and
I’m really looking forward to the weekend away with Des so I’ll just go along
and enjoy it. 