I ran three miles last night. With no pain. Before I get the trumpets playing to celebrate my return to running…I am being very reluctant to celebrate yet.
My plans last night had been to just do an hour’s worth of strength. But my foot felt good. No pain or discomfort while walking. I looked longingly at the treadmill (now you know things are bad when that happens) and thought “ahh I’ll just try it”. So I hopped on, set it very slowly…no pain. Sped it up, no pain. Full on running, no pain.
I decide to go outside. I was dressed for the gym, not running. I had no running jacket, an easy t-shirt on, no Garmin, no music…
But I just went for it. I promised myself I’d stop if there was any pain.
No pain. In fact, it felt good. Maybe a hint of a slight discomfort from the spot on my ankle – but nothing to slow me down or really niggle me. I decided to stick with three miles. All I know is that I did it in under 25 minutes as I knew roughly what time I started. It felt pretty good to go on a ‘naked’ run. And I was so happy!
This morning I saw my physio and told him I’d ran (he told me not to run until the weekend) but he said that was great. He was glad I’d gone for it as I know my body best. He went to town on the spot of my ankle that’s causing me pain to ‘break it down’ to help build it back up. My god it is UNREAL how painful that is. But he did the same last week and it honestly felt so much better a few days later. And I’m OK to run 6-10 miles at the weekend.
HAPPY DAYS! But again, no celebration just yet. I’m quietly optimistic though.
To be honest, at this point, I’m trying hard not to think about the marathon, or marathons in general. This is quite hard considering everyone in the world is training for a spring marathon (OK I exaggerate, but a fair amount of people). And for some of them the biggest thing they’re concerned about is their running mantra. Are you serious? I wish that was my issue. I’m feeling a bit bitter and miserable (has that come across…?) So, just for fun, here’s my marathon training plan for the hopeless:
- Start your training injured.
- Bash out an 11 miler after doing your first one miler post-injury tester.
- Ramp up your mileage stupidly high – 10%? Don’t be daft: go big or go home.
- Do every session hardcore. Intervals, tempos, sprints. Easy runs? What are you, a pansy??
- Run through pain. Always. If you’re not crying, you’re not working hard enough.
- Don’t practice your nutrition for race day. Wing it, you’re a pro.
- Avoid your foam roller like it’s the devil. Tight muscles mean strong muscles.
- Have no clear pace strategy. You need to size your competition up first.
- RACE DAY: Try something new and exciting for dinner the night before and breakfast on the day. Perhaps something really rich and spicy that really sits on your stomach in a nice and heavy, bubbly way.
- Wear those brand new trainers you bought especially and haven’t worn yet. And that new cotton t-shirt that has those crazy designs around the shoulders that sort of itched when you tried it on.
- Drink lots of water all morning. So much so that your tummy feels really full and bloated. And don’t bother with the loos. Why waste your time when you could be right at the front of your corral, elbowing people out of the way.
- Make yourself known on the first mile by absolutely sprinting off into the distance. 26.2 miles isn’t that far and you really want to scare your competition.
Obviously this is a joke. Though sadly I have to say that I few of those I can tick (1, 6 & 8). Ben amazes me every day because honestly he went from broken and ruined to bashing out the long runs like a trooper. He pretty much did 2 and 3. The body works in weird and mysterious ways. I’m not bitter or resentful…promise 😉
But let’s move on, shall we? We all know how sad and panicky I am so let’s not dwell in that fun place right now.
I managed to sneak some sweet potato into a meal without Ben knowing. Can I get an applause here? This is the boy that was vehemently against that type of potato. After the meal, while he was still in a blissful sate of ignorance I told him what the secret ingredient was. Well played, Anna, well played. He even said he’d have it again.
Basically I used the same recipe as my Mexican chicken slow cooker meal (recipe HERE) but changed the beans for sweet potato chunks. I much prefer it with the potato.
Last night another hit meal, not from the slow cooker though, was gammon with a fried egg and cauliflower/broccoli mash.
OK I’d be lying if I said Ben had the mash. He had onion rings instead. I made the mash with steamed broccoli and cauliflower then added a big dollop of cream cheese and pepper. Blitzed it up using a hand blender then microwaved for about a minute.
I love gammon with egg. And it’s such an easy meal. You just grill the gammon and fry the egg. Boom.
And my lovely Indian friend at work made me ‘halwa’ to cheer me up (gosh I must be a joy to work with at the moment…).
They are made from cashew nuts and ghee. There’s sweet but not overly so – more like a nutritional bar like Nakd or Trek. She suggested Ben and me eat them slightly warmed with custard.
So that’s what we did. Heavenly!
What would be your top worst tips for marathon training?
Have you tried any non-native desserts or food lately?
Does your other half like the food you eat?