Week 3 of marathon training has been completed and FINALLY the first week that I feel relatively good about – despite almost getting the norovirus, still being in pain, still struggling a lot and still running relatively slow.
The week kicked off with a pretty shit run. I decided to “just do it” and the first mile went great, until my left leg started hurting again (calf and shin) and I was forced to literally wobble the last mile.
Quite demoralised and frustrated by the situation, I decided to go for a run with Cata the next day, and thanks to her commitment, great attitude and consistent pace I managed to run my first 3 miles since August 2013 without stopping! It hurt, and despite going rather slowly, I felt like giving up after 1½ mile. But her presence really gave me a boost and whenever I wanted to quit I told myself to just suck it up and run, and it worked!
My third run of the week went a bit better, mainly because the previous day had given me a bit of a confidence boost. It was the first 5K run since the Malmö Half Marathon that I managed to run below a 10min/mile on average WITHOUT STOPPING and despite my left leg hurting, I felt super happy with my efforts.
For my Sunday long run I joined Cata again as I wasn’t confident enough in myself to run my 5 miles without giving up or stopping. She had 6 miles planned, so I figured I would give it a go and if I couldn’t do it I would just stop at 5.
It was a sunny day and by mile 2 I was so warm my contact lens almost fell out of my eye. I wanted to give up every other minute – my left calf and shin was hurting, I felt like I was gonna have a serious case of “runners stomach”, the salt was stinging my face… But seeing Cata powering through helped motivate me and I kept thinking “mind over miles, mind over miles”.
I almost stopped at 5 miles, but figured that what the hell, 1 more mile surely wont kill me, Ive done it so many times before! So I continued running, counting every second until I could stop – and when I finally did stop I felt so happy and proud! 6 miles without stopping!
Made me think of how I always perform better when it’s not just me that is depending on it. Like, I didn’t want to stop because it would mess with Cata’s run and I didn’t want to do that. Just like I didn’t want to let my group down when I did Team Bangs On The Run – it helped push me and motivate me.
So this is what I need to concur this week:
MARATHON TRAINING WEEK 4
MON: REST – Done
TUE: Strength training & 3 miles – Done, did 4.3 miles
WED: 4 miles – Done, did 3 miles
THU: Strength training & 3 miles – Done without strength training
FRI: REST – Done
SAT: Cross training – Went swimming
SUN: 9 miles – Done