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When your body is telling you to rest…

23 Mar

It happens to us all…we work hard, train hard, and push and push – until our body finally kicks back and says STOP. That’s been me for the last 5 days – sick with flu and absolutely no training- it sucks!

I have a fairly demanding job, life and top that with trying to train hard I knew when having a few days away from work that I would cop it. I woke up on the first day and felt under the weather and went downhill from there.

Normally with running if it is in my head and not below my neck I will train, but this went straight on my chest so I stopped. You know when you get that rattle in your chest when breathing? Yep that’s been me. I have been a bit fed up but it has also been good to stop.

Still not feeling great so just waiting until my body allows me to train again, and in the mean time I have been reading and working out my next phase on training and getting my eating back on track after having a few days of not eating LCHF all the time. 

There are heaps of articles about running and sickness. A few things I have learned over the years based on my experience are:

1. If it doesn’t feel 100% right and not like a normal cold then go to the doctor and don’t train until you know things are ok and you feel better.*

2. If it is any sort of sickness that travels to your chest slow right down or stop training.

3. Enjoy the rest. It is clearly your body saying you need it.

4. Don’t stress it and panic you’ll suddenly gain a gazillion kg just because you haven’t trained for a gew days. Seriously if you rely on training that much to maintain your weight you have issues. Diet is the most important and training is secondary. 

5. Use the time to plan your goals, think about how things are going and be productive if you really can’t have a few days not concentrating on training. 

6. Feed that cold with food and water. Stay warm and hydrated. I am a shocker at drinking water but have guzzled lots the last few days.

7. Stay well. Feeling better and recovering from a cold/flu/virus is more important than going back to training sooner. Especially if you have a race coming up or when you are sick. If you do have a race and wake up feeling unwell take it easy and don’t push it (or if feeling really bad – dont run it!!) hard as it could end up far worse than just a few days off training. 

*I’m not a doctor and I always write based on my experience, so ALWAYS seek professional advice and do not take my posts as any form of that..if unwell please see a doctor.

Anyway next time I post I am hoping to be back running and feeling better! 

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Struggling to get back into running….

1 Dec

Last week wasn’t the best week. 

In fact since I got back from my trip overseas 5 weeks ago things haven’t exactly gone according to plan! The plan was to get back, get the 1kg off that I gained, get back into running and really push the training. Three things happened:

  1. I got sick
  2. It was hot
  3. My feet deteriorated

I got sick

Ever since I got back from my UK trip I haven’t been feeling the best, and then I got sick. I figured after a week I would improve but I didnt. My husband has been the same – thankfully bub hasn’t been sick. I went along to my doctor and she said – “there is unfortunately no cure for the common cold – just ride it out!” so I sucked it up and have done but it has lingered and I am kind of over it – not even being able to sing in the shower these days as my throat is still mucussy!

It was hot 

Running in the heat

I have been trying to escape the heat by running under trees and around the lake where I live

So when I got back from it being 11 degrees in the UK it was late 30s here and I wanted to cry. I did a number of ParkRuns which were a disaster mainly due to the heat and the climate just being hotter and of course coming back from not being very well.

The heat has always been a killer for me. Living in the UK for 33 years means I love running in the cold and I did love it when running back home on my holiday. But Queensland and I always battle when it comes to heat and humidity. I have therefore resigned myself to the fact that I will never be a quick runner in summer here!

My feet deteriorated

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My poor feet had a going over but they are getting better now 🙂

When I completed the Gold Coast Marathon back in July this year I had pain in my feet when I finished. I took my trainers off and low and behold there were two giant blisters underneath the tow nail – not the skin on the foot but the nail – ugh! It was unbelievably painful and I have been battling it ever since.

I didn’t want to go to my Podiatrist as I really didn’t want someone messing with my feet (I have ticklish feet!) – even when I had to strap them up before the Marathon it was tricky. But basically the toe situation escalated and went a bit yukky to the point the pain was unbearable and even having a sheet draped on my feet was agony.

So I called Doug my Podiatrist at InTraining last week, and went in to get fixed. It ended up with 4 injections in my toes but a whole lot of relief! The main pain was the injections going in but since then no pain – yay! I have some antibiotics to work through and then hopefully I am all good!

There is a Happy Ending I Promise! 

So I didn’t train over the weekend and ran 5k yesterday and 7.5k today – both were slow because of the heat and toes sore from injections but I am happy – finally feeling better feet wise and cold wise – I just need to get through the heat of summer, and have decided I have to just embrace it as it isn’t going away and accept that my training and races will be slower – but I am ok with that 😀

 

 

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Ideas for what to do post marathon

14 Jul

The last week or so has been a roller coaster. I was interviewed at the Garmin Legends Lunch at the Gold Coast Airport Marathon and then ran the Marathon and then it all came to a standstill.

After I crossed the finish line there was an initial high of sharing my news that I had finished and was very happy with my time and having done it, I ordered my photos and relived my weekend with friends and my husband but then I woke up on the weekend thinking:

“ok what happens now?.”

I suddenly realised I hadn’t thought this far along. I had been concentrating so much on training for the marathon and preparing myself for the lunch but I hadn’t prepared myself for when it was all over and I felt a bit down. Suddenly there was no need to stick to a schedule or run 5 times a week and even get my foot strapped.

I would imagine there are probably a lot of people that are feeling like this now. There is the elation of having finished, and no more nightmare 30-36k runs but at the same time that purpose has gone and it is time to find something new.

I’m all good now and did a great session at the Kangaroo Point stairs with lovely friends on Sunday and was pumped again but it was a strange feeling.

Setting goals 

I am a very goal driven person so I have decided it’s time to set some goals again to stay motivated. I want to lose a little bit of weight, work on building some muscle as well as go back to basics and run some shorter races – so 5ks, 10ks and a half or two in the next 12 months as well as mastering the Kangaroo Point Stairs that I ran at the weekend. It will seem strange running less distance  but I know it is not necessarily easier as potentially I will be running faster.

Below are some thoughts I have explored in the last few days about how to stay motivated after the marathon/big event you have been training is over – so if you have been or are feeling the same way as me they might help:

Ideas for what to do post Marathon

what's your post marathon challenge?

A bigger challenge?

I have a number of friends who started running marathons and then had a real taste for them and went one step further and got into ultra marathons. If you finish your marathon and still want more then maybe this is an option to think about or perhaps triathlons and the ultimate Ironman! It’s not for me – the marathons I ran were hard and the thought of running any further than that makes me feel quite faint!

Different terrain

I have on a  number of occasions enjoyed trail running and used to run up Mount Cootha both on the road and on the trails. My friends that used to do that have unfortunately left Brisbane so I no longer do it but maybe after running a marathon you might want to try something new and venture into trail running – quite different to road running but lots of fun.

Different place

Fancy another marathon but not the same one. There are literally hundreds all around the country/world. I have done 5 marathons in 5 different countries and it makes the goal and excitement even more as you are working towards a goal and a holiday!  If you are a beginner marathon runner I would seriously consider giving yourself a fair while off training for another one though. Don’t rush straight back into another one in a months time unless you know your body very well. I did it after my first marathon and crashed and burned spectacularly!

Different distance?

Now that the marathon is finished if you aren’t keen to do another one then think about trying a different distance. Running shorter distances is great for getting quicker in your overall running times, maybe that is something to consider.

Enjoy just running for a while?

If you are a content person that doesn’t need goals then why not just enjoy running for a while without the pressure of a race coming up? Me personally I can’t do that as it would be very easy to not run!

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