So... with the hard work over, it is time to reflect upon the biggest week of running I have ever done and try to bring together all the lessons learned so that I can benefit from them going forward.
In no particular order, I set out below my thoughts regarding how my body performed for the week, what worked, and what didn't, and what needs some work for the future... Apologies if this gets a little tedious, these ramblings are probably much more benefit to me than to anyone else, but I have to record them somewhere so it may as well be on the blog!! Pacing: I have to be honest and say that this was pure guesswork on my part, based upon how I felt... I selected a pace that felt comfortable on day one, that I felt I could sustain, and when that worked, I stuck with it for the rest of the week! As it happens, that was just under a 12 minute mile average taking account of both running and walking sections. This is pretty much my usual ultra distance pace, and the one I had used predominantly in the last couple of months of high volume training. Could I have gone faster? Possibly, but probably not without risking blowing up (metaphorically speaking of course!!) or making myself too sore for the following day. As it was my times for all 7 of the runs fell within a 26 minute window (and all under 12 minute mile average pace), and I did not suffer any undue stiffness/tightness in my leg muscles. I will take that as a win and a good predictor of my early season pace for this year's ultras. I want to work on my speed in March once I am recovered from this run, but more about that in later blog posts... Training: How do you prepare your body for running these distances on a daily basis whilst still maintaining a normal working and family life? There aren't exactly loads of sample training plans on the internet for runs/feats of this magnitude, so I had to formulate my own, based upon the previous marathon and ultra training that I had done. My plan was to run shorter back to back (and 3, 4, 5 days back to back) runs in the week, with a marathon-training style long run on the weekend (16/18/20 miles) following on from a shorter run (5 to 10 miles) the previous day... some days I would do 2 or 3 shorter runs with a break in between, and some days I would run longer in a single run... All in the interests of building a lot of fatigue into the legs and then still going out and running! On top of the running, I added in a number of short walks of between 1 and 2 miles - often 2 or 3 times per day - totalling between 10 and 20 miles per week. This is the first time that I have specifically used walking in my training, and was more fuelled by the desire to accumulate Bounts points than to improve my ultra-running. However, I do feel that it made a difference. Beyond marathon distance, I have always utilised a run/walk strategy and I approached the 7 in 7 the same way - I established all of my walk and run points on day one and stuck to them throughout the week. Historically, I found that the different gait required for walking led to blisters and calf problems which I did not suffer from when running the same distance, so I was thrilled to find that these issues appeared to be alleviated by training specifically for the walk portions. That said, I think this is an area of training that I still need to expand upon as I found on day 7 it hurt my legs more to walk than to run, and I actually ended up skipping some of my walk breaks as it was easier to keep running! It didn't matter because it was the last day, but I don't want this to become an issue in any of my other ultras this year. Footcare: This has been a real journey of trial and error over the years - the errors sometimes costing me the skin off the entire ball of my foot and several of my toenails. I am pleased to say that I appear to have found a solution which, for the time being at least, works for me. Incredibly, I finished the week with all 10 toe nails intact and happy, and without a single blister or sore spot. My routine was simple - trim and file the toenails a week before, then each morning spray each foot with anti-perspirant foot spray, followed by a dusting of foot powder, then into technical running socks (I varied between Lidl's own brand and More Mile ones). Incidentally I always keep my tootsies super soft, as I have previously experienced the deep blistering which can occur beneath hardened skin, and it is not something I ever want to repeat! Running Shoes: For all bar the wet Wednesday and the Saturday, I wore my trusty K-Swiss Tubes Run 100s. They were ridiculously cheap (about £25 per pair) and, over the years, I have got through 7 pairs of them. This pair alone have run at least 8 or 9 marathons plus numerous long training runs, shorter runs etc etc. Their tube-based cushioning never seems to wear out and I am normally only forced to 'retire' a pair when the upper becomes unbearably worn. They seem to perform as well on short, fast runs as they do at marathon distance. I am devastated that they are no longer in production and most places have now sold out of all their old stock. I am now searching the market to find their replacement... On Wet Wednesday, I wore Saucony Kinvara 4s in the Goretex model. This is the second wet marathon I have run in them and I have to say I am impressed with their performance. My feet stayed pretty much completely dry all day, which is amazing considering how bad the weather was. They aren't highly cushioned, but they are nice and lightweight and relatively springy. My only criticism is that the toebox is a little narrow for my duck-like feet! Not enough to make them uncomfortable for 26 miles, but I probably wouldn't risk them over greater distances where the foot-swelling becomes a bigger issue. The only other shoes I brought into action for the week were my trusty Hokas, which I rotated into the mix on the Saturday (day 6) in order to alleviate some of the pounding. I love Hokas, and this is the 3rd marathon that I have run in a pair, but I generally train in pretty minimalist shoes and so find the Hokas rather chunky. I never feel capable of pushing the pace in them and guess this is because they absorb power as well as absorbing shock. But they are uber-comfortable and my feet were happy! Injuries/Weaknesses: Okay, this is where I confess to all my weaknesses!!! 1. Achilles Having not suffered with achilles tendon issues for more than 6 years, I suddenly noticed a lump on the back of my left heel about 2 weeks before the start of the 7 in 7. How long it had been building for, I don't know, but there it was! The achilles was stiff first thing in the morning, so there was a definite tendinopathy there.... I swore to myself and wondered what was best to do! As I normally always wear zero drop shoes, I switched out to wearing 4mm drop to take the pressure off the tendon, I used deep tissue massage for as long as I could tolerate (not long!!!), and tried doing lots of heel drops on the vibration plate at the gym. The lump remained steadfast. I resorted to the 'bugger it and bimble on' approach! Please note that I DO NOT recommend this as a piece of medical/sports injury advice!!!! On day 1, I kept doing a mental check on how the tendon and lower calf felt... it was tugging gently, but not specifically painful. I expected it to be stiffer and complaining by the morning of day 2, but it actually wasn't. In fact, throughout the course of the week, it has all but remedied itself. There is still a slight lump there, but it is no longer stiff first thing, so I think I am beyond the worst of it now! I was always advised that strengthening work was more effective than rest with achilles issues but this appears to have proved that on an extreme level! I am, however, making a note to do some more calf and achilles work at an appropriate time in my schedule. 2. Hips/Pelvis I have a wonky pelvis. It wanders off all by itself! It causes me all sorts of grief, mostly with my IT Band, piriformis and gluteus on my right hand side. I need to work on it! Additionally, and presumably as a connected issue, when running beyond marathon distances, my right hip flexor tends to completely throw teddy out of the pram. After last year's Joust 24 hour race, it was the only area that ached, and was ruddy painful for a day or two afterwards. Thankfully, although I could quite often feel that things were somewhat misaligned, I didn't suffer too badly last week with these issues... but they were definitely there in the background, so my aim this summer will be to strengthen and stretch opposing muscles in order to help keep things better aligned... I will keep you advised. 3. Left Bicep Tendon How's that for a bizarre running niggle?!!! For the last 6 months I have done very little strength training, as my running schedule has taken up much of my available time. Consequently, by day three my left arm was starting to niggle at all the effort of driving me forward. (No such problem with the right, which does the bulk of the work in day-to-day life...). The bicep tendon became quite sore. I need to work on this, and soon! The Week's Statistics (non-geeky-nerds look away now!): Day Total Time Elapsed Time Average Pace Av. Heart Rate Daily Steps Daily Calories Burned 1 4:59 4:42 10:54 157bpm 52,170 4,655 2 4:55 4:44 10:58 151bpm 51,362 4,132 3 5:07 4:51 11:17 147bpm 51,498 4,942 4 4:44 4:38 10:42 144bpm 49,779 4,677 5 5:09 5:01 11:33 139bpm 50,818 4,999 6 5:09 5:01 11:39 137bpm 51,776 4,659 7 5:02 4:55 11:24 137bpm 50,987 4,344
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