The draft of this post has been sitting in the queue for a few days and before I get too far behind, figured I better just push it on out whether ready or not.
Last week was technically a recovery week for me after completing the Blue Ridge Marathon on April 22nd. In the past, I always took a good week for recovery including 4-5 days of no running. However, I have plans to run another marathon in June with only seven weeks separating it from the BRM. Which means I have an unusually short training window. This will be my first time running an event with less than the full time available for a regular training regimen. So even though it was a recovery week, I could not back off too much as I need to start building back up fairly quickly. Look for an outline/discussion on the training plan I put together (maybe sometime this weekend).
Post marathon also gives me a bit of a window for some weight loss. Between the Rocket City Marathon and the Blue Ridge Marathon, I pretty much maintained my weight. However, I have been wanting to lose just a bit more and also lower my body fat percentage. Training for a marathon does not really promote weight loss per se though since you really have to eat quite a bit to fuel your body. Since it was a recovery week, I decided to focus on a high protein/low carb diet to try to kick start some weight loss. By this past weekend, that was definitely having an impact on my running.
For my Saturday run, which was 6 miles at a long run pace, I knew I would struggle after not getting any dinner on Friday as I spent it with a daughter at the emergency room after her soccer game. With lots of travel and little sleep on Saturday, I was on fumes. That bore itself out as I made it four miles before fatigue set in, although I did maintain a good overall pace.
Unfortunately, things got even worse for Sunday when I made it six miles into a ten-mile run. At that point, despite having a good pace, I think I hit the wall. I have to guess that is what hitting the wall is. I had to stop to catch my breath and then mostly walk back home. I did manage a few instances of jogging stretches. Even walking was hurting though as my legs were wanting to cramp up. Not a good run at all, but I did finish.
These two bad runs came after good runs on Tuesday and Thursday during the week. Tuesday was just a short two-mile run for my first run after the marathon and was meant just to get things going again with my legs. On Thursday I ended up setting a new 5K PB. I was not really pushing for one, but my legs felt fresh and I was able to keep up a good cadence. I actually ended up running a sub-8:00 min/mile pace for 4.7 miles.
So some highs during the week followed by lows for the weekend runs.
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