Weekly mileage: 92.75 miles
Friday 16 – 7.25 miles
Saturday 17 – 13.5 miles (including 13*400m – interval session)
Sunday 18 – 22 miles in 2hours 31 minutes 15 seconds
I love weekends and part of the reason I love them is because I get to spend a lot of time training, particularly the Sunday morning long run. There is, however, a downside to such weekends and that is hunger and exhaustion in between sessions, both of which have a significant affect on the rest of my weekend, particularly my social life.
I constantly struggle with a need to eat and to eat regularly to stop my blood sugar levels dipping and diving all over the place. This Friday Gail’s mum was down for a visit and we went to the Basement for food and to the cinema to see Inception.
Sometimes at restaurants if food is late coming out I can get very grumpy, quiet and literally start to shut down – not pleasant company, so knowing this I decided to have a bagel and peanut butter before we headed out. I wish I’d eaten two! The food was late (although really not that late, about 30 minutes after we had sat down) coming out and I did start down the dark path to shut down. This also happened on Saturday night as we went out for dinner for my friend’s 30th. Thankfully at the Thai restaurant we were at they had several bowls of prawn crackers at the table, which I proceeded to work through one by one until I had eaten about three bowls and we had to politely ask the waiters to refill them before the rest of the table arrived. Of course restaurants never ever bring out portions that match my hunger. On Friday I ate a starter and a main while Gail and her mum had just a main, I then bought an extremely large bag of pic’n’mix at the cinema and polished that off too. On Saturday night I ate a large starter selection, followed by a Thai curry with two portions of rice. I followed this up by hoovering up the leftovers at the table, rice, chips, whatever I could get and then dessert. Again I do wonder what people think of this, but I simply can not help myself, as I need to eat loads. This I find to be a real downside to heavy training, as I feel a bit out of control and I also wonder what everyone else thinks of me as I sit there in my dark mood waiting to be fed or continually grazing and eating through the night.
Another way in which my weekends are affected is my constant need for sleep. My training sessions are in the morning so that means that I am always looking for an early night. I have noticed that although Friday is the nearest I get to a rest day with just a run to and from work by the time I get home in the evening I am knackered. This, I guess is down to my heavy mid-week training. Our trip to the cinema was about as much as I could handle energy wise. I certainly wouldn’t have been able to do anything more strenuous. On Saturday and Sunday afternoons after my training sessions I always need an afternoon nap and a long rest on the sofa and I have little motivation to do anything else. I can usually muster enough energy to take the dog out for an hour or so for a walk later in the afternoon, but not much else, and I generally prefer nights in or if we do go out I like it to be quiet and ending early. On a Sunday the afternoon tiredness is worse. This is something that will only get worse as I increase my mileage on my long runs in preparation for my marathon. Today after my 22 miles I was very, very tired, and only just managed to find the energy to meet Gail and her mum for afternoon tea at Loopy Lorna’s. I was then faced with my food issue of needing to eat and drink in order not to crash and enter my dark mood. My tiredness and hunger did affect me as I sat there, but I still had a good time. They do very nice coffee, cakes and sandwiches if you get the chance to go there any time soon.
I don’t drink either, or at least very little. I haven’t had a drink in 4 weeks now, as I am trying to ensure that I am totally fresh for all of my runs (as well as lose some weight! That’s another issue though). I have to admit not drinking isn’t really a problem for me anymore, as I know how much I want to improve and I know how much it can hinder me. What is difficult though is seeing all my friends drink and feeling a little left out when everyone else gets tipsy.
So, you might ask why on earth do I commit myself to doing so much running on a weekend if it affects me in such a way. Simple answer, it feels great when I’ve finished those sessions. Saturday’s interval training is always tough, but I can almost feel myself getting fitter and faster with each one. Sunday morning runs along the Water of Leith, up to Balerno, round the reservoirs and in the shadow of the Pentland hills are as beautiful as they are challenging. The endorphin pay off at the end of these runs is also immense and the feeling of self satisfaction stays with me the whole day no matter how tired and hungry I get. I also know that with every run and training session I get that little bit closer to achieving my goals and I know that hard work nearly always pays off in the end.
Socially, when I do go out, it may be a little bit more of a physical struggle than it used to be, but I love spending time with my friends and catching up. I’d like to think that they have come to understand my strange running ways and why I don’t drink as much as I used to or hit the clubs until 3am.
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