Fitness Friday: Over Compensating

[wprunkeeper activity=38216489]

Almost 3 weeks ago I pushed myself to run longer then I ever had before. I ran for 2 hours and 46 minutes. While I was running I felt pretty good, a little thirsty, but I handled that by refilling my water bottle with Gatorade about 3 quarters into the run. My pace was a little slow, but I wasn’t out there for speed. It was my Sunday run. My long run. I am trying to push my sunday runs from the 2 hours I have been running over the last few months up to somewhere between 3 and 4 hours. I want to try running 30km. My goal on Sundays is to leave early for my runs. Usually 9 or 10. On the faithful day I started my run at 11:15am. So I found myself running during the hottest part of the day, and that was my biggest mistake.

After my run I was tired, but I didn’t think anything was wrong. As the day went on it became clear I had used up all my energy and I could barely function. So I slept away most of the evening and all through the night expecting to wake refreshed and ready to work. It didn’t work out that way. I woke up tired, and with a headache. I tried getting up with the kids, making them breakfast and even went through the motions of getting ready for work, before I accepted that I was in no condition to work. So i climbed into bed. Melissa had her hands full that morning, Jacob was also sick he’d thrown up the night before, and started his day the same way. Lucky for us he mostly got it in the bucket. So Melissa and Violet took care of Jacob and I. The day is a bit of a fog, I do know Melissa kept insisting I drink water and Gatorade. I missed 2 days of work, though on the second day I was able to do some work and really didn’t feel 100% till the weekend.

 

As a result I decided to recover before I headed back out for a run. I started with a week off, then I headed out for a run on that Tuesday, it went okay but not great. So I put of my next run till this past Monday. On Monday I managed a 10k, I followed that up Wednesday with a 5k, before heading out I debated another 10k or try to do a 5 in under 30. The five won out though I missed my goal time by around 30 seconds, it still felt pretty good. It’s the fastest I have run 5k in training this year.

One thing I came to realise, not for the first time, is that I have to keep running, not a lot, just 2 or 3 times a week or I will lose the level I have achieved. It was obvious in march when I started up after my reduced running over the winter and it was more so when I headed back out after a week away. So to help motivate me and keep me accountable I am starting fitness Friday posts. Each week I’ll talk about something I am doing to be more fit. Which could be my running, my diet, or some other activity I have yet to think of.

I’ll also be including summaries of my runs and perhaps a run of the week. Highlighting one run during the course of the week to talk about how I felt, how I did, or maybe just the route. I’m still working out the specifics, you’ll have to stay tuned to see for your self.