I was defeated by my long run this week.
All the preparation was there and I thought I had all my plans in place for a perfect 32km run. It was not to be.
All week, a couple of lines of advice really resonated with me. They came in an email from Linda Watson, head trainer at intraining. She wrote: "do your long run much slower than your goal race pace. I cannot stress this enough. If you run too fast in training, it will result in a longer recovery period and ultimately inhibit your ability to back up with other important sessions."
After last week's 30km, I pulled up quite sore and realised that I did go too fast - then when I did my other sessions for the week, I was achey and couldn't quite give it 100%.
So I planned to do a nice, slow & steady 32km on Sunday morning. I was excited about doing a morning run, as it is my preferred time to go. Most of my long runs have been afternoon/evening, but I want to get in some more morning practice, as that is when the Gold Coast Marathon will be. I had a rare husband and child-free morning, so I put the call out through parkrun to see if anyone wanted to join me - of course, there were other keen/crazy people out there and we set off at 6am. Our route was from Arthur Davis Park (next to the Sandgate Pool), down the Shorncliffe Jetty, then across the Hornibrook Bridge, past the Woody Point Jetty and up to the Redcliffe Jetty and back again.
I really enjoyed the first 20km. I had new company, lots of people to chat with and plenty of distractions. We took a good, steady pace and it was a perfect morning with a gorgeous sunrise. I'd had some porridge and banana at about 5am, as well as some pasta the night before, and I felt really good. My aches and pains had gone and physically, I felt great.
The struggle came at about 26km. I stopped at a bubbler for water just before getting onto the Hornibrook Bridge for the stretch home. When I started up again, my energy levels felt like they'd taken a dive. I continued shuffling across the bridge, but the rest of the group started getting away from me, and I just couldn't seem to make up any ground.
I called on my mental strength to just dig in and tough it out, which I did - but in true runner's terms, I just hit a wall. I told myself I just had to get to the end of the Bridge (which is the longest in the Southern Hemisphere, and I felt it every step of the way!) - I thought that getting back onto the Brighton stretch would just give me the boost to finish. I just felt so physically exhausted, like my body was running on empty. It wasn't the soreness in my legs or feet (which is always there a little bit after this distance), it was just this complete and utter feeling that I had nothing left in the tank.
The rest of the group was getting further ahead - if it weren't for them, I'm sure I would've given up halfway across the bridge. I hate being beaten and just wanted to keep up! In the end, I walked 2 stints of 500m, at about the 29km and 30.5km marks. If nothing else, I wanted to at least beat my distance from last week, which I did. I got back to the park and had a nice big stretch, but felt completely defeated. None of my long runs had been such a struggle.
I was pretty disappointed - I felt my preparation and mindset for this run was spot on. It was meant to be slow and easy, but here I was, barely able to put one foot in front of the other by the end! But as always in the worst runs, I definitely learnt a lesson. This time, it was long run fuel. I decided to have a break from my usual jellybeans, and instead took some raw energy balls I'd made, which had dried fruit, nuts, banana & chia seeds in them, as well as some dried apricots.
As delicious as they were, they just didn't cut it for 32km! I'd also figured that eating well and carb-ing up before the run would give me enough boost, but it simply didn't. I couldn't help but think about what so many people have said - the 30km mark in the marathon is the halfway point, and that last 12km is a real battle. There is no way I could've gone another 10km on Sunday, which gave me a bit of a scare! But again, it's a lesson learnt.
I went to the intraining speed session this morning, but my calves and lower legs in general were so sore, I just couldn't get up to speed. Sarah (the coach) suggested just an easy jog, but I even struggled with that. So I'm doing lots of stretching and having some rest, and hopefully the aches disappear.
As long as I'm feeling fresh enough, I'm planning to tackle 32km again this week - this time with plenty of jellybeans and maybe some other fuel on hand. It's not a nice feeling to be defeated by a run, but there's always another opportunity.
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