Have you realised you’re just a few weeks out from your run and you haven’t really started training?
In my latest podcast I talk about my current situation, factors to help you decide what to do and how to approach the situation if you decide you’re still going to run.
You can listen here:
I used to run a lot, I’ve only done one marathon but I’ve done a lot of half marathons and 10Ks in recent years. Now I was never massively fast (I’d definitely describe myself as the tortoise rather than the hare) but I could complete 5km within 25 minutes, 10km within an hour and so on so was comfortable signing up for runs and knowing I’d get around in one piece.
During the initial Lockdown when gyms were closed I ran most days and so was in a pretty good place running wise. Repeated Lockdowns, back and forth changes, injuries and personal issues just made me stop running for a while. Added to not being able to train at all, weight gain and general not feeling 100% my running ability is not where it was. I hadn’t run as much as 5km unbroken for a long time and the addition of more than 10kg of bodyweight in a short period of time made running for ten minutes plus really hard work.
I’ve signed up for a half marathon in May so now is the time that I need to get myself back to a point where it’s doable to run 13.1 miles. I’ve started running short periods (like 15/20 minutes) unbroken and last weekend ran 5km without walking. It took me about 38 minutes, but this weekend I got that down to 36 minutes. I’ve been meaning to try Park Run to help keep up a routine of running but my times have been putting me off. Realistically I know they’ll be other people running at my pace but my brain keeps telling me I’ll be last and so I keep chickening out.
The thing is if I was talking to a client I’d be reassuring them that they can do it, they won’t find themselves last and even if they did it wouldn’t matter and I’d mean it, but we’re always harsher towards ourselves aren’t we.
So this weekend I’m going to make myself go and give Park Run a go with the aim of doing it in less than 36 minutes. At no point am I under any illusion that this half marathon is going to be easy but I’m determined to get myself to the point where I can do it and run the whole thing. Zero ego, I might be slow and the next month or so will not be pretty but I know I’ll feel good if I get myself to this point.
It may have escaped your attention but in many parts of the UK currently it’s pretty snowy.
Snow and ice is all well and good but if you’ve got running goals to work towards it can be a right pain in the bum. I personally have 50km left to complete before 31st December as part of a running challenge so not being able to run for multiple days is not ideal.
But the good news is you can run in snow and ice with a few adaptions and some preparation:
I’m doing a running challenge this year. Lands End to John O’Groats (virtually), that’s 874 miles between 1st January and 31st December. I’m currently around the Yorkshire Peaks, just over 400 miles run.
The challenge is set up so you record your own miles on an onlien map, it allows you to decide how to do the challenge; you can record just runs, runs and long walks or to record all of your steps every day. I have chosen to only record my runs because I wanted to use it as accountability to run more. However, that is because I tend to walk a lot anyway so if I included my steps it would not be a genuine challenge. But for anyone who is quite sedentary who wanted to move more counting steps every day would be a great challenge.
There is a Facebook group for people doingt he challenge and it’s a very supportive, nice group and people post their wins and also when they are struggling and everyone is always qick to cheer or offer moral support. What these posts often raise however is how everyone is approaching the challenge differently in terms of what they include as mileage. This often creatse confusion, with people askign am I doing this wrong? Should I be counting that? Of course people always reassure and remind the OP that the challenge is unique to them and tehre is no right or wrong.
This confusion is common not only in this group however but throughout the fitness industry. How often do you see someone on Facebook or Instagram doing a certain plan that is polar opposite to the way you train, eating a certain diet, eating more than you, less than you, training 3 days a week when you train 5, training for a marathon in a different way to you, running 10km in the time it takes you to run 5km, training in body part splits when you don’t, spending 2 hours in the gym when your session takes 45 minutes.
It’s really easy to think you must be doing it wrong. That if that person who looks fit is doing the opposite to you you should do that too. We are all different however. Our bodies, fitness levels, experience goals, time pressures, tastes, willingness to cut cake for breakfast out of our diet, likes and dislikes, mental health, shift patterns, hobbies – all these things will (or should) affect how you eat and train. Therefore unless you find an absolute carbon copy of you out there, your training or nutrition won’t look like someone elses, and nor should it.
Yes, there is lots of generic advice that works for specific groups of people. Group exercise instructors will face common obstacles so advice tailored to them as a group can work- but even then they will need to tweak that to sit their precise circumstances. You sit at a desk all day, I could predict your pain points and suggest some advice that would probably help lots of people, again it would need a bit of tweaking by people and not every piece of advice would be releveant to every person who works in an office.
The key is taking in the advice, the suggestions, the tips and knowing what is and isn’t relevant to you, what will ad won’t work for you. Then being able to look at other people doing different things and not get triggered by it, or feel bad, or superior or like you must be doing something wrong, because if it is working for you and Isn’t unsafe you do you.
Are you someone who’d like to run more but always feel like you have to stop after a while so have given up? The Jeff Galloway Walk Run method could be game changer for you.
Jeff was training non runners to start running back in the 1970s and through initial training sessions and courses where he took non runners to 5k distances and more he concluded that a mix of running and walking could both improve times and reduce injury.
Now it’s generally accepted that when someone first starts running a mixture of walking for a bit running for a bit is a great starting point. Most people have the mind set however that as you progress the goal should be to run all distances continuously without walking breaks. and that to get a PB you must just run faster and never walk
The Galloway Run Walk method argues that by walking and running in set ratios you can speed up your half marathon time by around 7 minutes on average. The method is quite specific and advises set run to walk ratios (and consists of paid plans to advise you), but even if you wanted to just use the principle of planning some walks into your runs to strategically improve your times I believe you can see the benefits.
The idea is that Run Walk Run as a method is essentially a form of interval training (think Fartlek training but with planning) and building in walks reduces fatigue by allowing better conservation of energy, reducing stress on the body and reducing body temperature during the walks. By planning a walk in at a set point as opposed to running until you have to stop and walk it can allow you to run further and faster once you go back into a running segment because you have spent some time recovering before the point of absolute exhaustion. It can mean you are less sore after a run which allows you to carry on with every day life and can make motivating yourself to start easier and you are able to enjoy runs more (especially if you hate the pushing through the pain idea). It is argued it can dramatically reduce the risk of injury.
So how can you use this idea in your runs to see if it makes a difference? Instead of running until you can no longer run then walking for a bit and then starting back up as soon as you feel able think about planning your walks ahead of time. For instance I will run for 15 minutes then walk for 5 minutes then repeat until i reach my distance. Think about how long you can normally run until you start to struggle. If that is 25 minutes, plan you walk in around 20 minutes so you are not yet needing the walk when you stop. If that’s 10 minutes plan you walk at 5 minutes. The idea is to take that active recovery before you really need it, allowing you to recharge and then run at a faster pace in your next running segment. You are still covering distance whilst you are walking and you are covering the distance quicker in the run sections and therefore may well find you shave time off your normal ‘just run’ run.
Of course sometimes you may want to run a whole distance to see where you are at but you don’t need to feel like you must only ever run to be a runner. A bit of walking could actually ultimately make you a faster runner!
As I’ve mentioned I’m doing a challenge of 874 miles in 2021- that’s around an average of 120km a month across the year. A combination of my fitness, the weather and the dark nights meant I didn’t hit that in January and was a bit under in February. I’m also aware I could get injured or have to take time off at some point if I am ill later in the year so my plan is to increase my mileage in the months where I’m feeling fitter and the weather is nicer to allow myself an emergency buffer. As such I’m aiming for 200km in March – I’m currently on 64km eleven days in. What this means is running on tired legs some days. I always do a long run with my friend Hollie on a Wednesday night. She is faster than me so it is always a run that pushes me and I normally feel it in the legs the next day so often don’t run on a Thursday, but this month I need to to reach my goal so today I did 5km (3 miles) after last nights 13km (8 mile run).
Running on tired legs is a challenge but it’s also something you can teach yourself to do and if you re training for a marathon or endurance event it’s a good idea to consider doing some training on tired legs. Obviously it’s a balancing act of not over doing it (you want to increase mileage by no more than 10/20% a week), risking injury or making yourself run down by affecting your sleep, recovery etc. and building your endurance. Below are some tips I find useful to run on tired legs.
This week was tough. I needed to complete my February challenge of 56 miles for the month (I had 9 miles to do) and wanted to hit 100km and also run a half with my friend Hollie.
Wednesday we met to go for a 6 mile run, that day I’d not eaten nearly enough and had a busy day, including going for an ill advised lunch time 3km run. I just about managed the evening 6 miles but also completely wiped my energy levels. I spent the next two days trying to refuel and did absolutely limited amounts of activity to recover, but come Saturday it was clear I wouldn’t be able to run. I woke up and my hip and knee were so sore and stiff I was barely able to walk properly, let alone run 13 miles. Deciding to postpone I ended up sleeping a lot on Saturday and generally felt completely wiped out energy wise.
I think the improved weather today made me feel a bit more energetic. A nice long slow walk with a friend round a park made me feel less lethargic and I decided to give a little run a go to get the last couple of km I needed to reach the 100km in February mark. Four very very slow km later I completed that challenge and went home to have a long stretch. A 45 minute Les Mills Stretch class felt needed and made my hip and back feel much better than they have done the last couple of days.
So my lesson for February is I need to focus on my recovery as much as my activity lessons. I know I need to keep increasing my activity levels, that will help me greatly when we can go back to classes and I’m teaching several classes a week again. I don’t want to suddenly go to teaching after barely moving at all for months on end, as I don’t think that would be enjoyable for me Equally however, whilst I do start to increase what I’m doing I also need to make sure I’m eating enough and resting and stretching adequately to ensure I also stay in a good condition.
March is therefore another 100km challenge, a sensible calorie deficit and more mobility work. Hoping the good weather continues to make this feel easier!
So there’s February’s lesson.
Gyms are closed and we can’t do many of the things we’d normally do.
You know what we can do?
Run.
Running is a love it or hate it type of thing. But right now there has never been a better time to give it a try and you might find that beyond lockdown you actually want to keep running.
Here’s some of the reasons I love running:
1) It’s simple
You can run for ten minutes or several hours, you can pick different distances, paces, lengths of runs so that whatever your week ends up looking like you can fit it in. It’s also free- you need a pair of trainers and the outdoors at it’s most basic!
2) It’s a workout you can scale
Can’t run a distance all the way yet? Doesn’t matter you can walk and run it as needed and build up to running the whole thing. You still get to achieve the distance and get a workout.
3) It gives you time to think
Running is a great source of me time. You get into a groove and then you can let your mind wander (or not even). It’s a great way to find a bit of calm.
4) It also gives you time to learn
Don’t want time to think, you can listen to podcasts or audio books and make the time doubly productive, training and learning in tandem. This is so much easier to do running compared to many other sports as once you’re moving there’s less to think about,
5) Fresh Air
Running outside gets you outside. Outside and fresh air is just good for you, your health sure but also your mental health. For me a down day can always be improved with some time outside. And running outside is so much nicer than walking outside, even in bad weather you’ll warm up quickly and notice the rain less.
6) There’s lots of goals you can set
Run a distance, run a distance in a set time, beat that time, sign up for a race, add in obstacles or mud. There’s so many variable to the goals you can aim for. And when you do races you get goody bags. These are what I run for!
7) It can help you build strong bones as well as muscles
It’s a weight bearing exercise and so will help strengthen not just your muscles but also your joints and bones. Whilst running gets a bad press for the knees sometimes it can actually improve knee health (as long as you don’t run on an injury!)
8) It will help you improve your cardiovascular fitness
You will get breathless running, even slowly at first and it’s a great way to improve your capacity for cardio, your stamina and generally make you feel better and fitter over time.
9) It can be a great way to aid weight loss
It will burn calories and so if you also track your calories in it can help you reach a calorie deficit
10) It can benefit your mental health
I mentioned above about getting more fresh air and some ‘you’ time. Running produces feel good hormones – known as the runner high and some studies have suggested it can go further than that and running has been shown to have a positive impact on people suffering from depression.
11) It can improve sleep and concentration
I put these two together as I think they are linked anyway, but studies have shown that as little as 30 minutes o running each week had a positive impact on sleep patterns and concentration levels after only three weeks.
So maybe you decide or have already decided to give running a go. But I’d encourage you to look at it as a credible source of training beyond the lockdown period. Maybe now is the time to pick a race for later in the year or next year to give yourself a goal to work towards. that might give you more focus in training during lockdown and beyond.
So to help with that I’ve just made a running programme that I am really proud of.
In fact it’s not just a ‘here’s when to run’ plan.
It’s got:
I actually started producing this before gyms closed but decided to get it ready to launch a bit quicker as I know there’s lots of people looking for help with training right now and running is a good option!
So if it sounds like something that might be good for you right now I’m selling it half price (well better than). You can get it for £21 (including the check ins) during May – In June it will be £45.
That’s it, no hard sell. I think this can help some people if it does great. If not that’s ok.
If you do want to check it out (or if there’s someone you know who might find this helpful) the link to my website is here (or in the shop section of the menu)
http://heather-sherwood.square.site/
By the way- this plan could work alongside other training or be done as a standalone programme, depending on what you already do and how much time you want to devote to training each week.
Heather
Over recent years I’ve entered a lot of races. 10k, half marathons , even a marathon. People always ask why. There is one simple answer.
For the goodie bag.
That’s partly a joke – I like the support from the crowd and the variety in the route which makes running a long distance more palatable than just plodding down the same cycle route or park that I normally run in.
But essentially getting some food and a t shirt at the end is an incentive for me (want to be my friend- I’m very food motivated)!
I have a friend who literally runs for medals- she picks races based on what the medals are like!
I have another friend who does endurance events almost purely just to see how far they can push themselves.
In all our cases the event itself, location, the time we might get, our likely finishing place are almost irrelevant factors in our decision to take part.
Our motivation for doing incredibly challenging things doesn’t always have to be a story worthy of it’s own background music on a Britain’s Got Talent audition.
Do you struggle to set yourself a fitness goal? Is that because you can’t think of that thing that sets your soul on fire and when people ask you about it you can give a long inspirational speech about how an angel came to you one night and told you that you were destined to do this thing? Do you have something you’d quite like to try for whatever reason but that reason seems a bit superficial, silly even?
I run for goodie bags. You can do literally anything you want for any reason you want!
Today’s blog topic is a request (possibly my first ever topic request!) and is focused on the Post Marathon Blues.
This doesn’t just need to apply to marathons, it could equally apply to people who have trained for any big sporting even (half marathon, 10k, big swim or cycle, triathlon, a show, a tournament- anything where all your focus for several months has been working towards being in your peak physical form and at the top of your game for one specific event).
How we feel after an event is not something we tend to focus on. We put lots of thought into preparing for things and on the day itself and even on the immediate recovery in the hours or days after a physical event.
But many people report feeling a bit down in the weeks after a marathon or other big event. Words like lost, aimless, flat, down, void, lacking in motivation come up in conversations. It’s a lot like that feeling you get when you come back from a holiday and the realities of normal life hit you and now because the holiday has been and gone you don’t have anything to look forward to.
This is due to both physical and psychological reasons.
Physically the day itself will probably have left you feeling extremely tired, a cumulative effect of weeks of training hard and the extra effort of the day itself and you may have picked up blisters, bruised toenails and niggles which don’t help make you feel great about yourself. Your endorphins will have been high during the event and as you settle back into normality this can have an effect of how you feel as you struggle to replicate the high you felt in that moment again.
Mentally, you no longer have the event to focus on and that can leave you feeling like life has no meaning or focus after months of everything you do revolving around training (can’t go out Saturday have a long run on Sunday morning, can’t eat that as I’m in training and so on). It can make it harder to you to motivate yourself to eat well or train as you no longer have that reason for doing so. Many of us thrive on routine and having something meaningful to us to work towards and once you reach your goal where do you go from there?
Thankfully, these feelings tend to only last a few weeks and people normally spring back to their normal self but there are things you can do to help yourself feel better in this situation and feel the positivity you probably expected to feel after your big achievement.
Celebrate
Plan to do something nice to celebrate your achievement – a massage, spa break, celebration meal. Take time to congratulate yourself for what you achieved so it doesn’t feel insignificant now.
Book something nice
Similar to above, you could consider booking a weekend break or holiday- something to focus on that is nice and not exercise. This is bound to improve your mood
Reflect
Think about what you achieved, all the positives and even what you would have done differently in hindsight. Think objectively about whether it’s something you would like to repeat or if once was enough. That way if you choose to train for the same event in the future you know what pitfalls to avoid and if not you know you can confidently say once was enough. Sometimes reflecting on your feelings can give you more ownership on how you feel and help you both make decisions and manage your emotional responses better.
Recover Properly
Get a sports massage, continue to eat nourishing food (and enough of it) to help the body recover, stretch, get some good quality sleep and take some time to just sit and chill. Any sporting event which take a toll on your body requires some proper mindful recovery in the days after to help you feel better physically which in turn will help you feel better mentally.
Do some low impact exercise
Don’t feel like you need to be back training he day after. A week or two off could be exactly what your body needs. If you feel the urge to exercise though try and stick to low impact options which place less strain on your CNS. You may want to try some yoga or similar during this time.
Don’t run for a couple of weeks
Similar to above, a couple of weeks not doing the exercise you have just trained hard for can be beneficial, both in allow you to physically recover but also give you that little bit of excitement when you do go back out for that first run after a couple of weeks.
Find a new challenge
After a couple of weeks when your rested and refreshed this could be the time to think about what comes next. Another run of the same distance, a step up to the next distance (Ultra anyone), maybe looking at trying something new instead. Setting your next goal will give you a renewed sense of focus.
Above all, don’t stress about feeling a bit blue after a big event. It’s human nature and being sensible and kind to yourself is the key to letting it subside.
Equally, if you suffer from depression anyway, don’t let the idea of post event blues put you off training for an event. Research has shown that having something to aim for and the training and self care associated with that training can be beneficial in alleviating the symptoms of depression and as long as you are mindful that you might feel a bit down immediately after the event and have your coping strategies in place this should have a generally positive impact on your mental health.
Heather Sherwood Fitness 