I took A WEEK OFF from running! Why?!

So I took a week off from running- but why did I do this when I had just finished my 22 day running streak?

Before I get into this, can I just say how thankful I am to everyone who read my last post My 22 day runstreak is over as it had such a great response and has actually been the most popular post in the history of this blog!

So I took a break for a week for a variety of reasons- many of which were for my own good- some weren't but we'll get to that!


Many of you follow me on Twitter @fatrunnerste so thank you very much to those people- I find the twitter community so valuable to bounce ideas off and they provide great motivation!

So why did I have a break?

1- I finished my runstreak and simply needed a break. I went from doing hardly any running to doing running everyday. My body was simply tired and I could feel my calves- problem area- beginning to pull- a rest was needed!

2- Holiday! We went on holiday to the beautiful English Riviera and although before I went I did want to run along the beautiful coastlines, the reality is that that would take away from much more valuable family time. We had a great time and that was partially because I wasn't mithering about going for a run every 5 minutes. I simply chilled out and enjoyed it for once!

3- I needed to take stock I have a couple of running races on the horizon and I simply needed time to think about how to approach them. I have the Bury 10K in approximately one month's time- how should I approach this race, and how should I train for it. I have come to the conclusion that I need to run further (at least 3-4 miles per run) and have more of a break in between so get the strength in my legs. I don't want to stand at the startline in 4 weeks time worrying if I am going to be strong enough to complete it!

Also I have the Bolton Marathon to think about so the longer runs so gain strength will help towards that as well! Plus I think the longer runs and more rest will no doubt help me to run quicker ParkRun times.

Thank you for reading this post- I genuinely mean that- there are lots of running blogs so it means alot that you have chosen this one

The RUNSTREAK is OVER! Why and what now?

My dear readers- however you get this blogpost-many of you follow my progress on Twitter and you will know I am currently in the throes of a runstreak. However, I have some news that my current runstreak is over. It is a decision I have not taken lightly, it has taken lots of thought, but I have decided that it is the right thing to do for me right now. I would say it had finally come to an end, but it only lasted 22 days- I say only but I think that to go from no running at all, to go 22 days in a row is some thing to be proud of. 

Why is it over?

1- It has served its purpose. The original idea was to reignite my love for running and it has certainly done that. I am re-energised and excited about running again. I have signed up for the Bury 10k and I am blogging about running again! 

2- My body is simply tired Even though my love of running has come back, this does not stop my body being tired. Having not run seriously for a while, I will need to rebuild my deep fitness levels. 

3- I need to run longer distances Part of the runstreak was to run at least a mile per day. So to feel I had the energy for the next day, alot of the time I was running just that, a mile. I have the Bury 10K approaching on the horizon so I need to run longer distances to prepare for that race.

4- My calves were getting tight I have had calf trouble for as long as a can remember so I know the tell tale signs when they are starting to develop. One of my triggers for a calf strain is tightness in the muscle. I was having this alot more regularly and felt I needed a break. 

So really the reasons are kind of self preservation but I felt I needed to stop. I really need to build my distances now but was scared I would be too tired for the next day's mile if I did that during the runstreak. 

Finishing the runstreak is actually quite scary- as now I am worrying whether I will do enough running to maintain my fitness for the Bury 10K- however I feel if I impose a minimum distance of 3 miles during my training, this should keep my miles up.

So what now?

So I have a few things on the horizon. I obviously have the Bury 10K looming during mid September so I need to make sure that I am ready for that.

I read a post by Slouching Towards Thatcham where Tim outlined his targets for his year of fitness. This seemed a great idea so I'll be filling you in on my targets for the rest of 2019 very soon!

Also, in the immediate future I have started a running club for people on my estate. This is very nerve wracking but exciting all at the same time as I am reaching out in order to bring people together and help fitness-wise. The first meet is tomorrow so I'll let you know how it goes on Twitter!

THANK YOU FOR READING!

GUEST POST- Martyn Jones- The Struggling Runner!

Big thanks to Martyn Jones of the Strugglin' Runner who has produced a fantastic GUEST POST- the first- for The Running Geek! I urge you to read it in its entirety as it really speaks sense and highlights things many of us have been through as well.

He can be found on twitter @strugglinrunner and his own

blog can be found at https://strugglinrunner.wordpress.com.

Positive Failure Through Running

Hey there, @StrugglinRunner here with a guest blog post! Steven kindly asked if I’d
write something, so here it is. 

For those that don’t know me, I’m a guy in my 40’s, 6ft 2 and slightly overweight. I did
Couch to 5k programme three years ago, but never took it further once I finished it.
This was due to slightly disastrous career choices, job hopping, too much commuting
and the dark days of winter and general apathy. I only did a few runs each month for
the next two years, no perceivable consistency, and slowly went back to no runs at all. 

Then in November 2018, for a number of reasons, I had a compelling urge to get back
out there and continue where the Couch to 5k left off. This year so far I have ticked off
two of my original 2016 goals, do a 5k race & a 10k race. Now I’m in the middle of
training for a half marathon. It’s been a great year of running so far, although slightly
marred by calf pain. 

With that out the way, what’s the deal with the title of this post, Positive Failure Through
Running? Well I have learnt to acknowledge and respect failure, and embrace it as a
force for good and I have learnt some of that through my experiences with running
over the past three years. 

But sidetracking for a moment, my first real experience of positive failure came not
from running, but from drumming. I’m a drummer in a couple of bands, I pride myself
on being a solid timekeeper, a pretty good drummer. Not brilliant, not amazing, not flashy,
but totally good enough to be solid and anchor the band, to play for the songs. At one
gig, it was Christmas time, lots of office parties in town seemed to spill into the pub we
were playing, it was packed and hot.It was a great atmosphere for a gig, people drinking
and dancing and singing along to the cover songs we were playing. It was all going well
until I got some less than stellar feedback from the crowd, I had made a couple of mistakes
through the night, nothing big, dropped a snare hit here or there, but towards the end of
the gig I saw one guy in the crowd point to me, do an ‘air drums’ impression, then literally
give a disgusted look to his friend and a very distinct thumbs down. I was mortified. He
may not have really meant what I took from it. That doesn’t matter, in my mind I had seen
what I had seen. 

The show must go on, and gladly this occurrence happened near the end of our set.
But I felt crushed. There’s a fail right there, in a packed pub, playing in front of people
and seeing that. But that failure was one of the best things that ever happened to my
drumming, it forced me to look at my own playing, focus on my weaknesses, and knuckle
down with the practice time to improve. And improve I did, massively. In the 6 months
after that gig my drumming had improved so much that the guys in the bands I was
playing with noticed, I knew it, and my confidence grew, and it was all good. I didn’t
want to experience that feeling at a gig again, and was making damn sure I did all I
could to prevent it. 

So how about running failure? For me running has been at times felt like a constant
barrage of failure. The difficult, self grounding workout sessions, the nagging sensation
that I am not cut out for this “what are you doing?….you are not a runner” voice in my
head as I step out of the house at 6am to lurch round my usual circuit huffing and
heaving. Usually I tend to quell the voices once I am past 1 or 2 k, but they often persist.
My inner voice has a tendency to be quite harsh at times!  

The constant calf pain I have had since starting up in December feels like a massive
fail, although I now have it under control and understand what I need to do, and how
I got here, while in the depths of semi-injury runners despair I just felt like a failure.
“You can’t even jog round the village without screwing yourself up”, the voices informed
me. Nice.  

But like the drumming scenario above, I have benefited so much from my running fails.
It has made me stop, reassess what I am doing, how I am doing it. It’s made me research
running, instead of blindly going out there and ending up in injury land I have spent hours
reading articles, watching physiotherapy videos, doing extra exercises, learning as much
as I could from people with far more experience than I have. My determination seems
to go into overdrive when I feel under pressure and at risk of total failure. 

Why did the calf pain start? Because I made the biggest beginning runner mistake ever,
I failed to take it easy, I just went for it. Nov 2018 - 0k, then Dec 2018 - 57k. That’s where
the calf pain started. For some people they may be able to handle that. For my body that’s
had 20 years of desk based office work, it was just too much. Fail. And I paid the price with
extended layoff in Feb & March this year. Look at the graph, a very stupid way of easing
into a physically punishing pastime like running. And in May too, my first 5k, I thrashed my
way around the course, searing calf pain ensued and I took at least a week out after that.
Beginner fail number 2 - not pacing correctly for a race! 

(by the way, things with the calfs are much better now, I have learnt how to take it easy
and slow down. Stop chasing the PB’s on my phone’s running app). 

But through all my searching for answers, and my stubbornness I have learnt so much.
I’ve learnt so much about myself, my body, about patience and persistence. And through
searching for answers I joined twitter. After reading lots of running blogs and finding inspiration
there I started blogging myself. I found the @ukrunchat twitter group, and a whole community
of runners. Without the running fails I’m not sure if I would be gearing up for my first half
marathon. Maybe I’d have just gotten bored and given up, with apathy like I did back in
2016. I almost relish the difficulty and risk of failure. If it was easy, what would the point be? 

This isn’t me in the pic here, because this guy seems to have good technique! 

What I have also noticed, after reading so many blog posts and articles the past 6
months, is that the subject of running & failure seems to go hand in hand, or at least
they exist as very close neighbours. A couple of additional pieces on the link between
running and failure written by more qualified people can be found below. The mental aspect
of running is something that I am starting to find fascinating. 

But for now, thanks again to Steven here at http://www.runninggeekblog.blogspot.com
for letting me do a guest blog. You can find me on twitter @strugglinrunner and my own
blog can be found at https://strugglinrunner.wordpress.com. I’m out for an 11k training run
this Sunday morning, 7:30am sharp! I am really looking forward to just being out there! 

https://trailrunnermag.com/training/dream-big-and-go-for-it.html

https://www.psychologies.co.uk/what-running-taught-me-about-failure

Photo credits: 

Photo by Ian Kim on Unsplash

Photo by Josh Sorenson on Unsplash

Photo by Jenny Hill on Unsplash