It all started back on the previous weekend of 9-10th of Feb. My motivation was waning severely (Which straight away should have rang alarm bells for over training!) as I usually can't wait to get out on my key sessions, especially at the weekend; however being pretty dedicated and determined I decided to push on regardless. The Saturday ride didn't go great, having been supposed to make a two hour ride, I made 30 minutes outside, before coming back to complete the remaining 90 minutes on the turbo. The weather was raining and bitterly cold. I'd left the house ill prepared and wasn't going to stay out: 30 Min Sat Ride. The turbo ride after was OK, and I didn't feel too bad.
Fast forward to Sunday 10th. I woke up to the howling wind and rain and immediately felt downbeat at having to do my long run. I saved it for the afternoon and had a decent amount of lunch before setting out. The run itself was brutal, outbound was against the icey wind and rain and it was a struggle all the way. Relief at the turnaround, my legs felt really tired as did I. I was seriously cold as well, the puddles on the path were huge and unavoidable too so my socks and feet were sopping wet. However the last mile I did not feel great, my left knee was giving me a fair bit of pain which is unusual, so when I eventually made it home I was practically limping and was ever so relieved to be, in one piece or not.
I shunned the knee pain as tiredness, as I was pretty chuffed at having hit all my training goals for the second week on the trot, but I was soon to find out I had paid the price to get there!
I awoke the Monday (My complete rest day, thanks Don!) feeling horrendous, I felt as if I'd been out and had about 10 pints the night before! Made it into work, but then called it a day at 11.30am, and shot home and into bed. Slept all afternoon, evening and night! Safe to say I think I pushed a little too hard at the weekend, and had a mild bit of exhaustion Monday. Looking back I didn't get my usual 7-8 hours sleep each night, and was up early both Saturday and Sunday doing other things. I'll be fine by Tuesday I thought.
After having spent most of Tuesday driving to Bournemouth and back for a meeting, I eventually set out on my usual Tuesday night run. Today's was due to be an hour long, and I set out around the lit streets close to my house. As soon as I did, I knew I didn't feel right, and my left foot was in pain. Both above and below the arch was causing me about 5/10 pain. After a few minutes I turned around and jogged back to my car. Gutting is not the word when discovering an injury. Especially after having been so exhausted the day before. I got home and straight away iced the foot, and decided not to also do the scheduled swim session in preference of some more rest. Thinking back now it was obvious to me I had pushed too hard the weekend prior and effects were still rearing their head.
I think the pain was mild plantar fasciitis (sp?) which I experienced just before London Triathlon in 2012, in my right foot though, again when overtraining! A week or so off it, and some rest and it never came back. Here's hoping!
In light of Tuesday nights goings on I cancelled Wednesday nights scheduled run, and pinned my hopes on Friday. The first couple of miles felt good, but soon the pain had returned, albeit slightly duller, probably 3/10. I was easily able to run through it to meet the session goal of 1:15, but decided to be wiser and cut it short at 0:40 minutes. More sad feeling at the prospect of an ongoing injury! I also took the couch time to have a look at my trainers, and after having seen I'd covered just over 350 miles in them (ripe for replacement) to my shock I discovered the below.
I've never really taken time to have a good look at them before, its usually just a case of lacing up, and getting out there! The whole left hand side of the right shoe had come apart, and the left shoe was just starting to go too. Probably another contributing reason for my left foot pain!
So on the Saturday I took a visit to my local running shop to invest in some new runners through necessity. I got fitted, and the guy that run the shop noted I have a very neutral gait on my right foot, with a very slight overpronation on my left. Another possible reason for the left foot arch pain. After trying a couple of different pairs we settled on the below Brooks Defyance 6. The right foot remained stable and neutral, and the left trainer addressed the overpronation and kept my foot nice and neutral. Happy days.
I went home happy in the knowledge that my shoe fit should now be in a good place.
After lunch I set off on my bike for what should have been a solid heart rate Z2 2:30 ride. Unfortunately this didn't quite come off either. (See here for the Strava data). Luckily the weather this weekend was great for the time of the year. 6-7 degrees, dry, and sunny. As a result I decided on taking the TT bike out for its first outing. Now, bearing in mind I'm a 25 year old man, I got excited like a school child :shakes head: All I wanted to do was to go as fast as possible on my shiny TT toy. I went out way too hard, and looked down after about 20 mins in the saddle to see a heart rate of 170bpm! This should have been more like 130-150 to be in Z2!!
(Be honest, you'd be excited riding it too, its beautiful! BEAST!)
My overzealous pedalling, teamed with my first time in a while on the aerobars all contributed to keeping my HR above 160bpm for most of the ride. After about 1:50 I was dying on my saddle. Lactate had really set in and my quads were liquefied and burning. They felt next to useless, and I just couldn't get any rhythm, let alone keep my average speed up. Eventually I scraped myself along the last couple of roads to home, and was back in 2:05. 25 minutes early, and several HR zones too high. Bugger. I spent the rest of the afternoon drinking some SIS Rego, and quietly dieing on the sofa.
Following Saturday's debacle, and my ongoing foot issue I wasn't too hopeful for my Sunday run, especially given it would be in a new pair of daps. I set out with the intention just to run as far as my foot felt comfortable, and keen not to go too hard, especially in trainers I'd never run in. I was home exactly 15 minutes later. An hour early according to Fink! Double bugger. (Strava data here)
So a long story, and a lot of lessons learnt this weekend. To sum up (mostly for my benefit I'm sure)
Know your limits, listen to yourself so not to overtrain!
Don't ride too fast because you are excited to be on your TT bike, and know your limits.
Stick to your HR zones and key session goals as well as knowing your limits.
Consider what your doing, and don't just go for sessions because your Don Fink book says so.
Know your limits.
OK, so I'm done sounding like an alcohol abuse awareness poster :honest: , here's to hoping next weekend can be a little more successful. :)
