Karen writes: Nearly Ultra-ready
Less than 4 weeks to go to my first 50 km run. That means my training is reaching the pointy end, what I do training-wise from now on will make not a whole lot of difference to performance on the day, but injuries and bugs may. As far as injury goes, this is the point where I become accident prone. Like last week when I climbed a low crash barrier at the side of the road, hooked my foot, and did an inelegant little dive-roll in the gravel. Then I made the mistake of getting going again, and running the 5km home on adrenaline after which I was useless for days. That is one thing about being hypothyroid, there is not much I can't do if I work up gradually and take things easy, ie, sneak up on my fitness, but I have only got a certain amount of reserve and once I exceed my limits I need to recover. So 4 unplanned days were taken completely off but fortunately my energy was back and the bruises gone by Sunday which was just in time for my last really long run of 37 km.
That is a long way to run! I felt pretty good though with the exception of the lingering cranky ankles. This problem shows up at about 22-25 km of my long runs at the moment, and means after that point I will do anything to avoid uneven surfaces because the sideways motions hurts and a wince-run gait is not a good look (or feel). I'm managing it by icing when I get home, lots of anti-flam, and of course searching the internet for miracle cures. I have as usual seen the doom and gloom 'everything will fall apart and you will need surgery' write-ups, the 'take this miracle plant from the desert and all will be good' declarations, and the 'exercise this obscure muscle/strengthen that one/stretch something else in impossible ways' propositions. Probably I need to stop doing these absurd distances soon-ish because the only really mad thing might be expecting no consequences at all for repeatedly going out and spending 4+ hours running on the road.
So Sunday's run was probably my last really long effort, I enjoyed it and felt immense satisfaction when I finally staggered up the driveway feeling better than I had expected. I always feel a bit sad at this stage in any lead-up, and I cant help but think that I may never be as fit as I am now and wonder how long can I keep doing this. A really cool message came round the other day from the RiverRun100 people, it fits exactly how I feel right now...
That is a long way to run! I felt pretty good though with the exception of the lingering cranky ankles. This problem shows up at about 22-25 km of my long runs at the moment, and means after that point I will do anything to avoid uneven surfaces because the sideways motions hurts and a wince-run gait is not a good look (or feel). I'm managing it by icing when I get home, lots of anti-flam, and of course searching the internet for miracle cures. I have as usual seen the doom and gloom 'everything will fall apart and you will need surgery' write-ups, the 'take this miracle plant from the desert and all will be good' declarations, and the 'exercise this obscure muscle/strengthen that one/stretch something else in impossible ways' propositions. Probably I need to stop doing these absurd distances soon-ish because the only really mad thing might be expecting no consequences at all for repeatedly going out and spending 4+ hours running on the road.
So Sunday's run was probably my last really long effort, I enjoyed it and felt immense satisfaction when I finally staggered up the driveway feeling better than I had expected. I always feel a bit sad at this stage in any lead-up, and I cant help but think that I may never be as fit as I am now and wonder how long can I keep doing this. A really cool message came round the other day from the RiverRun100 people, it fits exactly how I feel right now...
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