I’m overdue a training update, and we’re way over halfway since I started training! I can’t believe I started training in November, that it’s now April (just, almost May), and only 4 months until I hit the pavement and attempt to run 21.1km.
The last time I posted I was mid-March, and I had just managed to come down with my first few injuries:
- Achilles Tendonitis
- Calf strain
- Sore right knee (my bad one that I had a knee recon for)
I’m happy to say those injuries are now gone, and I’m back on track with training.
Let’s see how the last 4 weeks have gone.
Revised training plan
I had to take off a few weeks to let my body get better. I was walking a little bit, but there was zero running whatsoever. My physio had given me some strengthening and exercise stretches to do, and thankfully they have really helped. I’m still doing them before/after training sessions just to make sure I’m ready to go.
The problem was that because of the break my training plan had advanced beyond what I was comfortable with. I wasn’t ready to head off for a 10km+ run on the weekend; at that point I was worried about 5km again.
I cancelled my plan in the Nike+ training app and started again. I’m at the tail end of week 4, and last week I only ran twice but of that I did an 8.5km long run. This week I’ll have clocked up about 15 – 16km for the week; excluding all my walking workouts I’ve been doing (some tracked in Garmin, some tracked in other apps). My body is holding up great, which I’m super happy with. There was a little tightness last night after my run, but a few stretches and this morning there’s no niggles at all.
Visual progress
Here’s how the last two months have looked.
March
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April
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Upcoming plans
This month the goal is to just stick to my running plan as best as I can; do my workouts and don’t get injured.
There’s a huge complication though.
I’ve made the team for a competition with my running club, Potterhead Running Club. It is competitive. If you’re familiar with the Harry Potter movies, essentially I’ve just made the Quidditch team for Ravenclaw, and as I’ve come to learn, not everyone gets picked for the team so I’m pretty excited. I’m also extremely daunted.
The next Quidditch cup competition starts on the 1st of May and runs for 2 weeks straight. It’s intense. I didn’t realise the extent of what I was getting myself into when I signed up, and I’ve come to realise just how big an event this is for the club. There are teams of cheerleaders with a purpose of cheering and motivating those of us that made the team! There are substitutes, and reserve runners. There are people who have made public posts about how devastated they are to have missed out.
This thing is serious.
What is the Quidditch Cup?
Here’s what’s involved:
The competition runs for 2 weeks straight, no breaksDuring those 2 weeks you need to get as much intentional mileage as you can each day, to a max of 15mi per day (approx 28km)Intentional mileage means that you have gone for a walk or run intentionally. For example, getting miles from going to the shops or walking around the office doesn’t count. But if you walk around the shops just for the sake of walking, not shopping, that counts. If you go for a walk around the block before buying a coffee, that counts. If you park your car further away than usual so you have to walk further to get into the office, that counts. Get it?There are ways of earning and losing pointsEach “house” within the club has 3 teams that are competing against one of the other house teams, and then there are other teams who has a goal purely of getting more miles than others (not one specific team)I’m on a team that is competing against one other specific team (they’re from the Slytherin house) [...] read more