Sabotage

I had a great long run yesterday, 2 hours of steady work split into 1 hour loops. I was running ‘easy’ but I was also conscious in the back of my head that 7:30 pace would make the maths very easy – 8mph. Glad to say I was pretty much spot on,  with the final total being 16.2 miles – a slight negative split. The last few miles were slightly harder work, but I didn’t look at my watch and so hadn’t realised that my speed had actually increased! 

However, the purpose of this post isn’t to talk about the run; it’s actually to talk about what I did after. By the evening I was feeling pretty grotty. My legs were aching and I’d lacked energy all day - a bit of autumn pruning in the garden had almost finished me off. Lying on the couch (admittedly glass of wine in hand) I realised that I’d actually sabotaged my own day. All the things that we are taught as runners on the necessity of good recovery had gone out of the window. The truth was that after returning from the run, we had headed over to a local cafe for a full English (“hey I’ve just done 16 miles, I deserve it” you say to yourself) followed by lots of sitting on the sofa, not hydrating properly and then tucking into the alcohol in the evening. It was a proper face-plant moment.

Artist's impression of the Crime Scene. This is what Lust looks like.

Now I’m not saying that we should all live like monks, but If I’d come back and taken the time to properly hydrate and rest, maybe loosen the legs with a massage/foam roller, wear loose & relaxed clothing instead of jeans, or put on my compression tights, I probably would have felt a lot better instead of grumping round the house like a bear with a sore head. It’s the little things we do to ourselves which often make the difference between success and failure.

We all fall off the wagon occasionally, but we have to accept that sometimes we actually throw ourselves off, under the wheels and let the horses trample over us. 

Then we get up and wonder why it hurts.