Paul Petch

The aftermath of peaking…

It has now been two weeks since I “peaked” and after the 49km run I had to pick myself up and get out for a further 15KM on the Tuesday. Having run such a long way just a few days prior, this was the last thing that I wanted to do…….and it was obvious that I had met my physical and mental limits too- as by Thursday I was pretty much like a zombie. It seems that after nearly 5 days-  things finally caught up with me and I had no choice but to skip the 45min run and rest up for the weekend. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, mountain biking with friends is always an option when I’ve been “burnt” so last weekend I headed up to the Hills to ride to Godley again.

Falling apart

I wish that I could say that it was a good day out there- but I was still feeling pretty beat up was feeling quite depressed and negative about everything. I was aching and hurting- but it was the total and utter mental exhaustion and feeling “utterly empty” that was the hardest part after pushing myself to their limits. It was awesome to catch up with mates and get out and do something other than running- but I was just eager to cover the distance, get home and curl into a ball. This week has been the toughest since I started my training to be honest with a threatening “head cold”- an absolutely flat out schedule at work (busiest this year)- feeling totally exhausted and now into tapering- feeling paranoid about every ache and pain. Talking of aches and pains, my Hamstrings and Glutes have been so tight and tender that sitting around has been pretty uncomfy. With such tender Hammys and Glutes it triggered a bit of Piriformis Syndrome (why always syndrome? lol). This syndrome has been yet another one that I’ve kept at bay and managed over the months with some regular stretching exercises. But the cycling on the weekend and being totally abused just days prior had pissed it off so that stretching had no chance. By Tuesday I was really happy to let Dorothy get into my legs and Glutes….. with some serious deep tissue and trigger point massage as the afternoon run was quite uncomfortable. Wednesday I called in sick at work, threw down some Voltaren and spent the whole day in bed watching movies feeling very sorry for myself and aching in places that I never knew I could ache from the massage. What a terrible week……and how I’ve come back to earth with a clunk :(

Picking myself up

After such an epic 4 months of training I was expecting some kind of tiredness after “peaking” , but it was the mental exhaustion that really finished me off. Having reached my goal of running a marathon distance I kind of gave up mentally and my poor body followed.

But that was then- and today is another day where that crap stops and I get back to business. Thankfully, I’ve managed to keep my training on track even though I struggled to even put on my runners…..and I now understand why one has to taper….to recover- both physically & mentally. Having become accustomed to 70+ KM a week- the new regime of 50% less feels kind of odd and dare I say quite foreign! Whats interesting is how much running really fast in a short period of time hurts more than running for 3hrs! Amazing. But I’m on my feet and moving forward and I’ve shaken the head cold, blues and lack of energy…..and more importantly the Hamstring/ Glute/ Piriformis niggles. Phew.

Tomorrow I’m back in the hills with a 1.5hr run with next week following the same amount of KM’s as this week I’ll be close! With the Kepler on the 5th of December, the week leading to it will have just 3 20min runs and then it’s time to let loose. It does feel strange to be running less and I do feel a bit “fat” but I have to be strong and trust my plan.

Forward, up & over…… business as usual :)

p.s. Dorothy you are a legend and with out your magic touch I would not have got to this point! Thank you so so much :)

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Related posts:

1. My first ultra marathon distance of 49KM
2. Training, goals & ITB syndrome
3. Over cooking it & some well deserved respite
4. First week of Kepler training DONE :)
5. Kepler Challenge – some ultra marathon training tips

This entry was posted on Friday, November 20th, 2009 at 5:57 pm and is filed under Running and tagged with kepler challenge, massage, piriformis syndrome, tapering, Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.