We entered into the second week of my preparation for the marathon in Amsterdam!
This week showed that it doesn’t always go according to plan…
But the most important thing is to understand where an issue comes from and to tackle it head on!
if you read on you’ll understand what I mean…
Monday
The start of the week was already not great!
Started my morning run at 5h20am but the legs felt heavy and were hurting, it got a bit better after I was properly warmed up but still the run felt heavier than it should have been, especially since it was a normal easy pace run.
Was this already a sign of troubles in paradise?
Late in the afternoon, around 4pm I climbed on my Virtufit bike and launched my first Swift workout plan.
The bike session was a 3 x 3 minutes VO2 max session (well don’t know where they get that VO2 max from, but my HR was far from reaching my VO2 max and I was giving it pretty much all!).
The bike session went pretty good in comparison with my morning run, and after the session, the legs were also less stiff.
Tuesday
Still not feeling 100% but I did my run workout session of the day.
On the schedule was a 20K in total, consisting of:
5K warm-up
5 x 400meters @ 4min/km + 600 meters @ easy pace
2K easy pace
5 x 400meters @ 4min/km + 600 meters @ easy pace
3K cool-down
It turned out to be a very painful session due to an annoying feeling at my right side around my hip area.
The longer into the run, the worse it got, but I still stuck through until the end.
When I got back home I noticed that the right side was becoming very stiff so I decided to take a cold bath to sooth the muscles.
Wednesday
Total distance on the schedule was 15K split into 2 runs.
The first run was just before lunch time and it went a bit better than expected.
Still that annoying feeling at my right side, but it was manageable.
More and more I’m trying to analyse where this is all coming from…
Currently I’m thinking more and more that it’s coming from my lower back.
In the evening went on a short 3K run with Cindy, my cutie.
Thursday
From the moment I got up in the morning I knew that things weren’t good.
The pain was a lot worse, my complete neck, shoulders, back, hips and right leg were acting up.
Still went out for my run at 5h30am but couldn’t do more than 5K due to the amount of pain!
This is the moment where I needed to take action immediately!
For me this was all a sign that something is really stuck and is causing a lot of issues.
What I usually do when something is stuck, is call my osteopath and have myself checked out, which is what I did, the moment he started working I got on the phone and made an appointment.
Got an appointment for later in the morning and he confirmed immediately that there is a lot of stress build up in my neck and shoulders.
He loosened everything up and my body would need a couple of days to return back to normal (hopefully!?)
Friday
Still taking it easy and limiting myself to 5K (or around 30 minutes).
The pace for my run today was really slow as I felt like I needed to run a lot slower.
It was still a painful run though…
The neck and shoulders are getting a bit better, lower back seems to become worse…
Saturday
Managed to complete a 5K at a bit of a faster pace.
But that doesn’t mean that I’m already a lot better.
Once I’m running then the pain is manageable, only in the first 2-300 meters it’s difficult.
Furthermore I walk a bit weird during the day.
Neck and shoulders are a lot better, the stress on my head itself is also less.
I do notice that the lower back seems to keep acting up, something that I noticed less earlier in the week, perhaps that the stress in my neck and shoulders were masking the pain in my lower back?
In case you are wondering how I’m further treating this:
– Massage gun a couple of times a day
– Cold bath for my complete lower body after my run (this will help to cool of your muscles and also prevents inflammation!)
– Soothing gel at my back/right hip before I go to bed
– Massages from my super girlfriend!
Sunday
When I got up in the morning my Garmin watch gave me a training readiness of 100 “Prime”.
That couldn’t be better, right?
WRONG as I can’t go on my long run in prime condition, CRAP!
Lower back still not better, even needed to take a couple of painkillers since I needed to walk a lot as we went to the zoo with the kids.
I’m usually not somebody that takes a painkiller easily, so the pain was really uncomfortable!
Late in the afternoon I headed out for my run, which went pretty good under the circumstances.
But I know I’m not better yet unfortunately…
Summary
As you can see this was not a good week at all!
Normally my distance for the week should have been 120Km, including 2 run workouts, 3 bike and 2 strength & conditioning sessions.
I needed to skip out on a lot, but I got to make sure that I give my body the possibility to get better. If I force myself then who knows, I might not be able to participate in Amsterdam.
For the moment I keep doing runs around 5K maximum and will see where I get.
This setback does not mean that I abandon my 3:20 goal, this remains my goal and I will fight to try and reach it, you can be sure about that!
I also have an idea where the underlying issue with my back is coming from.
2 weeks ago I did a trail marathon, which normally should have been a 25K run instead of 42K. But due to some distance that I missed in a couple of runs in that week I tried to catch it up.
Pretty sure that this messed me up and I forced my back.
This is also a big wakeup call that my core is very weak, not only my back muscles but also my abdomen, and that I need to work on that!
That’s all the information I have to share about my second week of training for project 3:20!
If you have any questions or remarks, drop a comment down below or send me a DM on instagram!
