A step back?

After a solid week's training last week I was looking forward to more of the same, but also preparing myself for a challenging week with three job interviews in three days. Monday's club run was scuppered by arriving home late after getting stuck in traffic coming back from the first of these interviews. I ran on Tuesday but didn't enjoy it, struggling the whole way with stitch and a "swishy" stomach after the second interview and a rushed lunch. On a more positive note I received my goodies from Brooks Running which had been kindly sent by Women's Running magazine after I took part in their Great Debate for the March issue. The top and capri tights they sent were a great fit, really comfortable and looked good on. I find some tights too shiny but these looked soft but matt.

 

On Tuesday evening we went to a great pop-up restaurant or "roaming kitchen" concept, which I've profiled in another blog post.

Wednesday was round three of "interview week" and I woke up with a sore throat and itchy ears and nose. The interview was in London and I travelled down on the train along with hundreds of families with children visiting the capital at half-term. After my interview I met up with friends for a few drinks and caught a train back just after 8pm beginning to feel like my cold was properly taking hold and promptly flopping into bed for a very long sleep when I arrived home at about 10:30.

So when I woke up on Thursday I'd pretty much decided that I was going to have to play my joker for Jantastic this week and "be sensible"; giving my body a proper rest and recovery. The only problem with this being my complete inability to pay attention to other aspects of health when the training part goes out of the window... Cue eating "bad food", drinking too much and not doing any stretching, foam-rolling etc. I don't know why I find it so hard, but I do know that this week was made more difficult by Guy being off work too and us having arranged various catch-ups with friends, all involving eating and drinking. Some of it though (yesterday's chocolate bar) was just me, searching for something to comfort myself...

A little ray of sunshine in the form of a lovely competition win appeared on Thursday; I'd entered a Tribesports comp on Facebook and was pleased to have my entry picked to win £100 in vouchers which I'm looking forward to spending on more new kit!

I was intending to travel to London with club on Saturday for the National Cross Country championships but again, decided it was too much - a long day on the coach, a hard run and potential for getting wet and cold just seemed too much too soon so again I rested, making time to watch a film and practice connecting walls for my audition for Only Connect, which is on Friday. I felt quite low though, I think that not running, and particularly missing my mates and the more social aspects of running, is quite hard for me to deal with. I spent a lot of time questioning and doubting my decision not to run, and feeling sad seeing other people's pictures or status updates about their parkrun, training run or XC race. Do other people feel like this too?

As for Sunday's long run, I'm still undecided. I haven't gone out with the usual crew this morning, and whilst I feel a bit better today I'm thinking that I might need just one more day's rest so I can start afresh tomorrow...