She’s usually a fizzing ball of enthusiasm but with six weeks to go Lorna has a massive dose of marathon blues and a dollop of manflu. She ain’t happy.
Name: Lorna Mann
Age: 29
Marathon history: First marathon – London 2013
Goal: to finish in one piece!
What I learnt this week: Sometimes your legs just won’t move. Sometimes your eyes just won’t open. Sometimes you just shouldn’t get out of bed. This is not ideal to learn with six weeks to go till a marathon.
Pride definitely comes before a fall. And oh how the mighty have fallen. Almost immediately after filing last week’s blog I crashed. It was as if I had been dropped from the top of Empire State Building and left to crash into the pavement down to the subway for everyone to point and laugh.
I had been told that I’d crash after running a race – especially as I was so apprehensive, so excited, so proud of achieving something and I thought I’d prepared myself for that but oh no, I was wrong. In all honesty I just thought I’d be hell to be around for a couple of days, thought I’d just have mood swings like the teenager I once was and thought I’d be a little more tired than usual. No no, this week was worse than that. I haven’t had an appetite. I haven’t been able to train in the gym. I haven’t been able to stop sleeping. I haven’t had the strength to run nearly as much as I should have but I had the strength to fight the advice and help offered to me. In conclusion I’m so annoyed with myself I want to punch my reflection.
I thought I was tougher than I was, stronger than I am and thought I was able to take to training like water off a ducks back. I can’t and accepting I’m wrong is hard.
I tried turning to some of my fantastic support network for advice. I explained how selfishly annoyed I am with myself and how utterly petrified I am about not being able to get around the 26.2mile course. Saying it out loud didn’t help… it just put me in an even worse state of panic. I can’t lie – right now I’m scared. I thought I was tougher than I was, stronger than I am and thought I was able to take to training like water off a ducks back. I can’t and accepting I’m wrong is hard and I’m having trouble swallowing my pride.
What I’ve decided to do it write this past week off as a disaster. There’s no denying it happened and there’s no denying that there are lessons to be learned from it but I’m just not ready to accept them yet. Tomorrow is another day and the start of a new week’s training and I’m going to hold my head up high and try my best. I’m also going to do my utmost to actually accept the advice given to me, try to take pride in the fact that I have so much to learn, so much to achieve before I get to race day and accept the help that’s offered to me and listen. I just may need a hug after the week is out and a shoulder or two to cry on. Wish me luck!
Weekly training stats: Miles/kms covered: an embarrassingly weak 10km.
Tuesday 5 March
Rest day
Wednesday 6 March
60 mins hot yoga at Yotopia
Thursday 7 March
Attempted 60 mins leg training with Personal Trainer James McGill/Gymbox Covent Garden. Had to give up after 45mins as legs were like rocks.
Friday 8 March
Another abandoned session of leg work/lower body stretches with Personal Trainer James McGill/Gymbox Covent Garden (we managed about 30 mins)
Saturday 9 March
Forced to rest – sicker than sick
Sunday 10 March
10k run. It was slow, painful and I felt like I’d been put through a blender but at least I did it.
Monday 11 March
Still sick but got through one hour of yoga and a 30min swim (although it felt like a swim through treacle)
Running tracks of the week: Jay-Z , My 1st Song. Santigold, The Keepers. Kanye, Stronger.
Read Lorna’s earlier marathon training blogs here.
