You have to listen to your body. I nearly typed you sometimes have to listen, but actually you always need to listen to it and I had to do just that, last week.
In February, I spent almost four weeks travelling in Australia, a mix of work and leisure. I did some exercise, including running every day, but it was less than I would normally do. Three days after landing back in the UK I set off on an ambitious programme of work (lots of webinars and meetings) and exercise (running with Redhill Road Runners and Crossfit – with Crossfit Comet)..
On Friday, 28 February, I participated in my first CrossFit Games. (It was very tiring; for example, it included 63 jump-over dumbbell burpees.) On Sunday, 2 March, I participated in the North Lincs half marathon, my first of the year. I ran the marvellously flat 21 km in 1 hour 52 minutes and 26 seconds, finishing 775 out of 1698. During the week, I did a regular training session with my running club and a regular CrossFit session.
Friday, 7 March, was the second round of the CrossFit games, which was also tricky. Sunday, 9 March, was the Wolfpit Fell Race in Derbyshire. The distance was only 9 km, but the climb was a brutal 450 metres. In the fell race I finished 181st out of 214 runners. In fell races, my ranking is much lower than in popular races such as ParkRuns and half marathons, as there are fewer occasional runners in a fell race. During the week, I again included a training session with the running club and a CrossFit session.
Friday, 14 March, was the final week of the CrossFit Games, and I was pleased that it was my best position of the three rounds. Overall, of the 991 men aged 66 to 70 worldwide, I finished 720 out of 991. I have only been doing CrossFit for one year (I started it to help with my running), so I am happy with that as my first score – but I want to do better next year.
Sunday, March 16, was the Bath Half Marathon, and I could feel that I was not 100% in condition. I looked after my resources and did not push as hard as the previous two weeks, and I finished 3.5 minutes slower than my North Lincs run two weeks before. My time was 1 hour, 56 minutes, and 1 second, and I placed 6,577th out of 11,125 runners.
Monday, I saw a training session with my running club, and I could feel the absence of bounce in my legs. But it was Tuesday when I realised the body battery was running seriously low. I went to CrossFit, and it was a 28-minute EMOM. There were 7 exercises and we did each one for a minute and did the entire set 7 times (EMOM means every minute, on the minute). The exercises included rowing, cycling, skiing, pushups, knee raises while hanging from a bar, lifting a 30kg sandbag onto my shoulder, and jumping onto a box. I had to scale back my effort in order to last the 28 minutes, and afterwards, I felt completely drained.
My final key event of this period of craziness was the Sheffield half marathon, which is today, 23 March. This route starts with an 8 km uphill. After Tuesday, I knew that I needed to bring the fatigue down and permit some healing. So, from Wednesday to Saturday, there was no more CrossFit, and my runs were slow 3 to 4 km streak savers. My body said throttle back, and I throttled back.
The rest period seems to have worked. I completed the Sheffield Marathon in 1 hour 50 minutes and 25 seconds, my fastest half marathon this year. I finished in 2,197th position out of 6,484 runners and 24th out of the 145 men aged 60 to 69.
One of the highlights of this month of activity was running three half marathons with my son William, especially the Bath half marathon, which we ran in memory of Kris Hallenga, the founder of CoppaFeel! Together, Will and I have raised just over £600 pounds, and we are hoping to push it to £700, so if you can make a small donation, please visit our fundraising page.
My message to everybody who has got this far through the blog, is that you have to listen to your body. If your body says throttle back (from sport, from work, from whatever), listen and throttle back.
Here are a few images from this month:
