In what will be a surprise to ABSOLUTELY FREAKING NO ONE, continuing my regular frequency of strength classes (4-5 a week) while upping the running mileage to train for a marathon has left me feeling worn out and creaky. It became apparent to me right before we left for our trip. I was in class lifting the minimum (mostly because of a pulled muscle but still) and was like “I don’t remember the last time I’ve really pushed myself here! I’m just going through the motions.” Oops?
I was hopeful my almost-40 body would easily adapt to the increased mileage and still allow me to go all out in class, but hello reality! And science (especially gravity)!. Ha ha ha. This is where I really figured I would be – creaky and a little low on energy. I’d likely be here at peak week of marathon training regardless if I was lifting.
So! The marathon is three weeks from tomorrow. I have one more biggish week of running and am thinking about skipping a class to get some more sleep. Then I plan to cut down on running after the race (still doing one long run a week, but less than 15 miles) and get back to pushing myself at strength class.
That’s the plan for now anyway! I want to get back to the energy levels I felt before running so much (which is a bit of a conundrum – mentally I absolutely love all the running, but this is not sustainable year-round).
All that being said, I had a wonderful 20 miler yesterday. I’m a bit shocked, because my sleep has been garbage since we got back from Europe, and I woke up with a super low body battery, but I got out there and felt strong. A little bored at the end, but that won’t be the case at the race!
All signs point to you being ready for the race! Three weeks out – check. Worn out – check. Wonderful if boring toward the end 20 miler – check!
They totally do! I am excited for the race!
I think the “almost 40-something body” is an important point – I’ve found that I need a lot more sleep and recovery time than I used to. It’s OKAY to cut back on classes right now to focus on your marathon training. They’ll be there after the race and will probably help you recover 🙂
For real! People come to the super early class and have gotten hardly any sleep and I am like HOW. But they are sometimes a little younger than me (or like, a decade+, ha). And yes they will be! It will feel good to get back to it at the same level a little (or a lot) after the race!
One of my friends at my gym is always trying to get me to come to the early classes with her but I just don’t have that in me anymore (I’ll do it if my schedule is crazy but prefer not to). She’s 65 and I’m the one who needs more sleep 😂 I’m convinced some people just don’t need a ton of sleep, but I sure do!!
That’s what gets me to the earlier classes too – if I absolutely have to do it because of an early meeting and being busy right after work!
And thanks for that reminder – we are all different!
Seems like marathon training has gone so well for you! I think it’s important to just figure out what you want more: lots of running miles and pushing yourself less in your strength classes OR being able to push yourself more in your strength classes and running fewer miles. (To me, it sounds like you want the latter!)
That is exactly what I need to figure out and I think that is it! The crazy thing is I weigh more when I run more because I eat more. I would like to get that in check too.