This week I increased the kilometer volume again after a week of recovery. The aches and pains are gone, but I haven’t included a speed session yet.
Workouts 1 and 3 went extremely well. My first session was a great easy run when I was still away for Easter weekend. And my third session was also a lovely long run, the sun was out for the first time this year, and the legs felt okayish. I did some boxing sessions this week as well that’s why my legs still felt sore from those workouts. My second run was horrendous, I hit the so-called wall, feared by many runners. I still need to analyze where that came from, but I haven’t felt this bad on a run in a long while. I somehow think that it was a combination of work stress and lack of sleep. Another contributing factor might be that the temperature has been rising in the last few days. This, of course, increases the heart rate. All of my easy runs have been in a heart rate zone, that was too high, unfortunately. This means that I will have to decrease my speed or start working out at times when it is less warm.
The term hitting the wall or bonk comes from a sudden loss of energy. This comes from a depletion of glycogen stores in the liver and muscles. The depletion can be solved by either resting or the intake of carbohydrates. During a marathon runners usually hit this wall or bonk run around kilometer 30. Therefore, it is essential for marathon runners that they have their nutrition in order. Usually, it is advised to take some gels or other forms of carbohydrates, every 45 minutes of the marathon.
As this is a super important aspect of the marathon I will have to experiment more with nutritional plans.
Next week I will include another speed session. Let's see how that goes.