Ooredoo ended and, briefly, I had nothing new to train for. Which was momentarily scary until I realised how freeing it was not to try to follow a training plan. At least for a couple of months anyway. But I was feeling pretty good, post marathon. Over the course of about 5 hours I transitioned from:

“no more running this month”

To

“no more running this week”

To

“ooh spaces going at the desert trail run next Friday”

And then I found myself online

Doha Dash 10K 9th Feb – entered

 

 

 

Aspire Aquathon 500 meter swim / 5K run 20th Feb & 16th April – entered

So, my body rebelled

Strains

A niggle in my hip flexor that I think I picked up during an energetic 1/2 mile sprint* in at January’s BMF fitness test on the Monday before the marathon worsened during the marathon, the hard impact of running on a concrete road for 4+ hours aggravating it. But the injury only manifested 2 days later, when I found myself in the embarrassing situation of having to do most of my 12 hour shift standing up as sitting was painful. By the end of the day walking was even a challenge and I had to make an emergency hobble to the local mall for cooling pads, Ibuprofen and a foam roller.

*Like The wile e coyote, I just could not help myself.

Strength & Stability

Upon diagnosing my sore hip using Doctor Internet, I found myself reading articles about weaknesses in the strength training routines of long distance runners. So as I reign in the distance for a couple of months, I will be using this extra time and energy in cross-training pursuits. My plan is to do BFM twice a week and I have just found a new set of Pilates classes which I can easily fit around my work schedule.

Facebook As A Source Of Information For Once

In fact, I did my first Pilates class last Thursday. I am a member of a FB Group called ‘Fitness Classes Doha‘ and an instructor in the discipline of ‘Stott Pilates‘ published their timetable at the International Physiotherapy Centre, which is on the edge of West Bay and a mere 4Ks from my hotel – which is perfect as I can walk or run to classes. The class itself, a beginner’s class, is awesome. The instructor, Lisa, took three of us through technique and proper form, it was great to do something like that again. My plan is to blitz this for about 3/4 weeks, going twice a week (when I can) and once I have got my form and technique back up to scratch and I am feeling more confident, I will switch to going just once a week.

Erm… This Is A Running Blog, So Where’s The Running?

I am really starting to think about transitioning my training into ultra-marathon distance running, but after spending the best part of 6 months training and maintaining for 42Ks I need a bit of a breather to let my legs recover and kick-start my strength and core programmes.

So, the Doha Dash 10K will not a race, just a chance to run 2 laps of the Losail Race Track and I am paying for the pleasure of spending an hour running there. The Aquathon is just something different, I will squeeze in some swimming training in the next 5 weeks and then use the first event as a benchmark ( I am hoping for a sub 45min in total – including transition) and I will simply aim to take time off of that – time – for the one in April.

In the meantime, I am looking at runs of 5 –  10K maybe 3 – 4 times a week until the end of Feb. Oh there may be a couple of longer ones in there every now and then, but I am only really looking to average between 30 and 40K per week.

Not So Exciting

So, not as adventurous as usual – no BIG or loooooooooonnnnnnnnnngggggggggg races coming up, but first quarter of 2016 is all about strength, stability and core conditioning. All things that I will need more of if I am serious about +42K running or if I just want to be a more efficient distance runner in general. Oh and I need to do bum exercises too, but more on that next time 😀