No rest for the wicked really! On Monday we did it, we booked our flights to Jo’Burg and paid our deposit for the Kalahari Augrabies Extreme Marathon (KAEM). So no turning back now. After doing that, thought I better watch some more YouTube videos about it to get a better feel…….Oh. My. Lord. What have we signed up for?! Looks amazingly awesome and tough, after reading some blogs by people that have done both Marathon Des Sables and KAEM, they say that KAEM is the tougher of the two!
So the training plan begins…Monday was really a rest day, did do a little cycle, cycled 7 miles to work Tuesday and ran the 7 back home. Legs weren’t feeling too bad at all. Wednesday saw another run back home, just in time to make it to http://www.g4physio.co.uk/ for a late 8.30pm appointment with Kamilla who really gave me a work over on the legs. She found tight spots in both calves and absolutely murdered them. Close to tears, but not quite, from me that is, not Kamilla! Drank loads of water that night & put the feet up to relax. The next morning I felt great, still a little fatigued in the calves so thought I better listen to the body and take a rest day, stole Hubsters car for the day to give me a full day off the legs. By Friday I was spot on, fresh as a daisy. Ran to work and cycled home again. Had an early shift on Saturday so cycled to work and made a timely getaway to fit in a 20 mile run home. Took the Ashton canal all the way to Stalybridge and headed back home via Mottram, Hyde & Stockport. 20miles reached at Stockport & as I knew Dion was at home with cricket being called off, called him for a lift 😉 Cheat I know but I was done mentally knowing he was at home in the warmth with a bottle of wine and videos!
Good use of compression socks and ForQuad had me ready and raring for a 10 mile run to back it up on Sunday morning with the delightful company of Dion, before meeting our friends for breakfast at 10am. Amazing what you can get done on an early start!
All in all not a bad week for a ‘recovery’ week. I felt so much better this week after the 34 mile ultra compared to the Manchester Marathon, think the trail and the speed (or lack thereof) helps with that, less strenuous on the body overall.
My sexy pink compression socks!
Running Dutchie 