Burnout

I've learnt an important lesson about running this month: sometimes things other than running will affect my running.


I started off the month strong.  I had lots of energy, was running at a good pace with low perceived effort on training runs, and the kettlebell work is obviously starting to pay dividends as Henry, the office bodybuilder, complimented me on my muscular shoulders!


Then work started to get intense.  I was leading on three reviews that ended up being very delayed as the client was having an Ofsted inspection.  In the end it became clear that there was no way the work required could be done before I went on secondment on 19 February.  Which meant that I had to try to hack through as much as possible then get the files together for a detailed handover.  This involved several 16-18 hour days.  I can't even describe the kind of tunnel vision you develop when your day involves getting to the office by 6.30 am, leaving at 9 pm and then working at home until after midnight.  The stress of the situation was compounded by the fact that the client is in Sunderland, so I spent several days commuting and another few staying over in a grotty Travelodge.


I mistook the adrenaline that stress generates for energy and carried on quite an intensive training load, grouping most of my sessions around weekends.  One weekend I went for a meal out on Friday night, got home and decided to go for a 6 mile run, setting out at 10.30pm.  The following day I did an hour's circuit training in the morning before going for a 5 mile cross country run with Olly.  The next day I did a 12k treadmill session in the gym, including sprinting the last 2k at faster than 5k pace.


Needless to say, fatigue caught up with me big time.  I went out for a run one evening and felt awful.  My heart rate was high, I was breathless and I had sharp pains in my abdomen.  Perhaps most significantly, I had no appetite to run through the pain.  I turned around and jogged home.  At a shade over 3 miles it was my shortest run this year.  When I measured my resting heart rate that night it was 70, 10 bpm above my normal 60. 



I realised, belatedly, that I was burnt out.  For the next three days I did no running and no circuit training.  I was due to run in two races at the weekend, but was filled with dread about them.  I decided to give myself time off.  I rediscovered the things normal people do at weekends - shopping, baking and sleeping in.


By Sunday my resting heart rate was back down to 60 and I was more calm.  I felt ready to get back out there.  I was worried I might have lost form during my lay off, but I went out for a long run and felt great: I was running strong and got immense satisfaction from overtaking a male jogger in my 9th mile!

What have I learnt from this episode?

1. It's not just physical activities that impact the body.  Stress and fatigue do too, and I need to adjust my training to reflect them
2. Circuit training and hard runs are both quality sessions and I need to follow each with an easy session, not do the two back to back on the same day.  It's tempting to cram all my quality sessions into the weekend, but it means I don't get the full benefit of any of them
3. By the same token, I need to make sure that I'm not running junk miles, or doing training that's not appropraite to my goals.  I want to run long, so it's better to run fewer times for longer and have more recovery days in between.
4. I need to think more about my racing.  The two races I missed out on were 8k and 10k respectively.  The minimum distance I want to be racing over this year is 10 miles.  Shorter races will require the same amount of recovery time, but won't give me the endurance or pacing practice that I need.  So just say no!