I am really looking forward to this year’s Vhi Women’s Mini Marathon in June and being part of Team MS Ireland.
I’ve been out running a few days a week, just small bits here and there to keep active as part of my training for the upcoming 10k Mini Marathon. Last year I really enjoyed the personal challenge of training but also I would love to be able to jog the whole 10k course, so a well-planned training schedule is vital!
Training for the Mini Marathon and participating in any run for someone with a chronic illness can have its difficulties. As you may know, living with MS can be very unpredictable. You can experience many symptoms that can affect your daily life and interfere with training and physical activities.
MS adds a certain level of unreliability in my life. My symptoms can flare and differ from day to day. A few weeks ago I ended up having a relapse, which resulted in a short stay in Beaumont Hospital to help me recover.
Suddenly my well planned training schedule was on the back burner!
Listening to My Body
I can’t stress enough how important it is to listen to your body, rest when you need to and to look after your mental health.
I felt so frustrated because my relapse left me feeling drained. I was angry that I was unable to go out training and I felt like I was letting myself down. After three days of steroid treatment in hospital, I took a well needed rest for a whole week and reorganised my training plan.
I listened to my body and knew I needed to find a balance; a balance between looking after myself and still training for the 10k challenge.
I’m happy to say, my plan is working.
I went to the gym twice last week. On the first day I managed 1k on the treadmill and then I listened to my body and stopped. It may be only 1k but it is 1k more to reaching my 10k goal! I took a day’s rest and on my next training day I managed to jog 2k. After two rest days, I went back to the gym and was able to push myself a little bit further by completing a hard but rewarding 3k.
This week I will aim to do 4k and I’ll take my rest once again. I am slowly building up the strength in my legs so I can do the Mini Marathon without doing myself any harm.
I am listening to my body and I’m still training but in a way that suits my needs. I may be slower than I was last year but slow and steady wins the race