Progress…!

Following the down in the dumps post yesterday, I resurrected myself from my bed of self pity and have been out for a run tonight. I’m back to see the physio tomorrow so thought it would be good to remind myself if there is any pain/discomfort still lurking – but I am pleased to report, 4 miles done at 10:00 min/pm and nothing! Nowt, nada, just nothing – so feeling pretty good tonight. I’m still scared to run any faster, but a marathon at 10 min mile pace is not to be sniffed at!

Thank you for all the support on here and on FB – I think a mild state of panic had started to set in!

Week 4 – London Marathon Training Review

Week 4 and still injured, but on the road to recovery – I think! Another week off the plan, which is pretty certain to be thrown out of the window soon.  I’m facing facts now and although I think I will still make it to London, realistically I think I will be on a ‘get you round’ schedule. There’s still 12 weeks of running left so it’s not impossible, but I really don’t think there is the time to get in the number of long runs I need in order to meet the goal I had set myself. Perhaps once I get running properly again I might be able to re-evaluate it but I’m under no illusion the plan is to make it to the start line, anything else will be a bonus.

I’m running in no pain, which is great considering where I was a week or so ago, but I’m still jogging rather than running but it’s still better than walking. It’s so hard seeing the guys from DLRR talking about their long run every Sunday – I’ve missed three of the last four so far and the group I tend to run with put down around 15-16 miles each this week – I managed 5 this weekend.

I’ve got another physio appointment on Tuesday and I’ve stuck religiously to the stretches and icing plan he set me and also not exceeded my 5 mile limit or run any days back to back so I’m hoping that he will see an improvement in my achilles. I can still feel the lump but it’s not painful to touch any more and has felt generally better.

I think this best explains how I feel at the moment…

A bit frustrated and sad at the realisation this is probably not going to be the year of a great marathon…

Monday – planned to do the Matt Roberts core DVD, except I’ve lost it, so nothing done!

Tuesday – 3.1 miles slow in the snow

Wednesday – swim session with GreenlightPT

Thursday – slow 4.1 miles in the snow that is quickly becoming ice

Friday – rest

Saturday – 5 miles slow

Sunday – 30 mins on the turbo

Miles for the week – 12 miles (over double last week!)

Week 3 – London Marathon Training Review

Week 3 and still injured. I decided that it was time see the professionals and popped to see the physio on Friday. My soleus is very tight, hence why my achilles is sore and I have a lump of scar tissue on it. After some massage and pinching it is now a lot looser and I left armed with instructions to ice, stretch and pinch and return in 10 days time. The good thing is I’m still allowed to run as long as there’s no pain and it’s no more than 5 miles – not much, but better than nothing.

It has made me realise I do need to ramp up the cross training as all my hard work before the New Year will be undone – the odd mile here and there really wont cut it, if I need to run 26 miles in 13 weeks time – there’s still time but goal times are going to have to go soon. I think from next week I’ll add another swim session, wont do the summer triathlon season any harm and will also help with a swimathon I have in mind for the end of April that will be a bit of a challenge. The bike will also have to come back out a little earlier than planned, albeit on the turbo (I don’t do bad weather cycling – and my collar bone agrees!).

Another reason for the low mileage this week as well as my injury is a bit of a cold (lesson learned from last year – better to miss some training now and get rid of it than run through it) and the snowfall we have had since Friday – it’s still coming down now. I love running in the snow and will probably give it a go tomorrow as my cold has now eased a bit.

So a bit of a non-week again but hopefully on the road to recovery and I don’t think I’m that far behind where I was this time last year, and I didn’t have winter training behind me then so still hopeful…

Monday – slow 2 miles in the snow, plus Matt Roberts core DVD

Tuesday – rest

Wednesday – swim session with GreenlightPT

Thursday – slowish 3 miles in the snow

Friday – physio visit

Saturday – rest

Sunday – rest

Miles for the week – 5 miles

The great porridge experiment – update

Last week I asked for ideas how to make my porridge palatable on the basis I don’t like it and like the milk that goes with it even less.

Following the responses from runkatierun, silentroadie, catslondonmarathon and bgddyjim I’ve tried a couple of the suggestions (sorry cat couldn’t do the almond milk!) and so far have settled on porridge with hot water, a dash of milk, blast in the microwave then a bit of golden syrup mixed in. So far so good – it’s really filling and I’ve done one long run on it so far so we’ll see how it goes over the next few weeks….

 

Week 2 – London Marathon Training Review

Week 2 is over – I’m still not following my plan as I still don’t feel my achilles has healed enough to push it. So I’ve gone for the little and often route, along with some cross training. That way,  I get a fair few miles in and still keep my fitness up.

The swim training was great. It was the first proper swim session I’ve been to for years – it hurt like hell, but I can’t wait to go again next week. During the sessions the sets added up to 2350m so getting some mileage in in the pool wont do any harm, plus will also help with another challenge I have in mind! 😉

The actual running this week has been a bit quicker than the previous week. I’m still working hard to keep it quite slow, but it’s harder than you think! After keeping it relatively slow on the weekdays I did run a bit quicker on Saturday morning – averaged about 9:19 a mile which is quick in comparison with the rest of the last two weeks. I had no reaction to this and nearly carried on for another couple of miles but resisted the temptation and came home. This gave me the confidence to go on the DLRR club run today.

The run route was 10 miles although with loopbacks the quicker guys probably got 14/15 miles. The route crosses the top of Campbell Park near CMK which meant the chance to bail out at 7 miles and cut through the park back to DL. Campbell Park is a lovely park and one of the highest points in MK. From the belvedere the park snakes downhill towards the canal and today in the freezing temperatures it looked awesome with views across Willen Lake and out towards Bedfordshire and beyond.

I only really wanted to run 8 miles as I felt 10 would be a bit too far so this presented the ideal opportunity to cut the run short. As it was I managed to run 8.2 miles at 9:45 min pace – I was planning between 9:30 and 10 to be on the safe side and that was spot on. I did feel my achilles aching a bit between 6 and 7 miles but that coincided with along uphill drag. It was hard been out with the group seeing most of my running mates running away from me, it would have been so easy to up a few gears and go with them, but probably would have set me back at least a few weeks and at this stage  I could do without that. I’m not panicking yet, still 14 weeks to go…

Monday – slow 3.1 miles

Tuesday – rest

Wednesday – swim session with GreenlightPT

Thursday – slowish 3.5 miles

Friday – rest

Saturday – 4 mile

Sunday – long slow run 8.2 miles

Miles for the week – 18.8 miles

The great porridge experiment

I don’t really like porridge, but as a runner it’s supposed to be a bit like rocket fuel so this year while training for the marathon I thought I’d step out of my comfort zone (crunchy nut cornflakes) and give the oats a go.

My problem is, I really don’t like milk. It’s nothing personal I just can’t drink it or have any more than a splash in my tea or on my cereal. The same goes for cream, crème fraîche and anything like that.

As you can imagine, this presents a bit of a problem when you want to eat porridge. I’ve spoken to others about how they eat their porridge and it was suggested that I use water with a splash of milk so this morning I tried this. It looked pretty grim when it came out of the microwave and I had to pep it up with some sugar, but I at the whole lot. Not the greatest experience in the world but something to work on!

How do you eat yours?

Week 1 – London Marathon Training Review

I was planning, as with my blog last year to post my proposed training for the week and then do a round-up of how it went at the end of the week, but for this week and probably next week I’ll just do a round-up as it was all rather uneventful – just like last year, I started the year with an injury. A touch of achilles tendonitis reared its head on Boxing Day so since then I did nothing but icing and stretching for five days, then a few days of run/walk and finished today with a long run of 5 miles – whoo hoo! But the good thing is – I’ve not had any pain, I’m so eager to get training properly but I know this is one of those things that I need to be very slow in coming back to full speed/distance.It’s a bit annoying as I was in good shape towards the end of the year, in fact the point at which I felt the pain really kick in, I was on course for one of I my fastest times on the route I was running, this follows a PB in the Bedford Half by nearly 5 mins and it was the perfect platform to kick off marathon training.But it’s still early days, there’s another 15 weeks to go and it’s better to have this now rather than when the real mileage starts and even with this injury I’m still in better shape than last year with a full autumn training session behind me and no cold!Well, back to the eccentric stretching – it’s boring, but seems to be working…Miles for the week – 13