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 15 completed!

Well, the plan for the week was mostly accomplished. Monday and Tuesday went according to plan, really couldn’t face swimming on Wednesday after a long day at work so just repeated the stretching (I recommend the Matt Roberts DVD – not hard, but enough to know you’ve done something!). Thursday went really well – first run in a long while with little to no pain, even if it did take multiple laps of the village to get the miles in – got a bit dizzy! Bit more stretching on Friday rather than resting. Saturday was supposed to be a long cycle ride but at 8 am the roads were still frosty and I don’t do frost, ice or anything that could induce a falling off moment so put in 30 minutes on the turbo trainer instead. The race on Sunday went really well, in fact I was pretty pleased with myself in light of the last six months – review of the race in another post coming up.

My foot splint arrived on Thursday and I’ve worn it every night since then. So far so good, very little pain in the morning. Wouldn’t say I’m leaping out of bed but can walk straight away. The race today was also virtually pain free, bar the first mile as my heel warmed up and a slight jarring on a pebble bed halfway round. Fingers crossed the improvements continue.

So, no excuses now – need to start raising some serious cash – link below ☺