Yesterday hit the 100 day mark or 14 weeks to London Marathon. My panic about getting the training done and staying injury free has subsided … a little.
In my efforts to stay injury free, I’m working on building a strong base. Over the last 5 years, I’ve had running related injury after injury -SI joint pain, left Achilles, soleus muscle in my right calf, fat pad impingement of the knee caused by tripping on a tree root and various other niggles and strains. This has been made worse by an underlying issue not related to running, of slipping a disc in my lower back twice and having on and off again facet joint issues.
Being injured sucks. It’s irritating, painful and any of the painkillers that work make me fee like shit. This year, I’m doing something a little different – daily core and rolling, pilates once a week and fortnightly sports massages to sort niggles before they turn into injuries. My physio will be pleased!
The other big change to previous years is scheduling races. I’m not a big fan of races but I know they’re important for getting used to running with lots of other folks, using water stations and for the longer runs, practising taking on food i.e. jelly babies. I won’t be going all out but running closer to my plodding training pace. I’ll also be doing a few parkruns to get a sense of how strong I’m feeling over shorter distances.
Races planned
21 January – RunThroughUK in Battersea Park
4 February – parkrun (I keep doing typos and writing parkfun!)
19 February – Hampton Court Palace Half Marathon
4 March – parkrun
26 March – Lidl Kingston Breakfast Run – 20 miler
There may be one or two others.
Training Recap – 14 weeks to London Marathon
99 days to go!
All in all, a good week. I’m building up the miles and not taking walking breaks.
Saturday – A slow but steady 7 mile run with some hills thrown in. I’m working on my pace and trying to stick to 11 min miles which I know I can stick to when I get to the much longer training runs. Followed by core and rolling.
Sunday – I slept really badly the night before so I did very little, except for core and rolling.
Monday – A very slow 6.5 mile run in the rain. It was pretty grim all round given I didn’t feel warmed up until mile 5 and was starting to flag by mile 6. All in all, glad I did the miles. Core and rolling.
Tuesday – Core and rolling. Second pilates session.
Wednesday – I was a little ambitious aiming for a 6.5 mile run after not having done 6.5 miles or indeed 7 for quite a few months and after pilates the night before. My legs were a little heavy so early on into the run I decided to dial it down and go for 3.5, keeping pretty close to my training pace. Core and rolling.
Thursday – 3.1 miles in the rain, this time it was a little chilly as well. Thankfully I managed to miss the sleet. My legs were feeling those extra miles which is to be expected. Core and rolling.
Friday – Went for a wander and core and rolling.
Total – 20.1 miles, slow and steady
Are you training for a marathon? How’s your training?
(January 2017)
Good to hear you are training at the 11 min/mile pace. Sometimes I get so worked up trying to run faster that I get myself into a panic and that’s when I have to stop. I have been advised by a friend that she trained at a 12-13 min/mile pace throughout and got a sub 4hr marathon time.
I’m also running the Hampton Court Half Marathon after being told it’s a nice, flat route.
Thanks Gemma. That’s really interesting on your friends’s training pace to get sub 4! Wow! I do find running slowly can get a little dull but needs must! And yep, I haven’t done Hampton Court Half before – also been told it’s lovely. Perhaps see you there! Happy trails!