A bad last long run

Yesterday was 2 weeks to the Nottingham Marathon and as such my last long run before the event.

I had penciled in somewhere between 25-30km and I wanted to employ my race strategy of trying to run the first 15 to 20 km at around 5min/km pace which I think will give me the platform to finish strong and go under the 4 hour mark.

Sunday morning I got up at 4.15am to get some carbs in me before getting up for real at 6.00am for my real breakfast and to be ready to head out for a run at 8.00am.

Breakfast done I was just chilling for a bit before I started my pre run preparation and warm ups.

But I felt so tired!!!

Really tired!!!

So tired I had to stop myself falling asleep, its not due to getting up early or not sleeping well it was just the kind of tired you get when your just not feeling right.

I thought I would liven up when I started warming up or after an energy drink and coffee but I didn't.

Heading out to run I still felt jaded, to make things worse my calves were awful!

My blog hasn't featured much if anything about my calf problems as for the last 18 months to 2 year they have been fine. Prior to that though they were my main running injury problem and I was diagnosed with compartment syndrome in the front my calf muscles. Painful business and very difficult to train a lot with or run long distances. 

So the run was a struggle and turned into a real mind battle where my mind had to fight my body to hang in there.

I covered 19.5km which under the circumstances I was happy with.

Post run I was OK I had a cold bath, stretched and later on paid special attention to my calves when foam rolling.

Come the evening though my list of concerns were mounting up, dodgy calves, a sore right big toe, a sore right foot and a right knee that feels inflamed. 

By today even after a light gym session, some recovery work, stretching and rolling I am still a bag of aches and pains with my lower back, weary quads and sore hips adding to the mix.

I know it is just a case of hitting a training wall where my body has endured enough and is starting to get pretty fed up with this marathon training lark!

My focus is now all about self preservation, recovery and being as match fit ready and able for the Nottingham Marathon on the 28th September!