48 hour marathon countdown

With around 48 hours to go until the Robin Hood Marathon on Sunday, my 4th ever marathon and the 2nd of my 3 in 3 months challenge how am I feeling?

The answer in short is not that great!

I suppose the thing is I always think I feel amazingly super fit and well pre marathon so when I don't feel all energised bouncing around like the Duracell bunny I feel a bit disappointed. Although there is no doubt that I am fit enough, strong enough and ready to run and hopefully even able to run faster than I have before there is always that disappointment when the transformation into a Mo Farah replica doesn't take place during your training programme.

Then there is the doubt, the crippling doubt. 

Have I done enough training, have I done the right training?

Have I ran often enough? Or ran too often?

Have I done enough speed work and ha my speed been fast enough?

What about my long runs? Have they been long enough?

So many questions with no real answers and I always have the voice in the back of my head trying to convince me my whole training plan has been an utter shambles!

This last week I have taken it very easy, 13K on Sunday, gym on Monday, 7K Tuesday, circuits Wednesday and then 3.5K last night. I fear I over did the squats and lunges on Wednesday though as I have felt a bit achy and stiff since.

My run last night was not great as my calves felt so tight and stiff and I struggled for energy despite massively increasingly my carb intake. 

I have been foam rolling twice daily in an effort to get my calve into good shape but they aren't great and I think this will really hamper my time as they will prevent me from running a good pace for the opening few miles while they warm themselves up.

My marathon preparation has been blighted by a feeling of disorganisation

The problems have been should I run with my hydration pack? If I do will it slow me down? Do I really need to carry water when there are regular drink stations? Do I nees to carry energy gels or should I just rely on the energy drinks provided? If I choose energy gels should I carry this in my hydration bag or in my running bum bag? Then what about my phone? Its easier to carry in my bag as I don't get on that well with arm straps, or should I carry it at all? 

Too many questions that I haven't given enough thought to and made definitive decisions to, I have just kind of muddled along with an answer. My plan is to carry a few energy gels, ditch the hydration pack (on account of not wanting to look like a prick!), take advantage of the energy drinks on route if I need to and carry my phone in my arm strap and hope it doesn't cut of circulation to my arm over the course of the marathon!

Realistically I know a sub 4 marathon is out of the equation so my aim is to turn up, run well, enjoy the run, enjoy one of my favourite cities and hopefully be able to look back on the marathon as a positive experience.

The weekend is a big marathon weekend with Berlin and The Loch Ness marathons also taking place. Good luck to everyone running a marathon or racing another event this weekend. Thanks for reading! 

Looking back at my marathon 48hours on

Now 48 hours+ after finishing the marathon on Sunday the dust has settled  and I can look back a little more clearly. 

Yesterday, the day after running my marathon I felt great! Not just normally great but superbly great! I had so much energy both physically and mentally, my legs felt a little achy but I was still able to walk around spritely enough and still bounded up stairs at work and at the train station with my customary energy.

Even today I still feel really good, I keep waiting for some DOMS to hit me with some post marathon pain but so far nothing.

My only ailments post run have been:

• Achy feet, kind of to be expected after pounding 26 miles! 
• A sore big toe nail on my left foot, again standard stuff for a long distance runner.
• A really tight sore lower back yesterday morning I think this was more caused by my tired muscles sitting in my office chair for an extended period.

Non of these cause me any concern, I was dreading Monday as I thought walking would be painful, I would be too drained to work effectively and I would just feel really rough, but I was completely fine. 

The only thing causing concern is my right foot under my big toe and on the ball of my foot. It started as an injury three weeks before the marathon, see blog here and after a few days rest I was able to get back running. With careful monitoring I knew it wasn't getting any worse when walking or running , even when I covered 29km. Post marathon though the pain has amplified, my own diagnosis would suggest Sesamoiditis or Metatarsalgia and I am growing more convinced I should seek a professional medical opinion.

So far my recovery work post marathon has consisted of:

• A 20 minute walk on Sunday evening followed by a stretch and an ice bath at home.
• A gentle 10 minute ride on my stationary exercise bike at home followed by a stretch and a roll with my foam roller.
• A 40 minute walk into work this morning

I feel ready to run again!

I am so excited to start training for my next marathon in approximately 6 weeks. After my experience at this marathon I feel I have a greater understanding of the marathon distance and a better appreciation of what it takes to run a sub 4 hour marathon.

I know I need to hit my training hard for this next marathon an that means more strength work, more sprints, more intervals, more hill running and more milage!

I can't wait to start my new training chapter from tomorrow, bring it on!!!

Thanks for reading and for all the messages following the marathon . What are your tips for recovering from a marathon and for getting stronger for the next one? I look forward to all your suggestions....

1st run with my new camel pack

For this weekends long run the plan was to run around 30K as my major long run before the marathon 3 weeks today. 

The run was also going to be my first venture with my new addition to my running apparel, a long desired camel pack/running bladder.

I have really wanted one for ages as an addition to my long distance running gear and decided to order one from amazon. It was pretty cheap but had a high number of really positive reviews so I decided to go for it just to see how I got on with using one.

Being 3 weeks to my marathon and this being one of my last long runs I decided to focus on practicing my race preparation. 

So I put 100% effort into my preparation, Friday evening I loaded up on protein with a steak, Saturday I carb loaded and was selective in eating clean and whole foods. Saturday evening I ate my pre race meal of double carbs in the form of potato and brown rice with chicken and vegetables, completed with a protein shake before bed.

Sunday morning I continued my carb loading with an early breakfast of cereal, flapjack and fruit juice at 5.30 before returning to bed until 7.00. At 7.00 I got up and had my second breakfast of cereal with natural yogurt with another flapjack. I then prepared my gear for my run:

I took an energy drink before I set off and spent some time making sure I was comfortable with my camel pack before I headed out.

So off I went, my route was to head through Ingrebourne Country Park out to Rainham and along the Thames out to Purfleet and back.

I started off feeling so good, really feeling the benefits of my training and feeling so strong and fit. The feeling of being 'carbed to the max' felt good as I really felt I had fuel to burn over the next few hours.

I was aiming to run just over 5minute/km splits but my first Km was nicely under the 5 minute mark. I started to focus on slowing it down and settling into a rhythm, when just coming up to my second Km I felt pain in the ball of my foot. I shrugged it off as a niggle that I could run off, I soon realised I had been covering a whole Kilometer while experiencing pain with every foot strike. So I reluctantly but sensibly decided to stop, I walked for a few hundred metres and the pain eased off so I sped up to a jog only for the pain to return.

After walking for another minute or two I pulled over to sit on a bench. I removed my right trainer and started to rub and massage the sore area as I thought it could be a cramp as I have suffered from cramp in the same place before. After a bit of rubbing and mobilising of the area I set off again only for the pain to return again after a short while.

Now I was in a dilemma, if its an injury I need to stop to avoid making it worse and to hope that I could still successfully take part in the marathon in 3 weeks time, but if its not a serious injury I really need to run through it as I need to get a long 30K run under my belt.

I kept on running trying to push through the pain hoping it would ease off. It wasn't getting any better though and I noticed I was starting to twist my ankle to compensate against the pain in my foot to try and put less pressure on it. I knew this was bad news that would only get worse so I started to come to terms with the fact I wasn't going to be able to see this run through.

Continuing along the path I was reluctantly starting to think about pulling up but was so keen to keep going, then around the next corner I was confronted with this:

The path had been a little watery but now it was completely flooded where the path passes alongside the river Ingrebourne. All the way to the gate you can see ahead the path was flooded and I could see it was a good few inches deep. That was it! I decided this was a sign that the run was over and I gloomily turned around to trudge home. I had only covered 3.5Km.

It was disappointing and so difficult to come to terms with on many levels. The main two being all the preparation I had put into the run, the eating, the getting up early now all for nothing! The second being that my training for the marathon would suffer without this long run especially as I had only manged 20K last weekend due to illness.

Anyway I was soon home and starting my rest and recovery process.

Lots of RICE for me today and I guess I will just have to see how I go to see as to whether I can get up an running again soon and maybe squeeze in a long run in the next day or two or leave it until the weekend.

I wasn't resting for long though as after a bit of ice I decided I had all the energy and preparation to do something so I had to do some activity, so I headed out on my bike and covered the same route I had planned to run. I must have covered close to 30Km in just under 2 hours, as I had consumed close to 1500 calories before heading out to run I needed to do some exercise and I felt so much better for getting back out and doing something.

Thanks for reading, come back soon to see how I recover from this injury and if I can get back up and running this week.

Prep diary for HM 31st May

My pre run diary for me to track my progress and how I felt and prepared in the run up. 

Wed

Exercise: Boot camp wednesday evening

Food diary: brown rice for lunch, flap jack as afternoon snack, small portion of potato wedges in evening.

Physical: 7/10 feeling strong but tired

Nutrition: 8/10 plenty of carbs

Hydration: 7/10 not enough water post bootcamp.

Thur

Exercise: 5K recovery run, stiff and sore but felt good. Not enough time for thorough stretch but did small roller & stretch session before bed.

Food diary: brown rice for lunch, ikea meatballs & mash in evening. Ate late and was stodgy. 

Physical: 8/10 aching and stiff in glutes, hams, hips and lower back but felt good during run and much better after.

Nutrition: 6/10 disappointed with eating stodge other than that good. 

Hydration: 8/10 doing OK but should be drinking more

Fri

Exercise: Gym in AM weights and abs/core, stretch. 

Food diary: Burrito for lunch

Physical: 8/10 felt good

Nutrition: 7/10 good other than 3 pints and a chicken burger on an impromptu night out.  

Hydration: 7/10 tried to drink plenty 

Sat

Post run I had a banana and a flapjack and had a bottle of iso sports drink

Felt good well fuelled and had plenty of energy.

Did 21K in 1 hour 55