1 week countdown to marathon number 2

Yesterday marked a week to go to the Nottingham Marathon and I cant say I am feeling great about the impending run.

Yesterdays run along with last Sundays run did not go well. I felt tired and lethargic both in myself generally and also in my legs. I struggled to cover around 8 miles yesterday and I found the 11 miles the previous week a real challenge, on both occasions I had originally aimed for a few more miles but just didn't have it in me.

I have been doing plenty of running mid week as well including some speed work which I have also found a struggle. I did however have a pretty good 15km run on Wednesday that was my best run in ages in terms of my general fitness and running stamina.

Tiredness and lack of energy aren't my only problems though as recently I have been struck by 'runners belly' problems. Not nice! 

So now I am in the situation where I don't feel that match fit and ready for the upcoming marathon, don't have any confidence in my own fitness and am concerned as to my ability to get through any run let alone a marathon without needing at least one toilet break!

For the time being my thoughts of PBs, sub 4 hour marathons and the like are not at the forefront of my mind. I am just concerned with how to feel at my best when on the start line next Sunday and how to get not only to the end of the run but to get through the run without any toilet mishaps!

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!

Training update, midweek long run, tiredness and steak

So after being so ill last week I am definitly back up and running now.

With the girst of my three autumn marathons just over three weeks away I am focusing hard on my training and working hard in this important section of my training plan but it is tough going.

My 22K long run at the weekend was followed up by a 4K recovery run on Monday, some interval treadmill running on Tuesday and a 14K run on Wednesday night.

Overall I feel my training is going pretty well, I am definitly feeling stronger and am continuing to increase my fitness and stamina. 

However I have reached the hard part of a training program. Training has started to become somewhat arduous as spending so many hours a week running takes its toll, I am feeling much more tired from the increased training and early starts as well as a surge in hunger of wanting to eat anything and everything but trying to stay strict to my diet objectives.

I am sure all runners recognise these kind of symptoms of a hard training program, but although hard I know this is ther period that if I stick at it will have big rewards when it comes to race day.

I am already experiencing a massive indicator that my training is going well as my trousers are starting to hang off me and I am down to the last hole on my belt. I think I should buy some extra clothes to wear just for the few weeks before an event when the weight has dropped off and my regular clothes stop fitting!

Last nights run was over a made up route of new streets to explore coupled with familar sections of routes I usually run. 

I realised recently that as my training has grown in intensity and I have started pushing harder on runs that I have stopped taking photos on runs which I can appreciate makes my blog much less interesting!

So last night I tried to take a few interesting photos. This is the best view I experienced on my run, a giant St Georges flag flying proudly from a roof of a house on the edge of the country park a magnificent sight in the evening sunshine. Hopefully you can make it out, I found it quite a striking sight against the back drop of an open sky.

I have tried to refrain from taking the same photos that I have included in previous posts, heres a photo of the crowd that gathered to cheer me at one point on my route.

I say cheer it was more of a quack and if anything the latge numbers of water fowl aroynd the lake where I regularly run are an irritant as they tend to gather around the paths causing an obstruction as well as leaving plenty of slip hazards everywhere if you get what I mean!

By the time I got home I had time to knock up a bit of dinner before it was time to settle down and watch the second World Cup semi final of Holland v Argentina.

This was actually my first shot at cooking steak at home using my George Foreman grill and although it turned out far more well done than rare which is what I was aiming for it was still pretty good!

With only the final remaining in the World Cup I am glad that I will be able to have more time available in the evenings and will be able to get to bed earlier. Staying up to watch games especially the 9pm kick offs have been difficult for me as they have eaten away at my usual early bed time routine so although I will miss the World Cup when it finishes I will welcome the extra sleep. 

Many thanks for reading!