REGISTERING FOR THE LONDON MARATHON

I'm off to the Expo for the Virgin London Marathon to register, which means this whole this is real and I'm actually running the marathon on Sunday. I can't quite believe it, although the nerves are definitely there and it's all I can think about. 


I am majorly paranoid about getting sick or injured between now and Sunday, so I've been keeping to myself, eating lots of veggies, oats and wholewheat / spelt pasta and drinking Berocca. My 5 mile run yesterday was slow and steady so as to keep my body moving but not wear me out, and I stuck to flat ground - no dirt tracks or cobbles that I could accidentally go over on. 


I'm writing this to put off going, better sign off x

TAUNTON HALF MARATHON

I ran the Taunton Half Marathon yesterday. I was a bit nervous beforehand - it's the first time I've run any distance since I hurt my ankle almost 9 days ago. Since then I've rested it, before testing the waters with a personal training session after a week and a quick 3.5 mile jog the next day. Happily, my ankle seemed to play ball, so it was full steam ahead (ish) on Sunday morning. 


My previous half marathon time has hovered around the 2:18 mark - I am a slow runner! That was October (and the October before that), but after 12 weeks of marathon training I've got my half marathon time down to 02:02:05, quite an improvement if I do say so myself, even if now it's screaming at me that my next goal is clearly a sub 2 hour half marathon. My mile average was 09:20, also an improvement on my 10:00 / 10:30 miles that were the norm just 8 weeks ago. 


The marathon course was one I hadn't run before (well, I knew parts of it), but the hill that took up most of mile 10 to 11 was the hardest part and resulted in my slowest mile. At least after that it was pretty much down hill to the finish line. Water was well placed along the route and the sponge stalls were great, especially as it was starting to get quite hot by midday with the sun shining through. 


After the race I went home and iced my ankle for half an hour to minimise any chance of my injury returning and then, of course, my Mum put the ice back in her freezer. Classy. 

Hurt

I'm a bit worried about this marathon lark right now. On Thursday I flew out to New York, and that night I walked around the streets of Manhattan with my parents in a pair of high heels. Not super high heels - a 1 1/2 inch pair. 


The next day I set off on a 6 mile run around Central Park and my ankle was hurting - not the ankle per se, but the muscles around it felt uber tight, especially on hills. I put this down to the cold weather. When I got to my hotel the pain in my ankle got worse and my movement was restricted, the pain seemed to come from my lower calf muscles or worse...my achilles tendon. 


I've stayed off exercise for a few days, missing my first EVER long run on a Sunday (and what was due to be my last long LSD run to boot. I have also been massaging my leg / ankle - not too much, but enough to alleviate some of the discomfort - I got a bit carried away with buying every massage tool known to runners-kind whilst away. It feels a lot better, but the area is still super tender and prone to sharp bursts of pain. I am very worried that if this continues running this marathon will be difficult to impossible. 

Foam Rolling

My legs still feel like lead. I foam rolled last night, and today I think a visit to the gym to foam roll and stretch on the power plate is in order. Then I'm going to test the waters and try for a 10 mile run. Normally I wouldn't even question a 10 mile run, but after my running experience yesterday I'm scared my legs might not comply again. 


I was bemoaning the state of my legs to some of friends yesterday and mentioned that I had to foam roll more. They had never heard of foam rolling, despite being triathletes who will be competing in a half iron man this summer. I think they're going to appreciate these exercises, because as much as I hate them for the pain they cause, they really do work. 

Back To The Routine

After a problem with my psoas muscle and a dodgy neck I am about ready to start running again. One of the great frustrations about exercising is that the body aches and pains that follow you around suddenly become more serious - you might hobble about on a twisted ankle, but it would be foolish to run on it. If, like me, you find that running in the morning is a great way to set you up for the day, then not being able to do it can lead to extreme grumpiness and more. I've noticed that in the last two weeks I've been much more liable to feeling low and depressed than I do usually, and I'm sure not exercising is the reason. 


Still, I saw my personal trainer yesterday and established that I can get back into a routine. I've been doing some horrid exercises to strengthen my glutes which will hopefully stop my legs over working and sort out some of my problems. 


The next stage now is to figure out some short term goals - 10km and half marathons that can challenge me either with different terrain (hills, cough) or speed.