Thursday, 28 April 2011

28.04.2011

In the end I had another day off on Monday rather than run 8.2km, in an effort to taper the training down over the next two weeks. On Tuesday I ran around Willen Lake with a colleague again, 12.5km in 1:01:25 which felt nice and steady and I didn’t have any niggles afterwards which is a good sign. The pain in my hips has gone which I’m pleased about as that was worrying me slightly.

This evening I ran a nice and easy 8.2km in 38:15 and I feel fine now, I think maybe 11km tomorrow then 5km on Saturday before 20ish on Sunday as my last run of any distance. The following week, Monday to Saturday, no more than 20km and definitely a 5km the day before the race as that has always formed part of my pre-race preparations in the past and has always served me well in the past.

Monday, 25 April 2011

25.04.2011

It was with some trepidation that I went out on Tuesday evening for a 12.5km jog with a colleague, I was worried about my calf and had already said that I probably wouldn’t run any faster than I had done the week before. In the end there was no pain at all and no tight feeling either, although I certainly didn’t open the taps as I would have liked to we still finished in 1:00:25. So thirty seconds faster than last time.

On Wednesday I thought a shorter run was in order so I did two laps of the Racecourse Park, 8.2km, in 38:47 which is ok. I wasn’t in any specific pain the next day but there was the faintest hint of a twinge in the calf again. I then had two days off before an un-timed 5km on Saturday morning and then a gentle 17.2km yesterday in 1:26:07 which is bang on 5 minutes per km. For some reason I have developed pain in my hips which I haven’t had for ages. I’m planning a gentle 8.2km today and then tomorrow it’s 12.5km with a colleague from work again. It’s really close to M day now and I’m beginning to get a little nervous about it.

Tuesday, 19 April 2011

19/04/2011

I haven’t written for a little while for no reason other than I’ve been quite busy with work.

I am slightly worried about a tightness that I’ve been experiencing in my left calf, during my most recent run it felt like it was about to go into cramp. There is no real pain just the tightness and once during the run it twinged. I had the next day off and it feels fine today so we’ll see how tonight’s 12.5km with a colleague goes. I wonder if I’ve been overtraining? In February I ran 147km whereas in March I ran 236km, was this too much of a jump? I’m not sure, I certainly can’t afford to get injured now, it will be curtains for a decent marathon time if I do. So I think I’ll take it easy for the rest of this week and cut out the speedwork. I have read articles indicating that if overpronators like me wear the wrong shoes it can have this effect however, I’ve been wearing the ‘wrong’ shoes for the past 746km with no calf problems so I’m not too sure about this diagnosis.

In terms of running since the last post I have done the following:

Thursday 14/04/2011 – 14km 1:06:56
Sunday 17/04/2011 – 17km 1:23:46

Thursday, 14 April 2011

14/04/2011

I went to the gym last night and did the usual 6km of intervals and then 1km of running increasingly fast followed by weights and Powerplate. I’ve had a tightness is my right calf for a few days and I’ve been trying some new stretches to try and loosen it up. This morning I’ve also had shooting pains in my left shin, not all the time and not brought about by a specific action but painful nonetheless. I hope it’s nothing serious, I imagine that it is the increase in mileage beginning to take its toll. I hardly ran at all in December or January and then in February I went straight up to 147km. March was another sizeable jump up to 237km and this month I’ve run 108km so far. I will have to take it easy after the marathon for a bit, although there is the Woburn 10km in June and then the MK half in July but I won’t need to do anywhere near the mileage that I’m doing at the moment for them. I’m also wondering if I might have recovered enough after the marathon to do the Canterbury half which is two weeks later. That might be asking a bit much of myself but then again…

Running is certainly addictive!

Wednesday, 13 April 2011

13/04/2011

I rechecked the length of my running routes on Monday using a more sophisticated online tool than I had used previously www.gmap-pedometer.com . Interestingly it suggested that the distance from my house to the Racecourse which I thought was 1km was actually 1.2km. Also the circumference of the park is, according to a sign in the park 2.9km however the actual distance of the my route is 3km so in theory I should add 500m to each run of that park. However to allow for measurement inaccuracies I have just added 200m to each one, it has obviously meant that I have a truer reflection of my pace which is encouraging as I’m quicker than I thought!

On Monday evening I ran 11.2km pretty quickly in 51:20 which went well and I could probably have gone a bit faster but I had arranged to run 12.5km the next day with a colleague and I didn’t want to be too tired. The next day I did indeed run around Willen Lake in Milton Keynes with a colleague and although the pace was a little slower than I would have run on my own, we finished in 1:00:55, it was nice to have someone to chat to whilst running and nice to run in some different surroundings.

I’m looking forward to intervals at the gym tonight!

Monday, 11 April 2011

11/04/2011

We had a splendid weekend in London and managed to get a little running in too, I awoke early on Saturday morning and as we were near Green Park and I just happened to have my running kit with me I thought an early morning jaunt was in order. In the end I ran through Green Park to Buck House and then twice around St James’s Park before running through Green Park again and then on to Hyde Park where I ran along the Serpentine over the bridge and then back along the other side of Green Park before turning for home. It turned out to be about 9km which was a lovely way to spend a hour on a sunny Saturday morning in London. I didn’t run particularly fast and I had to stop a few times to consult the map but it felt great and set me up for a splendid breakfast and an excellent weekend all round!

Friday, 8 April 2011

08/04/2011

Last night I went out with the intention of doing three laps of the Racecourse Park followed by two laps of Abington Park, a total of 16km, however by the time I had run the first lap of Abington Park I was tired and my legs hurt. I haven’t had a day off since the 20 miles on Sunday and I thought that discretion would be the better part of valour and I called it a day after 13.5km. I came in at 1:07:46 which is fine as I wasn’t going for a particularly quick time and having to cross the roads always slows me up a bit. I’m having a day off today, although I did do 40 press-ups this morning, off to London tonight and there’s a possibility of a little jaunt around Green Park and Hyde Park tomorrow morning which would be fun! Other than that a weekend of relaxation beckons which is definitely a good idea, then I can hit it hard next week.