March 2011

[marathondan]

Week 14 – 5 weeks to go

A blip this week, but still a pretty good week overall.

Tuesday night – 9.15 miles tempo run, completed in 75 minutes, which I was pretty happy with. Audio inspiration came from the uptempo playlist. Track du noir: the ever-reliable N’Trance / Set You Free, with honourable mentions to White Wedding, TV Song from the excellent Lardpony, and a surprise hit for the Beach Boys’ Surfin’ Safari.

Friday morning – I set the alarm for 6.00 for my 5 miles fartlek. I wanted to get it out of the way early, to allow maximum recovery time before Saturday night’s long one. The legs were particularly creaky at that time of day, and after a half mile or so it was clear that the left hamstring was giving me problems. It had been stiff for several days, but it wasn’t warming up. I stopped for a stretch and walk, but it didn’t seem to improve. So, to push through and try and run it off, or try and rest it in advance of the long run? I opted for the latter, the long run being far more important to get through. I logged a 1 mile easy jog and walked the rest of the way home. My dear wife worked in lashings of Deep Heat for me in the evening, and after a good night’s sleep the offending muscle was much looser by morning.

Saturday night – the 18 miler, my longest run of the campaign so far. I was feeling relaxed, apart from the slight worry of whether the hamstring would hold up. I got out of the door by 7.30 pm, which is a much better policy than my normal practice of leaving it till about 9 pm. I felt relaxed and comfortable, and it all went pretty well. Inflight carb loading was provided by a mix of fruit jellies and flapjack bites, both of which went down very well and I think have secured their place as snacks of choice for race day, in place of gels. (I don’t think I’ll notice the extra encumbrance.)

As expected, the left hammie did start to tighten up after around 12 miles, so I switched direction for the last lap. This meant I was mainly facing right-to-left cambers, slightly reducing the impact on my left leg. It was surprisingly effective, and I finished with the hamstring improving. Having successfully reversed my circuits to pre-emptively avoid possible PF, I guess I should now start to alternate directions to even up the load.

The Marathon Talk podcast was as good as ever, keeping me going for 8 miles or so. News item of the week was amateur runner Yuki Kawauchi, who came third in the Tokyo marathon in 2:08:37. I can’t find the exact quote, but apparently he said something like he goes into each race knowing that if he dies on the course it will not be a bad thing. The piece does mention that “he fainted a few steps across the line and was taken away to the medical area in a wheelchair, unavailable for a post-race interview.” Apparently this is his normal post-marathon routine.

Regarding their resident fancy dress record holder, it turns out to be actor Tony Audenshaw. At 3:13 for the world marathon record dressed as a baby, I won’t be troubling him any time soon.

Track du jour: Chumbawumba doing their inimitable thing with about 500m to go. Honourable mentions to Jump (the proper version, Andy) and Asian Dub Foundation’s New Way New Life.

28 miles for the week. Only 14 for the long one next week.