The Road to Richmond

[marathondan]

Week 4 of 18

As I was already running 10 milers, I've dropped into Hal Higdon's beginner marathon programme at week 3. The main challenge for the next 6 weeks is fitting in my three runs a week around work. After that it will be school holidays, and I'll be able to return to nicely spaced runs at convenient times of day.

For the next 6 weeks, the plan is a medium length effort session (tempo or intervals) midweek, then a short easy run (loosener or recovery) and the long easy run.

So to this week... Wednesday night at 10pm I went for my first proper, hardcore, late night session for a couple of years. Dark, raining, 6 miles intervals around the field. A bit of a shock to the system at first, a reminder of what a commitment marathon training entails, but after the first lap I was at one with my environment, no longer noticing the rain, the squelch of my road shoes through long wet grass the only minor inconvenience. That and the dazzling headlights which occasionally sent me off the dog-walkers' track and into the thigh-high grass, and the dark shapes, just visible in the glow of light pollution, which I took to be horse dung and managed to avoid. Back in the game, happy days.

Friday

At least horse dung doesn't hurt when you fall in it. So I'm told. I squeezed in my short, easy warmup run between dropping off a posse of scouts at their Friday night meeting, and picking up daughter from youth club, half an hour later over the road. It was just a case of stepping out of the car, starting the watch and heading off in a random direction. Unfortunately that soon turned out to be downwards, as I tripped over the pavement while "getting into the zone". Apparently I go down pretty heavily, as a lady emerged from her front door, alerted by the sudden slap of flab on tarmac, to check that I was OK. As is usually the case, the main casualty was my pride. A few stretches and I was on my way, blood oozing from my knobbly joints. 

Saturday

Fitted in the long run in the early evening, through fields and woods as the light began to fade. Marathontalk was on the audio as usual, and for the first time this campaign I oulasted them. Quite early on I did start to feel that I was tiring of the dopey duo, and that maybe it's time to switch back to the Science Hour. They do provide a great service, but I can only put up with them for so many long runs until I need a break. 

Having said that, Comrades fans might enjoy the episode 387 interview with Steve Way, GB elite who has just finished his debut Comrades in 9th place. Most interestingly, he ran without a stopwatch, but did keep his heart rate within a narrow band. 40 mins into the episode if you're interested.
https://marathontalk.com/shows/episode-387-steve-way/

Another thing that always happens as the miles increase is that I take 3-5 miles to warm up. So long runs never start off nicely, they always start off with niggles and anxiety, and it's only after 40 mins or so that I remember that running long is what I do. Also as the runs get longer, the time honoured approach is for the distraction of spoken word to give way to the motivation of upbeat sounds for the last couple of miles. I found that my 80s party tunes complilation (yes, really) was missing, so I rolled home to Ash's excellent album Meltdown.



Year to date
Jan 6 miles; Feb 19; Mar 39; Apr 56; May 69

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Great track, Dan!

Interesting, isn't it, how easily we forget the huge commitment that marathon training is, the reality of it being rammed home only after we've told everyone we're committed to it and it's all too late to back out gracefully.

Never mind, there's only 14 weeks to go.

*Groan*

[marathondan]

Yep, nodded off a couple of times today due to general fatigue, and quads and ankles are creaking after last night's 12 mile trail effort.

Next week is a step back though .

[marathondan]

Large pothole on the road to Richmond.

I have sustained a ridiculous shoulder injury, which is currently preventing me from running. Until a week or ago, I carried a fabulous array of pens in my shirt pocket: two colours of whiteboard pen, black biro, green biro, fibre tip, laser pointer - as I circulated the classroom, I was armed to dispense written guidance or feedback in exactly the correct medium. This meant that at least 10 times a day, 50 times a week, I would peer down at my left breast to select the right implement. Suddenly, last weekend, this became a debilitating RSI-type condition. I had bagged my long run, but when I went out for my tempo session the jarring was so great that I didn't make it past the end of the road.

One week on, I've been playing the waiting game to see if it will improve without intervention (apart from some ibuprofen). There is a glimmer of hope, in that I just tried jogging to the end of the road and I think there was a tiny improvement. The treatment options are just a visit to the docs, which will no doubt lead to a physio referral, likely to take weeks, or a massage, which I suspect will loosen it up but really just end up as some pretty expensive general advice.

Either the shoulder or I need to do something though. I can tolerate two weeks of missed training; anything more is likely to be a problem.

[glaconman]

Could your Mrs provide a general shoulder and upper back massage. 15 mins per evening over a week could put you back on it?

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Wow, that's a different sort of injury alright. Alternating hot/cold compresses with ibuprofen was my immediate thought...?

Let's hope it doesn't hold you back too much.

[marathondan]

Thanks for the ideas guys. I have never self-treated any such things before, so all advice is welcome. I will indeed book the Mrs, get out the ibuprofen gel and keep on the ibuprofen tablets. I went for another quarter mile jog this afternoon, and it felt marginally better. I'm hopeful that I can be back in the game by next weekend. But it would be much better to properly see it off than have it lingering.

Having said that, I can also easily see me grinding to a painful halt during the next long run. Will proceed with caution.

[marathondan]

An easy 3.5 round the streets of Bracknell went well tonight. A little uncomfortable, but... stable, shall we say. Will try returning to full throttle this weekend and see how I hold up.

[marathondan]

Relieved to say that the shoulder seems to be completely sorted after a couple of weeks' rest. Friday night I turned in a cracking tempo run, including 6 consecutive miles under 8 minutes - much better than I could have hoped for. I guess that's what two weeks of rest does for you - and why we taper before races. I'll be surprised if I can repeat the feat next weekend.

This morning I was out late-ish for the long run, a little shy of 15 miles as the sun gradually rose higher and higher. It was a delight to be out on such a glorious morning, golden fields of grasses alternating with cool woodland as I made my way around a 3 lap route, with Jim Al-Khalili and the rest of the BBC science crew keeping me company in the earphones. I got back around midday, just before the sun got nasty. A bit of a slog in places, but overall it was all good, and after showering away about half a kilo of salt, I was already looking forward to next week's edition.

Year to date: Jan 6 miles; Feb 19; Mar 39; Apr 56; May 69; Jun 61 (shoulder)

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

That's great news, Dan. I'm likewise hoping two week's rest will do wonders for my form ... looks like we are paralleling our training quite nicely..!

[marathondan]

That's great news, Dan. I'm likewise hoping two week's rest will do wonders for my form ... looks like we are paralleling our training quite nicely..!

Form as in consistency, or form as in shape?

Hang in there! It's a long game.

[Bierzo Baggie]

Very strange injury, glad it's clearing up. Will be following yours and MLCM´s progress over the next few weeks!

[Antonio247]

I'm very glad your shoulder injury is completely sorted and you can run so fast after two weeks' rest.

Best of luck with your training for Richmond marathon!

Saludos desde Almería

[marathondan]

Week 8 of 18

A solid week in the bank. Great to be back on track. Wednesday I had a free spot while daughter 2 frolicked in the lake at the excellent Liquid Leisure water park in Datchet. It turned out to be a blistering early evening. I was hoping to get up to the banks of the Queen Mother Reservoir, which the internet told me was a neat 10k in circumference, but unsurprisingly this large body of deep and obscured water was heavily fenced off. So I plodded around the area, and eventually found a half mile strip of pathway along the back of a quarry which offered partial shade. With aircraft of all shapes and sizes on their final Heathrow descent overhead, I slogged up and down here in a ragged but ultimately worthwhile interval session.

A gentle, easy 5 miles on Friday night was then the precursor to the long run on Saturday morning. The goal was to get to Windsor to meet the rest of the family, and bank 15 miles. The most direct route is only 7, so a scenic alternative was an option, but I didn't want to carry 15 miles worth of water on a hot day. So I settled for 8 miles around my usual routes - where sticking to woodland shade suddenly seemed a great idea - then swinging by the front drive for water, squash and raisins, followed by 7 miles of hot tarmac. As usual with these things, it got ugly occasionally, but overall I made it in a comfortable state. As the BBC science podcasts dried up, I found a New Order greatest hits album on the mp3 player to carry me home. So I crossed the finish line to the slightly ridiculous strains of World In Motion - "they think it's all over - it is now..." - but Track du Semaine must surely go to the song below, an all-time favourite of mine (as well being appositely titled) which saw me fist-pumping, arm-swinging and goose-bumping-despite-the-heat as I slogged out the last mile.

[Sweder]

Good to hear you've overcome the chip on your shoulder, as it were.
Funny (not funny at all) how these apparently unrelated ailments affect running.
Excited to see another RC Marathon on the horizon, keep up the good work.

[marathondan]

BBBEEEELLLLLTTTTTEEEEERRRRR!!!!!!

Awesome old-school thrash around the field just now, in the dark and driving rain. I have waxed lyrical about these sessions in the past, they only happen about once a year, and this was a classic. An absolutely perfect way to get back into the swing after a slack week as I staggered to the final day of term. Soaked to the skin, awash with endorphins, tempo playlist still ringing in my ears.

Need to fit in a recovery run tomorrow, then hopefully 17 miles on Monday. I'm into the summer vacation, and a month of proper hard running to get me to the start line in September.

[marathondan]

Return of the freak injury. Slipped on Sainsbury's annoyingly slippery floor. At the time I thought "oops, groin strain" but all seemed OK. A couple of hours later, lower back started playing up. I assume the two are related. Tried to run last night but again, didn't make it to the end of the road.

Looks like a few more days sitting and waiting. (Actually, standing and waiting.) Glad I got one session in while I could.

In other news, I successfully made a prototype Mr Strong costume. Concerned about cardboard as a building material though, as it has to withstand 5 hours of bouncing up and down. Also what to do if it rains...

[marathondan]

Spending the day up a ladder seems to have loosened up the back. 17 miles pencilled in for tomorrow morning.

Upgraded Mr Strong with stitched-in shoulder straps, but I don't think a cardboard box will survive a marathon. Back to the drawing board. The charity owns two Mr Men costumes, but unfortunately they're already spoken for - GSR I think.

[glaconman]

Spending the day up a ladder seems to have loosened up the back. 17 miles pencilled in for tomorrow morning.

Upgraded Mr Strong with stitched-in shoulder straps, but I don't think a cardboard box will survive a marathon. Back to the drawing board. The charity owns two Mr Men costumes, but unfortunately they're already spoken for - GSR I think.

Fingers crossed for the 17 miler. Sounds like a roller coaster ride to the start line.

[marathondan]

Thanks mate. 17 miler completed without fuss. A little slippery in places after recent rain, which added to the effort level a little. Garmin ran out of juice yards from the door, but I reckon the times equated to 4:15 marathon pace - which I'll take. The Monkey Cage boys and the BBC Science team kept me company for most of the way, then according to custom I switched to party hits for the last couple of miles, transporting me to the carnival atmosphere of a marathon finish for the final push.

Not really a roller coaster (yet), only hiccups I think. Looking forward to some strong and stable training for the next month or so.