“Marathon running is a terrible experience:
monotonous, heavy, and exhausting”
Veikko Karvonen,
1954 European and Boston Marathon Champ

Resting HR (average): 54

Injury status: Left Peroneal tightness 4/10,
(R) Foot pain 3/10, (R) Sacroiliac pain 4/10

Neural stretching (knee to nose. averages in cm):
Baseline 27.5; Afterwards 23

A solid week helped me get back on track, even with 1 rest day and a light day!

Monday was an easy 10km, which felt comfortable and had a decent pace.

Tuesday was tough. Slow, pain, tired, fatigue, pain, pain …I didn’t feel like running, especially when it is a hard slog.

It’s moments like these you visualise yourself running the last 20km of the Comrades Marathon, and thinking, this is how painful it is going to be (when in reality you know that this is a walk in the park, and you don’t even want to think how painful the Comrades marathon is truly going to be!)

Wednesday I welcomed the break from running and did a strengthening session. Monday to Wednesday I managed to train twice a day with good intensity.

By lunchtime Wednesday my body was very fatigued and needing a rest. I took Thursday off, thinking of Bruce Fordyce’s advice to take a rest when you feel you need it. I hate taking time off to rest, but it was sorely needed!

Friday morning I managed my first long run in 5 weeks. A disgraceful statistic on my part, but at least I was out of the house and on the road at 3am. I felt good, the rest had worked well. Oh how nice it would be to feel fresh for every long run!

I started off slow and steady, and it only got steadily slower! After 12-14km I suddenly didn’t feel fresh anymore! So much for having a rest, that’s why I just prefer to train hard and when feeling tired…train harder!

The minimum I wanted to run was 30, the aim 32, but I started feeling better after 25km. So I decided to go for 36. Once again the feeling of running nice and relaxed didn’t last long and the last 5km my legs started to get tighter and tighter. I was pleased to have done 36km, but that’s probably my limit for now (unless I had to run longer!). My body gets very tight through the nerves in my legs and it takes me time to  allow it to get used to the longer distances. Hopefully next week is a little easier!

On Friday evening I played my first game of hockey in years. It’s a 6-a-side competition with 40 minute games. I thought it may be a way to work on my speed/sprinting. However I playing on a Friday after my long run was not the smartest decision!

After a few minutes of running (well I was trying to run anyway!) around I realised how different it is stopping, starting, accelerating etc, compared to the long, slow steady rhythm I am used to.

It should be good for me, but I did slip as I tried to take a free hit and sprained my right foot. Talk about un-coordinated! I slipped trying to push the ball with no one to pressure me at all! It didn’t hurt at the time (other than my pride) but by Sunday it had stiffened up a lot. A few physio sessions by Rheanna on my tarso-metatasal joint and my intertarsal joints should be enough to overcome it however.

I was wary of sprinting too hard as I could feel my left hamstring/groin becoming quite tight, and was a bit worried how it might feel over the next few days. By Saturday morning it felt fine however.

Saturday was a total-trainer session, and the legs felt surprisingly good. But by Sunday my (R) lower back and buttocks were quite sore. I decided to take it easy as the training load for the week was pretty high and I need to get used to decent mileage again, and I’d rather ensure I back it up with a good week again next week…

“Do or do not. There is no try.”
Yoda