The picture accompanying my last post caused a bit of a stir. On Monday I wasn't able to walk properly on my right foot and was expecting it to take a good while to heal. I was lucky enough that Tracy & Deborah who are also training for the marathon were able to provide me with a duoderm plaster to try. Apparently it's used to treat bad blisters & burns in hospitals. I covered the area with this which was like a thick layer of skin and was told to leave it on until it healed fully.
Tuesday 8th October
Paid a visit to Amphibian King Ashtown to get Kevin to check out my runners and suggest an alternative. It turns out I had worn out the insole around where I got the blister and also did a good bit of damage to the cushioning around the same area. This made sense as I had no problem with these runners when I got them initially back in July and this problem had been caused by wear and tear over time. I picked up a pair of Mizuno Wave Inspire 9 which are a similar type of runner from a support point of view but are slightly wider around the top of the foot.
I took the opportunity to head down to training to see how the foot was and to break them in slightly. Could still feel a bit of discomfort when I was running for a prolonged time but managed around 2.5 miles at an easy pace.
Wednesday 9th October - Easy Run
5.87 miles @ 8:51
This is normally a rest day but wasn't necessary for me this week. I wanted to be able to do our Tempo run on Thursday so I got out for a loop of Balbriggan to break the runners in a bit more. The pace was easy so no major pressure on my foot. Either way there was no discomfort at all during the run which gave me the green light for Tempo Thursday in my own head.
Thursday 10th October - Progression Tempo Run
8 mile progression tempo (8:10, 8:05, 3 @ 7:59, 7:55, 7:45, 7:32)
There was a couple of miles knocked off the Tempo run this week but it was changed to a progression type run starting off 10 seconds slower than MP for a mile, then 5 secs quicker, 3 miles at MP and then picking up the pace by 5 secs a mile for each of the last 3 miles.
I did this run with Rosemary & Susan as usual. The first mile and a bit was fine but then we met around 2 miles with a good drag and into the wind which took a bit more effort to dig in and maintain our required pace. After 3 miles we turned onto the mosney road which offered some shelter. The miles were ticking off nicely and if anything we had to be restrained slightly to keep to pace. Although the legs were quite sore in spots there was no problem picking up the pace as we needed. The 2nd last mile was a bit quick but it just got quicker again in the last mile for some reason. I suppose that's a good sign and what you want to start seeing now. A good confidence booster.
Finished up with a warm down back to the cars for 10.21 miles in total for the session.
Saturday 12th October - Easy Run
5.03 miles @ 9:13 pace
Was late enough getting out for this one on Saturday evening but it was a lovely run once out there. Just my usual loop around Balbriggan that is ideal for the dark winter weather that we are now back to. Took the pace handy with the final long run the following morning.
Sunday 13th October - Long Run
17 miles @ 8:33 pace
Phew!!!! After a few pretty bad long runs recently I really needed this one to go well more from a confidence point of view than anything else. Thank God it did. That's not to say it was easy but it went as well as could be expected.
Met Rosemary at 8am in Stamullen and we agreed on a loop from Stamullen - Julianstown - Mosney Road - Gormanston and back to the cars which brought us to just around 8.75 miles and back to the cars where we set out for the same loop again. It was a cool morning but nice running weather with a mixture of hills, inclines, downhills and undulating road providing a good test for the legs. We maintained a good steady pace for the whole run with no drop off in pace. Apart from feeling the urge to vomit with 1/2 mile to go I really enjoyed the run. What a difference a week makes.
When we reached the 17 mile point we walked the last 1/2 mile or so back to the school to loosen out the legs a bit.
Summary: So from the start of the week where things were bleak and unsure of what running I would get in I still managed to get in 40 miles mostly from Wednesday to Sunday. This was around 20% less than last week and the mileage will reduce further this week. The last of the longish runs are out of the way and while time mileage will be reducing I'm sure there are still a few intensive sessions planned.
No comments:
Post a Comment