Sunday 20 March 2016

Marathon training (and general update)

Oh dear, it's been nearly 3 months since I last blogged and I've actually had plenty of things to blog about.  I guess it's a question of life getting in the way which is a whole lot better than depression getting in the way.

The name of the game so far this year has been Less Is More Marathon Training along with Trying To Maintain A Semblance Of Swim Training.  In general that has gone ok, until today when I got out of the pool and burst into tears.  My body is quite tired!  I did my second 20 mile run on Friday and it has definitely taken it out of me (something I should have remembered from my previous 20 mile run a fortnight previously).  I've also been battling Frankenblister which I don't  think is really going to go away until the marathon (16th April), at least compeed seems to help, and a slightly wonky piriformis muscle which has required several trips to the osteopath.  Both of those things have meant even less training than the Less Is More Marathon plan.  However, I'm on the home straight now - there's the small matter of a 23 mile run next weekend which I'm not looking forward to but then taper is on the horizon.  I've a half marathon on my birthday and then it'll be a fortnight to go!

It's been a good year for getting in some races.  We did a lovely trail half marathon down in Plymouth at the end of January.  The route was fab with some great hills; too bad that it finished 3 miles short of the distance!  (I ran around the carpark several times to make it up...).  The following weekend I finally completed the Grim Challenge which I thought was not really worth the hype.  It didn't feel at all physically challenging when you had to keep stopping to wade through puddles and the hills were really pretty minimal.  The weekend after that we did a great half marathon down in Portsmouth for Valentines day.  It was a mix of trail and road and was actually quite wet and muddy.  It was lovely to see Portsmouth and be by the sea and we got around it in a decent time given the terrain.  I'd be happy to do that one again.  Excellent goody bag too and chunky medal.

I also had a week in Tenerife which was mainly about swimming but I did also get in some good runs.  The coastal promenade is undulating compared to say Bournemouth so that was fun and I was able to have a nice paddle at the end of my runs!  I also had a great time hanging out with Fiona the Fish and Super H.  It's always the mark of a good holiday when you come back and immediately book another one, and by midday on the Monday we were back at work, Super H and I were booked onto a Swim Trek trip to Slovenia in July.  Can't wait!  Too bad F didn't have any more holiday left :(

The weekend after saw me and Super H going over to Milton Keynes.  H did the 10k run (having no run for several weeks owing to shin splints) and I did the 20 mile run.  I felt woefully underprepared and got really anxious about it but I ended up sailing around the first 13 miles and feeling fine until 16.5 miles and then with the company of another lady managing to hold onto the end to come in at 2h52 which was way faster than my target marathon pace.  That said, my legs were shot to pieces (as they were after yesterday's run) so the end of the marathon is going to be really tough.

I didn't do swimathon this year - it would have been hard to top last year's 5 x 5km in 3 days - but mostly it was because life got in the way and it was more important to fit in that 20 miler.

I think that's about it for now.  A case now of Just Keep Running and keep my chin up through the next 10 days and then allow my body to recover and be tip top for marathon day.