Sunday, July 30, 2006

Ouch

I was going so well this morning. I was aiming for an 18 miler, and got to about 8 miles feeling surprisingly OK, considering the heat. I guess it might have been a bit cooler than previous days but the sun was still pretty strong, for England at least.

Then, out of nowhere, my hip just went. Putting my foot down was agony and I had to stop immediately. This wasn't one of those niggling pains that you can run through, it was stop and moan with pain territory.

So, decisions. Do I attempt to run/walk it off and carry on with the planned run, or do I cut my losses and head home. I was at just about the closest point to home I'd be at for the next few miles (I run three miles out to the edge of the city then I do a five mile loop from there, and I'd just got to the end of my first loop, three miles from home). I realised that much as I want to get long runs under my belt, getting injured won't help, and being further from home when I decided to give up also wouldn't help.

So I set off back, walking. The first mile was agony, the second slightly better, and by the third I was almost in a state where I'd have considered running again, if I hadn't mentally switched off and already worked out when I was going to try 18 again before trying for 20 (next Sunday, which was meant to be a cutback week with a 13 mile run). So, hopefully it's nothing serious, although it is something I'll have to watch.

The good news is I've worked out how to fit all my long runs in without missing any, and I've also got more confidence that if I do pick up a twinge on the big day I can walk it off and start running again.

I went for a three mile walk this afternoon too, just to loosen it up a bit more. It seems to be pretty much fine. I was really concentrating on my walking technique - I suspect the hip pain is linked to my dodgy knee, because I'm modifying my running style to accommodate my knee. So I went back to the basics of walking (the advantages of having had physio as an adult - I actually remember being taught how to walk!) and really focussed on hitting the ground and pushing off well. It seemed to help my knee as well as my hip, so the aim for the week is going to be to watch how I'm walking and make sure my technique is good. (And the same for running, as far as possible).

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

The RW forum is bad for you...

It gives you too many bad ideas.

I was on there for too long last night. After checking up on the threads for the races I'm running I started rooting around and made two discoveries.

Firstly, ballot application forms for London 2007 are out. I picked one up today I was so excited. But in an unprecedented show of restraint I'm not going to fill it out until after Berlin. I'm almost certainly going to apply, but I want a number to fill in in the box "previous marathon PB". I'm so vain! I'm not particularly hopeful that I'll get a GFA time (it's still possible, and I'm certainly still hoping to get under 4 hours, but 3:45 just seems a little optimistic right now. Maybe if I start really getting my training back on track?) but if you want to make a GFA application you can't apply to the ballot too. As the closing date for the ballot is a month after Berlin I figure that I've got time to wait and see. Just in case miracles happen.

The second discovery is the most worrying though. I'm getting stupidly tempted by the thought of triathlon. But worse than that. There was a big contingent of RW people doing an ironman at the weekend and part of me was reading the reports thinking what an achievement it would be to finish that, and that it wouldn't be too bad, really.

Erm, what did I just say? Somewhere around 2 hours swimming, 100 miles (I think) on the bike and then a marathon? Not too bad?

Stop right there.

I tell you, hanging around that place plays with your mind. It is too bad, it's insanity.

Don't worry, I won't be signing up for one just yet, and possibly never (although I would like to try the shorter, more manageable tris to see whether I could hack the three discipline thing), but part of me likes to have a seemingly unachievable challenge to aim for, long term.

For years that unattainable dream has been to run a marathon. The dream of something that I never thought I'd be fit enough to do. Now I've realised that I can do that I need something else to aim for. Not in the next six or twelve months, but just to see whether it's possible.

Enter the RW website at your own risk...

Sunday, July 02, 2006

15.5 Miles

I had a surprisingly good run this morning. It was hot, with bright sunshine, and I only got home late last night. So I was a bit apprehensive when I set out later than I'd have liked with the aim of doing 15 miles. (By the way, what has it come to when setting out at 7.30 is "late" on a Sunday morning).

My target pace for long runs is around 10 minute miles (based on 9 - 9:30 for easy runs, and 8:30 for marathon pace runs), but as I set out I realised that it might be a slog, and was even considering a walk break every mile. I revised my target pace downwards. Not that I have ways to track it on the run, but I wanted to make sure that I didn't get back and feel disappointed. I decided that what this run was about was covering the distance, and time on my feet, rather than pace. I know that all long runs are, but this one more than most.

I'd vaguely thought of a route, but the route measuring website I use was playing up and I'd only measured it up to about 12 miles. Still, I knew it would be pretty much right.

I dragged myself out of bed, ignored all the excuses, and headed out.

It was surprisingly OK! I did my normal long run route up to about 8 miles and then, at just about the point I normally walk up the short but steep hill, I went round for another, slightly shorter, circuit of the same reservoir. I'd been planning on heading back to the main road a slightly different way, but the last leg of the circuit was quite shady, so I decided to run a full extra circuit and head home the way I'd come.

I managed to run to just after 12 miles before I got back to the 8 mile short but steep hill. That was further than I've run in any of my marathon training runs (and further than I ran in my last half marathon too). In this heat I was very pleased with that. I walked up the hill, and had three miles to go to get home. I'd wanted to run the whole distance back, but I ended up doing a bit of walking up another hill. But still, I got back and measured the route to find that it was 15.5 miles, and I'd taken a mere 2 walk breaks, and still managed to stay under 10:30 minutes per mile.

Not shabby at all.

After my worries a couple of weeks ago, I'm getting a lot more confidence now. In my running, and in the training plan. My only concern now is that last time I went over to GC I seemed to take about a month to get back into the swing of things, particularly the long runs. I'm off to GC again on Saturday for another 10 day holiday and while I built an extra week into my training plan to cater for that, I'm worried about losing some of my fitness over that week. I would say that I'd do some short runs, but I know what happens on holiday so I wouldn't want to make unrealistic promises!

Anyway, whatever happens, I've managed 15.5 miles, and I'm sticking to the training schedule like glue. If having a week off helps some of the aches and pains and niggles clear up a bit (the knee isn't so bad at the moment, but my hip's a bit iffy) then I can cope with having to build back up a bit if I can't manage the full distances I've been doing so far straight off! On the other hand, I think a lot of it is confidence, so maybe if I just get back believing that I can still run, I'll be able to do it...