The clock is ticking

With only 7 weeks (and 4 days) until the London Marathon, it's starting to really creep up on me & with all the plans for my supporters in place (more of that soon), it's now just a case of getting myself 'match ready'! Sounds so simple. 

The injury to my foot is now, fingers crossed, firmly in the past so for the past week it's been a case of upping my times & distances. This has been going well and I've been trying to really make the most of my rest days. 

Since I started full on marathon training, I've been seeing an osteopath every fortnight, he has been doing an amazing job of getting my limbs ready for the 26.2 miles & giving me some great advise especially when I had the injuries, this has left me feeling much more positive.

I was back to 2 hours+ last Sunday which really gave me the confidence to get another hour at least on the clock within the next 5 weeks before the tapering begins.

This is definitely not my marathon pace band,
more like Mo Farahs!!

The next area to look at is my pace for marathon day, because I run varying distances & times at the moment, it's really difficult to work out my current pace. I've been playing around with different times and I really do go from anything around 5:58km p/h to 6:20 dependant on the distance. 

It's been recommended I have a pace calculator around my wrist with my ideal pace times so I've looked at some templates and printed a few off to try out over the coming weeks.

To be honest, I think I'll just end up running my own race but it's good to try these things out beforehand just in case.

There really is so much to think about that I never even realised. 

My tip of the week came from my osteopath who suggested taking a black bin bag to the marathon start with me just in case it rains then I can stay dry at the start & dispose of it before I begin. This is something I wouldn't even consider!  



  

More waiting, more worry

After another 4 weeks of waiting on results I finally heard from the hospital on Friday. It wasn't the news I was hoping for. My case has been referred again to the board of consultants & they'll be discussing my results at their monthly meeting on Thursday. It's an odd feeling knowing that something is out of your hands & that whilst you're sat at work going about my daily routine there are strangers in a room at Southend Hospital discussing what will be happening for my imminent future. 
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't really worried and hadn't had a few sleepless nights in recent days plus I'm letting the slightest thing get on top of me. I have to keep reminding myself that I'm in really good hands & I that I'm actually very lucky. 

Onwards to the marathon training & with my fundraising now being over £3200 every pound that comes in really does spur me on. So anyone who may be reading this who has donated, thank you, it means so much to me & the charities. 

Touch wood my foot injury is now starting to ease off a little & after doing as I've been told and getting back into the training slowly, I'm now starting to get back on track. Tomorrow I'm aiming for 75 minutes as a short run & if I can accomplish that without stopping or having any pain in the foot then I'll be delighted & really feel like the marathon can be achieved! I'll have my full running confidence back. 

Run The Right Way

My colleague, Ian, emailed this link to me this morning. Two really interesting videos that could make you run more effectively and the right way! 

It's only 3 minutes long & could make a whole heap of difference to your running. I'll certainly be trying out the different stance on my next run. 

http://sanjayguptamd.blogs.cnn.com/category/cnn-lifestream-video/page/2/#lifestream

Injuries cont.

Unfortunately over the last few days my running injury has gotten worst! It initially started as a stress fracture of the right metatarsal a month ago, this seemed to ease off after a weeks rest so I continued running. Now that I'm increasing my distance I'm starting to get excruciating knee pains also in my right leg! 

The pain is so bad that it straight-away stops me from running! It came on after 6 KM earlier this week so I took the rest of my run easier & made sure I rested & iced it when I got home. This seemed to do the trick & with 2 days rest I ventured out again this morning. Sadly after 4KM I was in agony again.

Wondering if anyone reading this can advice? 

I don't want to go back to my doctors again just to be told to rest. I've carried on putting ice on my knee & resting all day. It feels fine when I'm walking its just when I run. 

I really don't want to be injury prone as I enjoy my running so much. 

With only a few months until my half marathon I need to keep up the training so any injury makes a large delay. 

Any suggestions or advise would be really useful.