Dealing with Uncertainty

It’s going to be a fairly short post from me for June. I have been juggling loads of things whilst trying to improve my running form, to get back to what it was before my Watford Half Marathon. Overall I think it has been pretty successful, with most of June being spent running a weekly mileage of around 30 miles and above. However this distance has not been without its niggles and with the quality running sessions I have added in; my right lower back and glute have  become quite tense over the last couple of weeks. Luckily I have had the advice of my fellow club members, as well the physio who I have been seeing for the last couple of months about my calf and my more recent issues.

So in a lot of ways things are looking positive with my running and I feel like I am heading in the right direction. That said I am still apprehensive, as I begin my marathon training. Ultimately the reason for feeling like this is the fear of becoming injured again, therefore having to miss another marathon this year; which to be honest would lead me to contemplating whether I should train for another marathon in 2017. Being injured is not a great feeling, but it does give you a marker as to what you can and can’t do in regards to training. Now that I am relatively okay and am free to start increasing my mileage, this is where the uncertainty comes in. How do I know when I have pushed myself too much? What sort of sessions take more out of me than others? These are questions that I can’t answer right now, but will only be able to know once I have begun my marathon training.

One thing I do know, is that following from my January resolutions post, I will definitely be more patient in my build up in my marathon training. Of course it was great being in good form between January and February, but the downside of not being able to run properly between February to March was certainly not worth it. So in practice being patient with my training could mean:

-           Learning to take a rest day if my body does not feel up to training that particular day.

-           Focussing on my recovery and nutrition during my marathon training (possibly with a target aim of getting 8 hours of sleep).

-          Looking at cross-training as another way of improving my overall cardiovascular fitness during my marathon training.

-          For the London Marathon I was given an excellent plan by the coach of my club, but after reviewing it, I think there are some adaptations that could be made to it. The purpose of this would be so that there is less chance of getting injured; and I would do this primarily through looking at the total mileage I do each week.  

The one thing that I was really proud of last week was the way I approached the North Downs 30km race last weekend. Admittedly I had raced the Reading Half Marathon after coming back from injury, but from my experience there is a huge difference between running a flat and fast half marathon to a hilly 18.5 mile trail race. What I was most happy about is how my body held up after a week’s worth of training. I started off at a decent pace to then gradually increasing my speed towards the end of the race. I have never actually tried to race the entire course and it is something I believe is akin to running a marathon; so it will be something that I try to do after achieving my sub-3 hour time at the marathon distance. The picture below gives you some idea of the sort effort I was giving at the end of the race.

  

I have blogged about the North Downs Race last July, so do not want to go over the details of the race. However I will say that it is one of the best runs I have done to date; the race itself is well-organised, even when the conditions aren’t great the scenery is amazing, the marshals are always kind and supportive, I think it offers a unique challenge to runners and the post-race food/ goodie bags are great.

All in all the North Downs has given me a great base to build from to train towards the Abingdon Marathon, but I will have to be patient in how I approach my training and ensure I stay injury free.