No Taper

Even though I have done 26+ mile training runs before, at the beginning of the week I was getting worried about the state of my legs. My right achilles hurt. My left hamstring hurt a lot. Then my left shins gave an acute pain. Niamh suggested it might be shin splints (where the heck did she pick up that term?), but I didn’t think so, it was too close to the ankle. I wore ankle straps for Tuesday’s run, but they probably were not necessary, and the problem has not re-occurred. But my left calf muscle is very, very sore in one particular spot, and if I make the wrong movement, it starts cramping.

All of these problems do not really bother me when I’m running, only in the intervening times (maybe I should run for 24 hours a day then. Ok, maybe not). Actually, the achilles tends to be a bit sore for the first mile of each run, and then I completely forget about it.

Anyway, time is the best healer, and with 36 hours to go until the marathon, I’m feeling better. All of the issues are still there, but they all seem to be receding. There is nothing magic about the marathon distance, and if you run it slowly enough you make it through even if you’re not rested and tapered. Nobody knows that better than the guys from the 32-marathon challenge, who have just completed their 7th marathon in a row, and yet they’re still only at the beginning.

The weather forecast is getting worse by the minute, a few days ago it didn’t seem too bad but now they are all predicting various amounts of rain. Then again, it won’t be any worse than the Cork marathon a month ago. Right now I’m really looking forward to this, despite all the niggles and tiredness.

As for my most recent training, I ran 15 miles on Tuesday around Caragh Lake. The legs were incredibly stiff and tired early on, so I ran a few fast strides to loosen them up, which seemed to work. I was quite tired over the last 2 miles, which is not a great sign for Saturday, but I’ll manage.

6 very slow miles followed on Wednesday, but the HR was a good bit higher than what I would have expected for such a slow run. It had me worried, but today’s (Thursday) run was a tad faster but with a lower HR, so things are moving in the right direction. My guess is I was tired from Tuesday's run (as well as last week's mileage). I know this is not a taper, but I always intended to train through that marathon.

I will take Saturday as a marker how I’m coping with long distance training runs. There will have to be a lot more of them before Dingle, and the feedback from Saturday will serve as a good indicator how I can handle the long miles.

6 Jul

15 miles, 1:58:47, 7:55 pace, HR 149

7 Jul

6.1 miles, 52:02, 8:32 pace, HR 140

8 Jul

8 miles, 1:06:09, 8:16 pace, HR 139