Ideally at this stage of training I would have been having a couple of lower mileage taper weeks before the Manchester Marathon, but as my mileage has been non-existent to low for the few weeks of training I missed, I seem instead to be reverse tapering, and increasing my mileage weekly before the marathon next week. I shouldn’t really be tapering for Manchester technically as I am using it as a training run for London 2 Brighton.
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This week didn’t start well training wise, but it ended on a high:
Mon: Gentle 30 min Cycle, Yoga + 4 mile Walk
Tues: Rest Day
Weds: 8 mile Run
Thurs: 6 mile Run + Hip Opening Yoga
Fri: Rest Day, 8 mile Walk
Sat: 13 mile Run + 4.5 mile Walk
Sun: 4 mile Run + 4.5 mile Walk
The legs were feeling shocking at the start of the week, after my horror show of a long run last weekend, so I decided to take 2 days off running.
I had a couple of solid midweek middle distance runs, although the tightness in my calves was still bothering me, and it was taking me 2-3 miles before they felt loose enough to actually run properly. Probably a good thing I’m running a marathon as they’ll have plenty of time to warm up.
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Again I’ve done a fair amount of walking this week, and although I did a lot of walking on Friday it seemed to help my legs a lot before Saturdays run. I’ve continued with my 30-45 mins a day of stretching, foam rolling + yoga to help my recovery, and I am up to a 4 min plank as well.
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On Saturday I headed out to meet up with some of the other Team Naturally Run ladies for a final long run before the marathon. I ran 3.5 miles down to meet the others, and we had a lovely 8 mile run along the Thames Path, with plenty of tourist dodging and sightseeing along the way. It’s the first time I’ve run around there, and other than being packed with tourists, I loved it. It was such a stunning day as well, although probably a little too hot for long distance running! I ran most of the miles with Charlie who is also running Manchester next weekend, and I was really pleased with the pace we kept even though we were chatting away, super even last few mile splits to boot! I ran to St Paul’s to meet Nick for brunch at Le Pain to round it up to 13 miles for the day. My best run of training since I got injured, and I’m totally back in love with running!
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Brunch was amazing, Le Pain had a fantastic set Vegan brunch which it would have been rude to decline: Orange Juice, Jasmine Green Tea, Quinoa, Salad, Hummus, Guacamole, Pea Dip, Fruit Salad, Raspberry Crunola (blended bananas topped with buckwheat granola and raspberries)- which was amazing, hazelnut flute and a ton of bread which was overkill-although Nick appreciated it! It was absolutely massive, I have no idea how anybody would be able to eat that much food and I had run 13 miles! It was certainly refuelling in style! Image may be NSFW.
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Today I headed out for a short 4 mile recovery run, which ended up again being comfortable and at a fairly decent clip so I was happy, more importantly my calves are feeling so much better. It was so humid and muggy today, and I am really hoping that the conditions for Manchester are not like that! I’m already obsessively checking the forecast!
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This week I’m aiming for 3 short runs in the build up to race day, I’m getting a sports massage too which should sort out any remaining tightness. Nick has come down with man-flu, and has been completely quarantined, I don’t see any way I’m going to avoid it, especially as my throat already feels a bit dodgy. Staying positive though!
I’m getting quite excited for race day now, and Saturday was just what I needed to give me a big confidence boost going into the weekend, I just hope I feel that good in one weeks time. I know I’ve not run over 13 miles for over 8 weeks now, so physically it could be a battle, but I think after a certain point in a marathon it’s mostly a mental challenge anyway, and I hope having the experience of Dublin will help with that.
Time to taper and load up on carbs…