Karen writes: What marathon training?

Ooops, I have a marathon in 6 weeks and I have barely done any training!  11 weeks ago we did the Rotorua Marathon, I trained for that, and as usual felt (knew) I hadn't done enough, but I had done the minimum, following the programme, running 5-6 days a week, with the weekly increasing long run up to 33km.  Since that marathon the maximum I have gotten up to is 23km and that was about 5 weeks ago before the ITB injury.  Unfortunately I haven't done more than 10km at a time since... last week I did a grand total of 15km over several runs, trying to run within the pain, build tolerance in minuscule increments and not run on consecutive days, this has to be the worst marathon training effort ever.

So this weekend the decision is, do I run with the Te Puru runners for a short distance to keep the 'running legs' ticking over, or do I go for a long bike-ride to keep the cardiovascular fitness up?  Do I try out a walk/run pattern to see if I can cover a long distance without pain and plan on that as my marathon strategy, or do I rest and hope next week will be better?  Today my leg aches, not sure if it a normal muscle reaction to the unaccustomed strength training/stretching, or I have caused more inflammation... so off to the physio for an expert opinion and tweaking of the recovery plan.   This is such a tricky injury, I am very glad it has happened now and not in the middle of Ironman training, it has taught me valuable lessons about strength training and stretching.  I would say that even if you have been lucky enough not to have this problem, it is disabling enough that every runner should check whether they are doing enough to prevent it.

The good news is that I have now had 2 short swims, the first of 300m, and one yesterday before work of 500m.   I came out feeling fabulous, the shoulder seems to be pretty much fully recovered, and even more importantly, I haven't forgotten how to swim!

Anyway, heading north this afternoon to pick up the girls, it has been the ultimate in irony that I have been unable to train at the very time there has been the most opportunity, not having 'mum' duties during the school holidays.  Big daughter has apparently discovered tennis, after 10 days I cant wait to see them.

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