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19 WEEKS TO GO

Dec 11, 2011 | Running | 0 comments

I have suffered from what I hope will be a minor set-back this week. Here is a clue; I spent my Saturday night with an icepack (ok bag of frozen fruit, same thing) on my knee. What happened is an embarrassing story. I was meeting friends to go to the cinema, and slipped walking up some concrete stairs. My shoe fell off and I hit my knee on the corner of the step. It was embarrassing enough to fall over, plus I was on my own and people laughed!!! I quickly picked up my shoe and hobbled into the shopping centre bathroom where I discovered that there was a hole in my leggings and a gash in my knee. It was bleeding a fair amount, and I didn’t know how deep the cut was. At this point, I rang my friend Amanda and asked her to meet me in the bathroom and bring me some plasters. I had to stand in the bathroom with my leggings around my ankles whilst we cleaned the cut and put a plaster on- another low point of the night! My knee is so sore and swollen, plus I can’t bend it, which means my 6 mile run today is out of the question.

Before my new knee injury, my runs this week weren’t going too well. I felt slow and unfit, plus it was so cold out on my morning runs. On Wednesday morning I ran 3 miles

I cheated slightly with my second 3 miler this week and incorporated it into my circuit training, counting it as a speed workout. As part of my Wednesday workout I ran 20 mins at 8.34 pace – not quite 3 miles but good enough. My plan from January is to include at least one speed session a week, probably on the treadmill so that it’s easier to alter the pace. I am going to alternate fartlek, intervals, hills and Yasso 800s (I’m not too sure what they are either but I read about it in Runner’s World, will keep you posted!) 

My run on Friday morning was horrible. My legs and lungs would just not co-operate. It was freezing cold which made my legs feel heavy and stiff, plus I found that I was breathing really heavily. I have asthma which I have not been looking after properly. Friday’s run was a bit of a wake up call, and I am booking a doctor’s appt to make sure I get on top of my asthma.

This I have not enjoyed my runs, they were hard and I did not feel strong. I’m worried that my knee is going to be a major set back, but I am not going to let it! I really need to maximise my training runs (when I am back up and running, hopefully later this week), and include speed sessions, easy runs and pace runs. I received my Virgin London Marathon magazine in the post this week, it was full of inspirational stories, training plans and advice. It was really useful and motivated me to make the most of my marathon training. It reiterated that I am spending so much time training that I should make every session count. From January I am going to have a specific all-round training schedule that includes weights, speed training, long runs, easy runs, paced runs, circuits, yoga and cross training. I am going to be a busy, but fit and healthy bee!

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