I had planned a nice 18-ish mile run for this weekend. Meg was leaving, so I decided to do it Sunday rather than run for 4 hours while she was still around on Saturday. Unfortunately Saturday night I suddenly had an attack of plantar fasciitis that is leaving me hobbling around (there's a red inflammation and I can feel the strings of the tendon through my skin - not a good thing, especially when it comes on all sudden like this). And I woke up to the most snow London has seen all winter.
So I didn't run. The marathon is now 3 weeks away, and the longest run I've done is 13.1 miles. I am a little concerned, because I've never practiced hitting the wall, or running for anything approximating 6 hours. I'm seriously contemplating calling in sick one day to run. But I would need to do it tomorrow, which isn't really an option, so that I can do 18-20 on Saturday in NYC. Which I will do, come hell or high water.
My friend is running the London marathon this weekend, and she's had ITB troubles that have capped her longest run at about 11 miles. I'm counting on her to show me it can be done. Of course, the beauty of a massive marathon like London is that even if she walks the whole thing she's unlikely to be last, whereas a small marathon like Blackpool leaves me with the distinct probability of the sweeper cars following me for 26 miles. Oh well. DFL>DNF>DNS, right?
Monday, 7 April 2008
Just a little concerned...
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4 comments:
I saw someone with a DFL>DNF>DNS t-shirt yesterday and it was a very appropriate message to see on a race.
Good luck with your training! I'm sure you'll get through it. It's warming up here so I'm sure you'll escape snow in NYC. :)
Hi Megan
Doesn't it just figure?? You've been pretty injury free this whole time and 3 weeks to go and ....the dreaded PF.
If you are really set on doing this marathon and from reading your blog I know that you are, you need to just take it easy these last 3 weeks. I would recommend only doing 1 middle distance run... maybe something like a 13 or 14 if you really feel you needed it. Remember, you will have to recover from whatever long run you do and that 3 weeks will go by fast.
Here is my confession... my first marathon in '03, my longest run was about 10 miles. I was dumb enough to think I could run 26 miles after only doing 10!?! It did not go well... I still think you can do this marathon very successfully, but you will need to pace it out slow and I think use a run walk approach. Let's say you average 12 or 13 minute miles..(a fast walk is about a 15) reasonable I think.. that works out to about a 5 and half hour marathon and I think you can do it.
To be concise, I think you should heal that foot and use your toughness to get through the marathon.
Best of luck,
Bill
My longest run before my marathon was only 14.5 miles that was about 7 weeks before my marathon. I was terrified to then run the marathon, because all I had heard was that my body would shatter into a million pieces, as I had never done an 18 mile training run.
But I told myself to just take it slow, and I did just fine. Had I been able to train more, I would have probably been faster, but I still finished in 5:30. I ran most of the first half, and then did a run-walk combo for the last half. I maybe could have gone faster, but I would have felt horrible when it was over.
Good luck with the upcoming marathon - you will get through it!
Oh, man, I'm sorry to hear about your foot...but I think you'll be OK. Bill has a ton of great advice down there, and as I'm sure you're aware, he's one to know! :) Also, just personally speaking? I think the Wall is a figment of a lot of people's imagination. They hear about it and expect it to happen, so...it inevitably does. Just don't believe in it! :) (note: this should not be confused in any way, shape or form to be something even slightly resembling advice from someone who knows what they're talking about. Because I certainly don't. ;)
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