Sunday 25 March 2018

We can see the light!

London Marathon Training - 4 weeks to go!


Key -blue - both of us Purple -Kelly Orange -John 


Monday 19th March 2018 

Is there a better way to start the last week of term than with a snow day?! I couldn't believe it when I looked out of the window and saw the ground covered in a beautiful white blanket. It was 5am and we were planning on going to PT. As I'd ran yesterday, I didn't want to run today so I planned to drive...only when we went out to the car we found dangerously icy conditions. I didn't feel comfortable driving so we went back to bed and waited for confirmation of school being closed! 

Not wanting to miss out, John took the day off too and for the second time in a month, we had a lovely, relaxing snow day. 

At lunch time, John went out for a run so I went to the lunchtime yoga class. I am really feeling the benefit of these yoga sessions. It is definitely helping my muscles to be doing so much stretching. 

A later than planned recovery day for me due to the snow day: 6Miles @ 8:02MM pace 
A not-so-long run the day before and a relative short week of miles and no PT meant for very fresh and springy legs, a welcomed feeling.

Tuesday 20th March 2018 

We were up early this morning to head to the gym. It opens at 6:30 so we made sure we were there right when it opened so we could get 30mins of training in before we have to get ready for work. I did 3.1 miles on the cross trainer in 25 mins. Pretty pleased with that - it felt relatively easy and didn't hurt my foot at all- clearly a good exercise for PF. As I don't know how long it will take for my plantar fasciitis to clear up, my plan is to do a lot more on the cross trainer so that I don't lose too much fitness. 

In the evening, I went to yoga again. I amazed myself with my new found flexibility! Usually in yoga, I'm the uncoordinated one who is giggling, falling over and generally looking like a buffoon...today however, I was holding the poses steady, getting my arms and legs straight and feeling rather coordinated! I got home eager to show John...



I can touch the floor! I can reach my feet! It's a miracle! 



It's nice to see that there are some benefits to not running! 

A medium long run with the Maestro for me. I spent the first half running steady with some intermittent strides and the second half running strong throughout: 11Miles @ 7:37MM
Was good to run with someone instead of solo and good to have a chat and blow off some steam at the same time. With the Prom race coming up on Thursday, this was to be my longest run before the weekend.

Wednesday 21st March 2018 

John went out early for a run today so I went back to the gym to see if I could improve on my 5k cross trainer PB time! I smashed it! 22 mins - boom! A 3 minute PB. 

As much as I am actually starting to enjoy cross training and yoga classes, I am still desperate to run. Tomorrow is the next Weston Prom 5 mile race. I am keen to run because firstly, just because I really want to run, secondly, I'm part of a team and I really didn't want to let the team down. John and I disagreed on whether I should run or not...I was tempted to run it slowly to count for the team but not to race it flat out. We decided instead to ask a professional's opinion. 

I booked an appointment to see Jenny my Physio at the Triathlon Shop. While she confirmed what I thought, that my PF was feeling better than it had last week, she advised me to listen to John and not race tomorrow. She knows me well and knows that I'd struggle to be in a race environment and not race! 

She did some massage on my foot and right leg and also did some ultrasound treatment which stimulates cell growth and some people believe can help in repair. Jenny informed me that lots of people debate if it actually works but we agreed that it was worth a try - it can't do any harm! 

I asked Jenny when it would be alright for me to start running again. She asked me when my foot hurt. I explained that it doesn't hurt when I walk or do yoga or cross training. She asked if it hurt when I first stepped out of bed and I told her that it doesn't anymore. She said, based on that information, that it would probably be OK for me to start building some running back in. She advised that I keep rolling with the golf ball and ice bottle and that I only run every other day or every third day. She explained that lots of people find that they can run with PF as long as they've warmed up their foot muscles well before hand. 

I then asked what sort of distances she thought I could do and if it would make my PF any worse if I did speed work. She said that PF is very different in different people so there is no right or wrong answer. But she advised that I try building up to a longer run and try some speed work and see how it feels. I'm keen to get a balance between training but not making my injury any worse. I want to try running again but I am also prepared to rest more if I feel that running is making my foot worse. 

When I got home from physio, John helped me make a recovery training plan for the last 5 weeks of marathon training. It includes lots of cross training and yoga still and runs every few days. It may have to change if my foot gets worse but I feel better having a plan to follow - even if it is very different to the one I intended to follow at the start of the campaign! 

5Miles at 8:20MM pace for me - a recovery run before tomorrows Prom race. I ran out along the Towpath for the first time this year. It's dry and in good shape and it was nice to run under the Clifton Suspension bridge the other side of the river and without any traffic. Back to running solo trying to clear my head after some disagreements the night before with KD on how she is to move on from this injury but more immediately whether she should run Weston Prom or not. I don't think anyone who is injured should race. Physically it makes no sense but on top of that, the psychological battering of not running your best on top of the injury is not a positive step forward... It's been a massive struggle for the GFRG managing and recovering from this PF injury and it's been similarly tough trying to support someone who is almost indestructible and relentlessly positive.

Thursday 22nd March 2018 

While John was out at Prom, I went to the gym. Today I did 4 miles in the cross trainer before going to yoga. As I've still got no pain when walking or cross training, I've decided to try a 3 mile run tomorrow morning. Fingers crossed! 

Well done to KD making the sensible decision to not race and focus on recovery :-)
Prom for me: 5th place in 28:05
A 3mile warm up before hand in less than ideal conditions. A very strong headwind. On the start line and ready to go, a smaller field than usual - getting closer to London this weekend had the Gloucester 20 race, brilliant prep for London but it did mean some runners gave Prom a miss. Whereas last race I ran in a pack of 5+ this time round it was myself and racing rival Ben working together. Last time Ben broke free from the pack and I could barely see him in the last mile. This time round I was running with fresher legs and I made a break away with a mile to go. Success - I won the battle but maybe not the war - I wanted a Sub28 but I took 5 seconds too long. I ran strong and in hindsight had I given my watch/pace greater attention I probably could have got the time I wanted. After 3 weeks of unstructured running in-light of my daemon/left arm/running partner going through her turmoil I was pleased with the result and workout overall. A mile warm down = 10 miles for the day.

Friday 23rd March 2018 

This morning I went for a run! I felt like a caged puppy who had been released! 5k at 8:19mm pace. Really pleased. I had a bit of pain for the first 1/2 mile - it felt like I had a small bruise on my heel. After that, the pain faded and I hardly felt anything at all. Woohoo! Things are looking good! 

5K at 8:19MM pace and running toe-to-toe with KD - Hooray! After a fortnight of not running and lot's of rehab, the GFRG was running - great progress towards getting in shape to run London. So nice to not have to trudge out solo miles and even more so to have KD back doing her favourite thing and with a smile on her face. Legs feeling a little sensitive after racing the night before so I was glad to be running 3miles at recovery effort.

Saturday 24th March 2018 

After a rather heavy night last night, I was pretty pleased that I'd pre-booked yoga and set my alarm. Yoga was good -although I struggled with the balances more than usual ...possibly due to the sambuca! 

Long run day - 20 Miles @ 7:05MM Pace With 2 X 5K @ Marathon Pace
My toughest workout for 2+ weeks. I set out determined to prove to myself that I can still run something resembling a marathon training workout. The first half was pretty straight forward and I even enjoyed the 3 miles at marathon pace on the Portway. In the transition down from marathon pace running from the Portway towards the Bristol to Bath cycle path I was starting to feel tired and regretting not having had any breakfast or even a cup of tea (although this was mainly due to an unusual lie in - not choice.) I struggled my way through the still blowing eastern winds out along the cycle path I turned around dreading the second phase of marathon pace. With wind behind and running slightly downhill - it wasn't actually too bad, the run had taken another turn, for the good. I cam off the cycle path pleased that I'd done what I set out to in regards to running some miles at pace but I was considering cutting my run short and running the shortest line home and stopping at 18 miles. I knew if I did this I'd be annoyed with myself and not feel as comfortable eating as much breakfast as I'd planned to. So I found my small source of grit and got on with it. Plodded the 2 miles to take me up to 20 miles for the day. Absolutely knackered I walked through to door to true beauty... pancakes! Carbs, protein and sugar in a massive lump on a plate - thanks KD!


Sunday 25th March 2018 

After a second heavy night in a row (celebrating my Grandad's 80th Birthday!) we enjoyed a lie in. I wanted to try a slightly longer run today to see how my foot would cope. 



We ran to Nonsuch Park, did a lap of the park and ran home bringing the total to 6 miles. I felt brilliant! It was wonderful to go out with John and run together. I felt liberated! 



I asked John to assess my stride to check that I wasn't over compensating and running differently. He reported that I was running pretty evenly and even said that my stride was looking better than it had in a long time - for once, I am properly rested. I feel full of energy! 

As soon as I got home, I iced my foot and did lots of golf ball rolling for the rest of the day. Hopefully my foot will continue to feel better tomorrow and I can look forward to the Easter Holidays with even more running! 

6 miles @ 8:30MM
A recovery run around the park but not feeling quite as fresh or springy as KD after yesterdays 20 miles. Lovely to be out running together - things are almost back to normal!

A 60 mile week for me - 9 miles for KD. Progress for both of us.
More miles for both of us to come... London doesn't seem as scary this week as it did last week1


Sunday 18 March 2018

Steps to recovery - a week of cross training

London Marathon Training - 5 weeks to go :(


Key - Both of us - Blue Kelly - Purple John - Orange 


Monday 12th March 2018 

I started the week feeling optimistic after yesterday's successful 3 mile run. I wanted to try 5 miles today and then planned to run 8 on Wednesday and 10 on Sunday. 

The problem with planters fasciitis (and probably with other injuries as well) is that there is such a lot of contrasting information online that it's sometimes hard to know what to believe. As most of the pain was in my heel, I thought it would be good to try and minimize the time that my heel hits the ground. So I tried to copy John's style of running by running on my toes. On reflection, this maybe wasn't the best idea as afterwards, my foot was really quite painful again. 

My optimism quickly disappeared as I spent the rest of the day limping again feeling pain similar to that of about 3 days ago. Frustrated with myself for putting back my recovery, I decided to take a few more days off and not run until I could be sure that I wasn't going to go backwards. 

Lots and lots and lots of rolling and icing. 

Recovery run for me - 5Mi @ 8:40MM pace. No PT due to KD injury. Finished the run feeling pretty knackered and run down and also with an annoying sore throat... I put it down to a heavy alcohol weekend and feeling a bit run down.

Tuesday 13th March 2018 

Today I continued to roll and ice my foot throughout the day. In the evening, I thought I'd try a yoga class. I warned the instructor that I might not be able to do everything because of my PF. Surprisingly, my foot didn't hurt at all and my whole body felt better for lots of stretching, breathing and relaxing. 

Woke up with a full on throat virus. Feeling like a bus had hit me, I postponed my morning speed work and instead ran in the evening. No speedwork though - feeling rubbish - 3miles @ 8:30MM pace... I warn you, this may get a bit repetitive.

 Wednesday 14th March 2018 

Today I got home from work feeling pretty down. I felt sluggish, lazy and pretty down. John managed to convince me that going to the gym would be a good idea. He ran to the gym and I walked and met him there. 

We did 15 minutes on the cross trainer, 5 minutes on the rower and 10 minutes on the bike. I really did feel better. It felt good to have exercised and burned some calories. 



Another 5K recovery run en route to meet KD at the gym. 8:15MM pace. Starting to feel better but struggling to breath properly so just gonna run short and steady through the week and hope I recover in time for the weekend.

Cross training is fun. It's nice to do something new. The gym can be boring if you don't challenge yourself so I set out to use the cross trainer, row and cycle for longer than I ever have before... 10 minutes on each meant I set a PB on each machine.

Thursday 15th March 2018 

Mega busy day at work today. 1/2 day of teaching, followed by leading a Science Challenge for 18 other schools. I then went back to school briefly before driving to Backwell for a meeting and then driving back to school for a Governors meeting that didn't finish until 9:30pm. A long day which took my mind off my foot! No exercise at all though. 

A solo run after work as the other members of the Aalco Running Club were busy doing other things. 3miles @ 8:15pace and feeling even better than yesterday.

Friday 16th March 2018 

Being on a course today meant that I could spend lots of time rolling my foot with my mate the golf ball under the table - really handy! 

We went back to the gym in the evening. I started off with a little abs circuit. Next, I did 20 mins on the cross trainer, 10 minutes on the rower and then 15 mins on the bike. Stepping it up from Wednesday. 

While my foot is feeling better each day and doesn't hurt at all to walk on, I'm worried about running on it and making it worse. I really can't afford to take many more weeks off, if I am still planning on running the London Marathon. At the moment, honestly, I really don't know if I'll be able to. I really don't want to 'plod' round. I want to be in the position so that I can race it. My worry is that, if I miss much more training, I'm simply not going to be able to run a good time. 

I really want to be able run this weekend. Fingers crossed. 

A first for me - a Friday evening run. I'm not sure if I've ever run a Friday evening? KD suggests we did a few years back but I don't remember. Friday evenings are for beer! Anyway - I ran another 5K - progressive, averaging 8mm. I bumped into club mate Tim on my round the harbourside - he's running strong but I forgot to ask him which spring marathon he's training for now? I finished up my run at the gym and did the same workout as Wednesday but just spent a bit longer on each mahine - 3 new PBs! (I'd liek to have a go at rowing 2000mtrs in under 8 minutes at some point... not very impressive but still something I have never done!)

Saturday 17th March 2018 

While John went out running, I decided to go to the gym again. I ran there - just 1/2 a mile- while my foot didn't hurt too much, I could still feel the pain. Frustrating. The more I research and talk to people the more I hear times like 3-6 weeks, 1-3 months...It's making me feel very worried. However, lots of what I've read has mentioned serious pain when walking which I don't have. I'd like to try a few miles tomorrow so I spent most of the day today alternating between rolling an ice bottle under my foot and rolling the golf ball. All of this is definitely helping. 

Today, I did another abs circuit before 25 mins on the cross trainer while watching Robot Wars!
I enjoy the view from the gym

A proper workout for me today - I set off towards the Bristol to Bath cycle path running the first half against eye watering easterly Siberian winds - not a comfy start. I ran steady out to 5 miles and turned around to make my way home and started to run 3 miles at sub marathon pace. It was lush - wind behind, down hill, running on reduced-miles-fresh legs - marathon pace was bliss :-) I finished the workout with a couple of steady miles towards home in very heavy pretty snow: 
10 miles @ 7:09MM (Efforts: 6:30, 6:29, 6:23) 
PS - I can breathe now - virusy-coldy-knackerdy symptoms are diminishing.

Sunday 18th March 2018 

SNNNNNOOOOWWWW!!!!! I woke up to a beautiful view - white everywhere! I couldn't believe it. I thought it was going to snow a bit during the day but I wasn't expecting a blanket! 


John had planned to run with Marcus and Sam and I had planned to run a little bit and then turn around and go home. I hadn't planned on snow. 

I wasn't feeling very confident about running on the snow as I don't like running when I feel like I might fall over. I wore my trail shoes - which turned out to be a brilliant plan. 

John and I headed off towards the meeting point. When it got close to the point where I should probably go back, I started feeling a bit down. I wanted to go and run in the snow with my friends! Once again, feelings of frustration crept in. I left John to go and join the crew and started the lonely run back home. 

Trying to think of the positives, I realised that my foot hardly hurt at all. I was running slowly and cautiously but actually feeling very little pain at all. This is good! Thankfully, my mood lifted and I finished my 3 miles feeling positive. 

To add to my positive mood, I decided to make a snow fox for John to see when the arrived home (unfortunately, he came in a different entrance and didn't see it in real life but I showed him the photos!). 



If I can build up next week and then have two more good training weeks, I think I can still go sub 3. I just have to be really careful not to put my recovery back at all and not do too much. Just focus on a few really high quality sessions a week. 

Mission aborted! I set of with the intention of running 20/22 miles today with the guys. I got to the top of the hill and met the Maestro and Sam who were both raring to go. I was dressed like an arctic explorer and feeling somewhat battered by the snowfall - raring to go back to bed. I made the (possibly overly) sensible decision to not join the guys on a 20mile long run but to detor through Ashton Court back towards home. In hindsight, the conditions improved on my way home and throughout the morning.. Starring at my 35miles total for the week I'm a little bit annoyed with myself for not just getting on with it and banking a 20miler - it would have been a good laugh and I'd have recovered from being poorly in the week and banked a good weekends worth of training.. Not to be and another example of a possible lack of grit from me? Let hope it's in abundance come race day!

Lacking in miles and sessions this week but I've gotten through a tough week of being poorly and HOPEFULLY this is my last setback before London. 5 weeks of building up and tapering back down before the big day. 

Sunday 11 March 2018

Managing the mental and physical effects of injury

London Marathon Training - 6 weeks to go!


Key Both of us - Blue John - Orange Kelly - Purple 



We wanted to start this week's blog by saying thank you. We can't quite believe it, but for the last 3 weeks in a row, we've had over 1000 views!!! So thank you to everyone who is reading it. 

This has been a very different week where we have both learned a lot about the effects of an injury. We hope that by documenting our thoughts and feelings, others can learn from our mistakes. 

Sorry in advance...this week has been quite an emotional roller coaster! 

Monday 5th March 2018

After a pretty inconsistent few weeks of training, I really wanted this week to be the week where everything went to plan. This was the first week of following the 'Jason Cherriman' plan - a plan specially designed by my mentor. I was really looking forward to hitting every session and meeting targets. 

On Saturday I've got the Fission 20 mile races which is a great opportunity to test how my training has been going and see what I am capable of. I wanted to front-load the week so I could do a mini taper in the second half of the week so that I would be ready for the race. 

We started this week as normal with a 5 mile run with PT in the middle. This week's PT was ace. Another competition (Jules knows us so well!). We had to do 100 reps of 10 different exercises. This meant that, at the end of the session, we'd have done 1000 reps in total - nice! 

Down and ups
Squat jumps with a 5kg plate to hold
Crunches
Straddle jump with bench sits
Cleans 10kg bar
Raised leg shoulder taps
Squat and press with a 10kg bar
Balance v sits with 5kg plate side to side 
Squats with 2 x 15 kg dumbbells 
Mountain climbers

We could do the reps in sets of however many we wanted. I chose the ordered methodical approach - 10 blocks of 10. John's appeared more hap-hazard (to me anyway..I'm sure he had a strategy!). It all came down to the wire and when I had just 3 reps to go - John shouted "STOP!" and emerged as the victor - well deserved. 

In the evening, I decided to run again as the plan said 8 miles for the day. John didn't want to run again (and advised me not to...but I didn't listen...). I ran to the committee meeting and John drove. It was wet. VERY wet. After running there, I was then sitting in damp clothes for an hour until running home...in hindsight, not especially bright. 

Today I started to noticed a few niggles in my legs and my feet...nothing major I'm sure - I'll just run it off....

By far the hardest but most rewarding PT session I've ever done. There's nothing I love more than working together with the GFRG - except competing against her! I really thought she had this in the bag. KD is usually much stronger than me in these kind of head to heads but as she said, I just pipped her to the post. Finishing in a heap on the floor holding back last night dinner but with a smile on my face. 

The workout was as usual in the middle of a 5mile recovery run - 9MM pace.

Tuesday 6th March 2018

8 miles on the plan for today. I decided to challenge myself to doing a progressive run. My aim was for each mile to be quicker than the last. I really enjoy these runs as it gives me something to focus on and I find that the run goes quicker. Here's how I got on.

Mile 1 - 8:26
Mile 2 - 8:11
Mile 3 - 7:53
Mile 4- 7:47
Mile 5 - 7:33
Mile 6 - 7:22
Mile 7 - 7:17
Mile 8- 7:51 (cool down)

Really pleased with that. Legs weren't feeling too bad but I was starting to be more aware of a pain in the heel of my right foot. Pretty sure that's kinda been there since the nationals cross country. I do find that my feet hurt for quite a few days after wearing spikes...but I tend to just put it out of my mind and I always recover within  a week. Once again though, I told myself it was nothing and carried on. 

In the evening, we went to a Harry Potter quiz. We walked about 3/4 of a mile there and back. I was wearing boots with very little padding and definitely felt like I was starting to limp slightly. 

A speedwork session for me - 10 X 400M with 50% Recovery (7Mi total @ 7:02MM)
After a mile warm up, I'd run 400Mtrs at 5K race effort and then jog steady for 200mtrs to recover for the next effort, ten times! 

My efforts looked like this: 
1:21(seconds), 1:21, 1:21, 1:22, 1:21, 1:20, 1:22, 1:24, 1:21, 1:19

I was really pleased to get to the end of this workout and nearly quit after 5 and 8 efforts but for some reason at the end of each subsequent recovery felt raring to go once more. Speed work on your own, before work and after 10+ hours since your last meal is not ideal but we had plans in the evening and I really wanted to bank a speedy session. A 3 second swing (1:21 the fastest and 1:24 the slowest spilt) is great consistency and I had no idea it was so close whilst I was doing the efforts as without glasses the numbers are a bit of a blur - not sure if I could get it that close again though if I tried!

Wednesday 7th March 2018

I decided to run again this morning. Again, John advised me not to. I'm not 100% sure why I did. I really enjoy doing double days. I find that, when I do double days, my body feels great, I feel super fit and almost like a pro. I've been reading loads of blogs and articles recently on 'fast running' and all the elites are talking about their '80 mile, 100 mile, 120 mile weeks' and I guess, that's what I'm striving for. 

It was a beautiful day. My legs felt amazing. The sun was up (oh it's so nice to run in the morning in the light!). The only problem was this heel. It really was starting to cause me some problem now. The first mile was really quite painful but then it loosened up and actually by the end of the 3 miles, it wasn't too bad. 

I decided not to tell John about the pain in my ankle. Why? When normally I tell him everything...I guess I didn't want to hear him say 'you're doing too much' I don't feel like I am doing too much. If anything, I want to do more. I tried not to think about it for the rest of the day. 

In the evening, I was planning to drive to club and run the 10 mile route. John however was running to and from club to make 15. This sounded tempting...despite a nagging voice at the back of my head wondering if my foot would manage that, I agreed and starting running with him to club. 

For the first time in years, running was painful. I mean really painful. Every time my foot hit the floor, pain shot from my heel all across the underside of my foot to my big toe. 'It's OK' I told myself, 'It hurt this morning too but was better after a couple of miles'. After 2 miles it felt like it was getting worse. Then we reached Bridge Valley Road. Going up-hill I normally hate, but today, it felt great! I guess because I was running on my toes.

For most of the run to club, John was ahead of me no doubt wondering why I wasn't keeping up. I tried. I really tried but it was just too painful to keep to his pace. I was starting to feel pretty upset but was desperate to keep going - after all I had a 20 mile race at the weekend. How was I going to run that if I could run 15 today?

1 mile into our club run and I came to my senses. I was being stupid. I should not be running if it is painful to do so. If this was anyone of my running friends I would be telling them to go home and rest. I called out to John and told him I couldn't run any more. Within seconds, my eyes had filled with tears and all I wanted was to be home. I managed to convince John to carry on and finish his run and I left the group and started my long run home. 

I knew I was about 4 miles away. I wanted to walk but that would take ages and it was drizzling and pretty cold. My mind was a whirlwind of negative thoughts. I new straight away that there was no way that I'd be able to run the 20 mile race on Saturday. What if I'd really done serious damage to my foot? What if it took weeks to heal? What it I couldn't recover in time for London? How would I cope if I couldn't run. With tears streaming down my face, I ran and ran with my mind coming up with ever-increasing dramas. 

Eventually, I made it home. I'd ran 8 very painful miles. I got straight into bed, got out my phone and googled every runner's nightmare - plantar fasciitis. I've heard lots about this injury. It's really common in runners and I knew pain was felt under the foot. I was pretty sure that was what I had. About 30 seconds of googling confirmed what I already knew. The main thing I needed to know...how long does it take to recover? London was 6 weeks away. Google says 'It may take anything from 3 to 12 months for your plantar fascia to heal completely.' This was pretty much the worse thing I could have read. 

Devastated doesn't even begin to describe the emotions I was feeling. Cold, alone and very depressed, I waited for John to come home. 

Thankfully, his first words were not 'I told you so'. He was incredibly supportive and practical. He had me text Jenny my physio straight away. She, incredibly, managed to book me in at 7am the next morning. Gradually my sobbing ebbed and I agreed that, before I cut up all my running vests and throw out my trainers, I should wait and see what Jenny says. 

I was heartened to read all the very kind and helpful messages from my Strava friends. So many people shared their experiences and advice for how best to treat it. 

A Medium/Long Run for me... easy on the legs but tough on the mind. I knew when we set off for our run to club there was something up with KD. I don't have many skills but being able to recognise a panicked worried look on a face which is usually very strong, brave and confident (pretty face to!) is something I excel in. When the GFRG decided very sensibly to bail for home, in the moment her world was of course (understandably) caving in on itself. It's tough not to follow our loved ones home in these situations but I think over the last few years there have been similar times to this one and we both know now when the other person initially needs some time to themselves. I got on with my run and banked 15 Miles @ 7:40MM pace trying not to imagine KD hanging from our balcony in a noose!

When I got home, KD was understandably upset but was very sensibly considering emergency physio. With confirmation from myself and various others on social media that this was very wise the appointment was booked. An appointment that was injury confirming but reassuring and full of positive ways to combat this dreaded runners plague.

(I did say I told you so - but I waited a good 5 minutes until I did - I am evil!!)

Thursday 8th March 2018

At 7am sharp I was at my physio's ready and prepared for the worst. She quickly realised that it was the same side as my recently very tight achilles. She explained that the leg is a chain and one injury is often caused by or linked to something else. The main causes:

1) Over training 
2) Wearing old shoes (I've been keeping my 'good pair' for the marathon - I need to stop being so tight!) 
3) Having very tight achilles or calves 

She told me to:

1) Roll my foot on a bottle of ice
2) Roll a gold ball under my foot 
3) Stretch regularly
4) Buy some pads to wear under my feet to support the arch when I am wearing flat shoes

She also massaged and taped my foot. 

Eventually, I managed to pluck up the strength to ask the question that I was desperate to know the answer to...'when can I run again?' She replied that if I did everything she suggested and it was feeling better, that I could try a run at the weekend! I was overjoyed with this response. I had convinced myself that it would be weeks without running at all which would destroy all hopes of getting the time I wanted in London. 

'How long until London?' Jenny asked...'6 weeks' I replied...'Oh you'll be fine!' She said. That was literally the best thing she could have said to me! If I hadn't been in so much pain, I would have skipped out of there! 

Confidence boosted, and mentally stable once more, I headed to work - determined to do everything in my power to get myself back to pounding the streets again soon! 

A solo 7 miles for me - steady run through Ashton Court and back at 8MM pace. Feeling the speed and length of last nights run but still feeling good throughout.

Friday 9th March 2018

I have two new best friends. Ice and golf ball. They go everywhere with me. I have pretty much spent every free minute either icing or rolling my foot and already I am starting to see the effects. 

Foot pad for when I wear flat shoes without support. 
Under my desk at work 


Rolling while ironing! 
 My new best friend! 


The most painful time of the day is first thing in the morning when I first put my foot on the ground. That is going to be my measure. On Thursday morning, I let out an audible cry when I 'touched down'. Today, again it was painful but not quite as bad. 

More (Han) solo running for me - 5K recovery run at 8+MM pace with 4X100M strides. I was planning some speedwork on the weekend so wanted to run some strides just to prepare my body for the stress is was soon to endure. 


Saturday 10th March 2018

Getting out of bed test...better! Tight but definitely not as painful as the last few days. This gave me hope more rolling today in London while visiting family. 

I have been reading Chrissie Wellington's new book - To The Finish Line. Not especially because I am interesting in getting into triathlons, but because I admire Chrissie as an athlete and her book has good tips for the third of the triathlon that I am actually interested in! 

While I was reading today, I happend to reach a section about coaching. For a while now I've been tempted to look into getting a coach. Chrissie writes about how important having the right coach is, someone who you trust, who knows you well and who can motivate and support you...then she writes 'Unless you are lucky enough to have a partner to write a program...' I realised now how lucky I am to live with someone who is not only incredibly knowledgeable about running and training but also knows me and knows what is good for me. 

I haven't always listened to him but that is about to change! Sorry John....you were right! 

The way we blog is, KD goes first and then I read through and add my bit, so all of this is coming to me as it has to you. I don't think I'm an expert in running and I know I'm not an expert in injury prevention. I am an expert in caring for KD! (Quite a gushy, puke inducing blog this one gang - soz!)
KD is obsessed with running, more so than anyone I know - much more than I am. She researches like mad and applies herself to her biggest passion with 100% effort at all times. KD (and the Maestro) have something that I just don't have - GRIT. If KD says she's gonna do something - she does it. So try in vain as I did, warning KD that if she kept running double days, kept upping her mileage every time she had a setback, kept running long on top of PT and working full time - "YOU WILL BREAK!" This is/was pointless. I have no doubt that this will happen again... of course it will - no one is indestructible - but I'll keep caring and I'll keep warning against what I think is too much.

I think this setback could be a blessing. Yes there are some flipping awesome people out there and Fast Running, Athletics Weekly, Facebook etc does a great job of highlighting and sharing all of everyone's great achievements. The key to all of these articles available is that: everyone is different. You need to learn what you're good at and also what you are bad at. Personally, I have learned over the course of 4 (5?) marathon campaigns that I: cannot double day, cannot run sessions/workouts and run 70+ mile weeks, cannot deal with being injured. I treat every day and workout as it comes and don't get too stressed when things to work out - the important thing is that I can run/exercise every day, work a full time job and most importantly I'm happy. No one care if you ran 100+ mile weeks for 3 months in a row - what's important is who you are and being happy - running wise, what makes people happy? Progression - Personal Bests - that's what people remember! People won't remember what the GFRG's total milesage was for her London marathon campaign was but they will definitely remember her running her first ever Sub3 marathon (trust me - she wont let us forget it!)

15 MILES / 9MILES @ MARATHON PACE(6:40MM) for me. I really wanted to run 20 miles but I was running on empty/fumes from yesterdays Dominoes Pizza... bad prep but not a bad result. 9 consecutive miles at marathon pace is a good block - at any point in the plan!


Sunday 11th March 2018

I woke up today and went down stairs...I got all the way down the stairs before I remembered my 'getting out of bed test' my heel didn't hurt at all! Yes! 

We had planned today to run to Nonsuch Park, around the park and back...about 6 miles. We left my parents' house and started running down the road...despite my foot feeling better, I could still feel a twinge ...'Let's drive to the park and just run a few miles around it,' I suggested instead. Good plan. 

After a couple of miles, I was feeling great. I could still feel a dull ache in my heel but it wasn't spreading across the underside of my foot like before. Another bonus from the few days rest meant that my legs felt amazing! Full of spring and bounce. Can't wait to start doing some speed work again. 

The Return of (MY!) Jedi! Cox and Dicks reunited and running a good and steady 5K round the park - Bliss! 3.2Mi - 9:15MM


After taking advice from John, next week I am going to alternate days of running and resting and aim to get the mileage around 50 miles for the week. I am going to keep rolling and icing and hope that my foot continues to feel better. 

Gonna run pretty similar to this week and hopefully reunit with the normal running crew on Sunday and run long - 20 miles + With 6 weeks to go, now is the time to focus as much as possible and bank some good sessions and long runs AND NOT GET INJURED - ARGHHHH!!



Sunday 4 March 2018

SNOw training!

London Marathon Training - 7 weeks to go!


Key Both of us - Blue Kelly - Purple John - Orange 


Monday 26th February 2018 

This was going to be a very strange week for me. At school, we were interviewing for a new headteacher and I was very much involved in the process - I knew this would be really full on and mentally very challenging. It meant that for once, running was not taking priority for me. 

I am running the Bath half at the weekend so plan to lower the mileage to taper for it. I want to really go for it and get a big PB. 

We started the week off as normal with a 5 mile run with our PT session in the middle. Today was the sort of session that we really enjoy; a competition between John and me. We had a load of different exercises and had to do as many of each as we could in 1 minute. 

Here's how it looked: 

Squat thrusts over weights bar
K 21. J 29

Sq n throw 5 kg ball to wall
K 36. J 29

Crunches
K 46. J 50

Straddle jumps low reebok bench
K 63. J 67

Squat n press 4kg dbs
K 33. J 25

Pup db to shoulders 4kg
K 53. J 57

Tricep Dips
K 51. J 41

Clean n press 10 kg bar
K 16. J 24

Row 1 minute
J 255. K 206

Squat jumps
K 47. J 43

Balance v sides 3kg ball
K 84.  J 50

Plank foot jumps
K 55. J 85

Mb slams...44
K 53. J 55

25 kg bar squats
K. 41.  J 44

Shoulder taps....raised leg low bench 
K 110. J 70

15 kg db squats to floor
K 21. J 24

Bench Burpees
K 26. J 24

Ski sit seconds count
 K81 J 69.

Standing rows 
K 12. J 32

Down n ups
K 12. J 16

Leg raises
K35   J 30. 

Row 1 minute.
K 216. J 263

Totals - 
K 1318
J. 1382

John wins!!! 

A week of tapering for me as I had the Green Man Ultra and Bath Half on the weekend so started the week with the usual steady 5 mile recovery with PT in the middle. Was a huge boost for me to beat the GFRG in a strength based workout - usually she beats me at everything so it felt like more ongoing confirmation that the strength training is working.


Tuesday 27th February 2018 

With a very busy day on the cards, I wanted to get my run out of the way. 10 very cold miles around the Harbourside. John was just doing 3 miles so I decided to do laps. This was one of those runs where I really had to work on my mental strength. I was wearing shorts and only very thin gloves and, even after 6 miles, hadn't really warmed up. I was very close to just giving up and going home after lap 2 when I ran past my house... but I managed to talk myself into going around for one more lap to make it up to the full 10. 

Even after a long, hot shower, I couldn't properly get warm - the Beast from the East was on its way! Mental note to wear more clothes tomorrow! 

Another recovery run (gonna read a lot of these - boring!) 5k @ <9mm pace - running easy and recovering quicker every week from PT on the Monday.


Wednesday 28th February 2018 

I often struggle to know how best to 'taper' for a half when the marathon is the primary goal. I asked my mentor Jason Cherriman for his advice. He recommended 8 miles tonight with 3miles at HMP and 3 x 400m fast before reducing the miles for the next few days. 

I set out with that intention...unfortunately, with the cold weather well and truly set in and the snow coming down, barriers were coming up all over the place.  At club, I couldn't convince many people to run 8 miles with me. Most people just did a few miles around the downs. I was still keen to try and stick to my plan so set off with two other girls from my club. 

It was a bit icy and slippery in places so I was careful to watch where I stepped and cross the road if the other side looked less treacherous. When I reached the Portway  (a long, and relatively flat stretch of road), I said goodbye to the other girls and tried to pick up the pace to my half marathon pace. 

My aim for Bath is to PB and I'm hoping to get around 1:24 so I wanted to try and run at around 6:20 - 6:25mm pace. As soon as I started the HMP effort, I knew it wasn't going to feel easy. The wind was freezing and incredibly strong and my legs were working way harder than they should have been. I focused on driving my arms and powering through...I checked my watch but had only done 0.2 of a mile! What?! How?! I knew that 1 mile efforts were too much to ask. I managed to hang on for 0.7 of a mile at 6:26mm pace. I was worried that it was feeling so hard. I kept blaming it on the weather and hoped that after a few days of easy running, it would feel better. Effort number two was similar 0.6 of a mile at 6:21mm pace. I knew that doing a third effort was pointless - my legs were hurting and I was worried that, if I pushed to too hard today, I wouldn't recover in time. Instead, I did a couple of strides to stretch out and then jogged back to catch up with the girls.

Another steady effort... 6 miles running around the downs around 9 - 9:30MM pace under the light of the Maestro and Doctor Dave's (fellow Green Men) head torches.

I think Kelly's plan to run 3 miles at half marathon pace in the middle of the week with 4 days to go before race day was sensible - the severe weather conditions just made it too hard. Looking at Strava I think she ran the efforts short? Probably disheartened not having race pace showing on the watch. When the weather is against you, either change the day you run your efforts or focus purely on - effort. Don't worry so much about what your watch says try and feel race pace. Defo in agreement with Mr Cherriman that 3 miles at race pace a few days before is very wise - a confidence boosting dress rehearsal - usually.

Thursday 1st March 2018 

I woke up with a sore throat. Bummer. Whenever I get ill, it always starts with a sore throat. Feeling pretty annoyed, as I'd already had a cold a few weeks ago, I put everything into stopping this from getting worse. Lots of medicines and cough remedies. Hmmm..if I am getting ill, that would at least explain why last night's work out was so hard...

After a couple of hours in work, we're told that the school will be closing at 1pm! Woohoo! 
With snow swirling around, I join the kids playing outside and look forward to a snowy recovery run later!

When I got home I was greeted by John who had decided to take today and Friday off- snow days together hooray! We head out for a snowy run. Everything was just beautiful. But, despite running slowly, I was finding it much harder than normal... 




John had had enough of selfies by this point!

More recovery - in the snow! The first time I've ever taken time off from work due to the weather and the unplanned break was extremely rewarding. Bristol is already the most beautiful city in the world but when covered in gloss like white blanket of soft fluffy snow it's almost unworldly - bliss! We were gonna just plod around the harbourside but what with only getting a heavy dump of snow every 5 years-or-so we headed for the hills of Ashton Court! Well worth is as we caught the last hour of sunlight and saw stunning views all around. 5 miles @ 10mm pace and my body is feeling very tapered and raring to go!


Friday 2nd March 2018 

I woke up today with my throat feeling really painful. Instead of playing in the snow (which is what I wanted to do!) I took the sensible option and stayed inside, watched the Athletics World Indoor Championship and tried to get better. After a really hectic few days at work, I think my body just ran out of energy and I crashed. 

I decided not to run today. No point in pushing my body and making myself worse. Focus on getting better. 

An email today confirmed that the Bath Half had been cancelled...I think for me, this was actually really good. I'm not 100% and would not be able to put in a good performance. I was temped to book in another half marathon. But once again, took on board the advice of Jason who thought it would be better to keep focusing on building up the mileage and not worry about racing - the marathon is the main goal. 

In the evening, I had a sport massage from a new masseuse (Jenny is away at the moment). He was pretty forceful but I definitely felt better afterwards. 

The GFRG is hit with a cold - so a lonely plod around the block in what is now race cancelling snowy conditions - Bath Half has been cancelled and so has the Green Man Ultra! A strange feeling... Massively disappointing not to be racing at all this weekend after tapering so well but in the grand scheme of things - and focusing on London - I've probably done myself a favour by not running 45+ hilly miles and/or a 60 mile weekend! We shall see...

The GFRG's predicament of now not having a half marathon race in her London build up is a tough one. Jason's advice to focus on building up the miles is understandable and hopefully sensible and will lead to the the wanted result - Sub3 at London. The last few weeks have revealed some differing opinions between the GFRG and myself - in regards to training: I think Kelly has banked enough miles and is running far enough (possibly too far?) on a weekly basis. Distance is not a problem... I think if there's one thing (there's actually loads!) she's better than me at - it's finishing a marathon!! Personally I think she'd be better off focusing on some speed work at this stage. 4 weeks of specific marathon based speed workouts before tapering at the end. Alongside the necessary 2 long runs in the week a tempo workout where she's running 5-8 mile block(s) sub marathon pace would be confidence boosting and would prepare the body for running  long at pace. Running Bath Half or indeed another half marathon would force the issue in that she'd naturally be running 13 miles at SubMarathon pace and the occasion and possibility of a PB would make it all, worthwhile in the moment. I think running 70? 80? Big miles weeks just makes running speedy workouts too tough, especially on top of working full time. Kelly is keen to stick to the plan though which is admirable and I support her in everything she does. I've got no doubt that come race day she'd have ran more miles than me and probably anyone in our gang and will no doubt run the biggest PB on the day! (Another thing she's good at is proving me wrong - I predicted 3:07 at Abingdon - she beat me and ran 3:03!!)

What does everyone else think? What's the balance for miles over workouts? Is it more important to feel comfortable at pace, running the distance or do you need both?
Saturday 3rd March 2018 

Another rest day for me. Still not feeling great. Really hoping that it will pass soon so I can carry on with training. I'm almost scared to run because I'm desperate not to make myself worse and miss too many more sessions. 

So no Green Man but a long run nonetheless. The Maestro and I enjoyed the last few hours of snow, glorious now! We headed out from Ashton Court, following the Green Man route steadily and cautiously throughout. 20 miles @ 10mm pace - 2500+ft elevation - good company and stunning views throughout! 

The Maestro - deep!

Views, glorious views!


Sunday 4th March 2018 

I woke up this morning feeling much better -hooray! I thought I'd try for a steady 10 miles. After 1 mile, I knew this was foolish! My legs felt dreadful - nothing in particular - just heavy and sluggish. Not really sure why this is... could it be related to the (harder than usual) sports massage, the lack of running for the last couple of days or maybe just linked to being ill and weaker. Whatever the reason, I wasn't feeling it so just did a steady 3 miles. 

Really hoping that I can just start a fresh next week. 6 more weeks to build back up. 

Yesterdays long run (mainly the hills!) was punishing me today that and a late night celebrating fellow Green Man Dr Dave's birthday - may happy returns Doc! I set out wanting to bag double figures but got a couple of miles in and didn't really see (feel!) the point. The weather was lush so I ran 7 miles steady - 7:30MM pace running through Ashton Court - a totally different scene today with all the snow disappearing overnight. 

50 miles this week for me and a strange one. The tapering and the race cancellations did mean that training wise I didn't achieve much but sometimes it's not all about that. Thursday and Friday were my first ever "Snow Days" off of work. Two days unplanned chilling with the GFRG stuffing our faces with crisps and chocolate whilst watching Harry Potter - if you offered me a Sub2:20 marathon on my Po10 or a day of casting spells at one another with the GFRG - expecto patronum!! - it's option2 - every time! If you were to offer me a Sub7 hour Green Man finishing time running solo in the sun with perfect dry conditions underfoot or 20 miles plodding in what is probably once or twice in a life time snowy conditions with one of your best mates chewing the fat - option 2 again! Running double figures with speed work on the Portway or cutting a workout short cus you've eaten too much curry the night before in great company - yep, option 2!

Wishing KD the quickest of recoveries and doing my best to mend her by reminding her constantly to hydrate and take it easy.

Similar to the GFRG - reset tomorrow and get back on it with the London training !