Pure Frustration

The last few months have been so frustrating for me as I've diligently prepared for my marathon in October. It all started in May, when I was in Austria doing some orienteering. As is the wont when you don't actively do a sport anymore, you tend to get lasy about it, and it was no different on this ill fated Saturday. Although I knew that I was running faster than I have for some years, I chose not to tape my ankles as I didn't think it would really matter.

How wrong can you actually get? Seriously wrong to be honest as I put my foot in a hole about 2 controls from the finish and twisted my ankle, while additionally managing to seriously rip the left calf at the same time. As an orieenteer I can deal easily with a twisted ankle (we get them all the time), but this calf was already insulted and now I had insulted it's insult.

So Monday saw me troop off to the Physio, who started treatment on the old calf muscle. Now lets get honest here, Medical care in Europe is not the same as I remember it being in South Africa. Maybe (of course) my memory is not so good, but one thing I do remember is how lucky we are in South Africa with a wealth of excellently gifted and well educated Physiotherapists. Don't ever take that for granted.

Physiotherapy care here is bordering on non-existent, mainly because the physios are seriously overworked and underpaid. Getting an appointment is impossible, and when you get one, more likely than not it will start 10 to 15 minutes late. And it was no different with me. I was lucky if I could get one 30 minute session a week and often I had to settle for a new Physio who would start from scratch again.

So the long road to recovery had started, sort off. I was given stretches and exercises to do, instructions what not to do and the promise that it would improve. I even tried a form of acupuncture which hurt so badly I couldn't walk for 24 hours. I went there at 9 pm in the evening, or on Saturday morning. Anything to get my one appointment a week in. Loads happened but 1 thing didn't happen. My calf did not get better, it got worse and the injury caused an additional injury in the other calf.

And all this time I was doing my best to get the training up there, and get ready for the marathon. But alas that still hasn't happened and I'm still battling away on a sub-optimal preparation. My hard sessions have been hampered by pain which I've mostly been able to push through, while I've really concentrated on my stepping and running style in an effort to reduce any more possible damage.

Now unfortunately it seems I may have given it the final insult as I find myself unable to run at the moment at all. The pain today on our long jog just got too much and I had to stop. I'll give it 48 hours and see what happens on Monday. And, YES, you guessed it, my one appointment is only on Tuesday....duh.

As I get more and more frustrated, the harder I am finding it to contain my anger in the lack of treatment I'm getting. However I see a way forward, as after throwing my toys out of my cot on Friday I've been given a second weekly appointment, an appointment with a specialist and a special gym training plan to strengthen the calf - Yay. Let us hope for the best. Time is getting shorter.

What I wouldn't give for a Chris, a Grant or a Jenny now! Wouldn't that be something.

Speed, is it still there?

The training for the marathon has been going well. I have been following all the right rules, and have really tried not to be lasy about getting out there and going the sessions, even when I haven't felt like it. Over summer I pushed my weekly distance up to about 90 km per week, and will keep it there for another 2 or 3 weeks, and then begins the tapper.

One of my concerns has been my lack of long run speed. Back in the day I remember that we used to push out those 30 KM LJ's in about 4:00 to 4:20 pace and that was week after week. Now I've been struggling to get it under 5:00, and mostly it's been sitting around 6:00 to be honest, so I'm realizing that my original plan of a sub- 3 hour is probably not on the cards.

But what is still there? 3:15 or even 3:30?

After hitting the track in the last few weeks I've watched the KM times (on the track) drop like a stone. The first sessions I was pushing out 4:20 pace, yesterdays pace of 3:35 was a welcome relief to me - Yes, I'm still quick (lol - not as quick as I used to be) but I going with anything under 3:45 as quite good. The question is - how am I going to convert that into long jog speed?

And the bigger question is, what am I going to be aiming for as my marathon Tempo on race day ......

So I'll leave you pondering that while I get ready for my next Long jog - 21 km today on the marathon route - should be fun fighting the tourists :)

New design

to go with a new start. Traing for the Marathon in October and so I thought I would write some of it down - just for fun :)

Enjoy,
Richard.

Swiss City Marathon