[18ck]

1 hour ago, Everstorm said:

 

On the contrary, running when you aren't feeling it is great mental training, especially for pushing past The Wall that generally hits around mile 20.

Not if you stop running after about a mile and then walk around for an hour or so and then go home early it's not! 

[18ck]

Owww my legs! Last proper long run before the marathon today. I'molanning one shortie and one medium later this week before cold turkey for the final week. Today's was about 20 miles. Not my longest but I ran out of daylight (nooooo! Where has the summer gone?) 

I've also been on top of my yoga and my calories. My weight has edged down but nit as much as I'd hoped. 

[18ck]

On the "ow my legs" thing, I don't quite know why I struggled so much at the end but I am proud of myself for making myself run in spite of the lack of energy for the last 5 miles or so. I hope my legs will be fresher after the taper but the sticktoitiveness will undoubtably be needed so I am glad I ran through the suffering. 

[Everstorm]

18 minutes ago, 18ck said:

ran out of daylight (nooooo! Where has the summer gone?) 

 

Where indeed?  I can't believe it's almost October!  Are you looking forward to recovery week or it it be hard to keep from running?

[18ck]

18 hours ago, Everstorm said:

 

Where indeed?  I can't believe it's almost October!  Are you looking forward to recovery week or it it be hard to keep from running?

Oh I'm definitely going to panic about being undertrained and want to run more. A book i read recently refers to this as "maranoia" which sounds about right!

 

[18ck]

Yoga with Adrienne today absolute agony* after the long run yesterday but what a difference afterwards. Oh my god, I can use my legs again. 

Calories on course too. I'm on my way to a podcast recording now, so as long as there isn't free cake and prosecco there I should be OK. 

 

 

*well, let's not get dramatic, but I was pretty stiff and sore. 

[18ck]

Bloody hell, a week from now I'll have done the marathon. Weird. 

 

Anyway, last run before the race today. I made it a shorter one: about 9 miles at a pace I'd like to be my race pace. 

 

I've been thinking about my expected time because I want to be in the right starter pen. I'm torn between 4.30 (possible, and I'd be well chuffed with that) and 5.00 (perhaps more realistic at current levels, I'm afraid) 

 

Anyway, ive made my plans and booked hotels for half the stay (it's complicated!) and test driven my race gear. I've decided the new ear buds will have to go because they battery life is lamentable, and the shorts I thought I was going to wear aren't as good as the weird flowery ones so... Fuck it, I think I might just wear the weird flowery ones. The new shoes are great though, which is the main thing. Studied the race route, told work not to expect more than a couple of days or work out of me that week and now it's just about holding my nerve, eating right and keeping up the yoga, I think... 

 

Oh and not catching Mrs 18ck's cold. 

[Everstorm]

Ahhh so exciting!  Stay well!

[18ck]

18 hours ago, Everstorm said:

Ahhh so exciting!  Stay well!

Thank you! 

[18ck]

Well, i got here, so I'm already one up on last time.

[Everstorm]

Good luck!!!!

[18ck]

8 hours ago, Everstorm said:

Good luck!!!!

Thank you! 

 

It was... Not quite as hoped, but that's ok. I mostly wanted to participante in a race in Portugal and I did that and the fact that my time was crap (5:34) doesn't change that. I ended up having to walk about 4 miles or so. 

 

Things that might have helped would be more rest in the previous day and eating a better breakfast: I ended up walking 20000 steps the day before a marathon - that's about a third of a marathon distance -  just getting around town to snag my race number and relocate to Cascais (the town along the coast where the race starts), and then the hotel has no breakfast before 8AM (the race start time) so I just had a load of soft fruut for breakfast. Not bad but could have used some complex carbs. 

 

Anyway, no worries. It was a great route along the coast almost all the way. I met a woman who had the same flowery shorts as me. Marathon twinsies! And passed a firetruck whose crew were just randomly spraying passers-by. And had someone say I looked like Ed Sheeran (which I do if you disregard hair colour, hair style, appearance, height, the fact that I'm old enough to be his dad and everything else) so I don't know what her deal was. 

 

I've since done a post-run yoga session to loosen my legs up and I've just had a huge dinner, soon to climb in to bed and sleep until Tuesday. 

 

But I still haven't done a marathon with 100% running and it's bugging me. It's unfinished business. If I don't do it before I die, my ghost will haunt Up and Running in Sheen, it's howls of despair echoing between the socks and the isotonic gels.

[Everstorm]

28 minutes ago, 18ck said:

I ended up walking 20000 steps the day before a marathon

Oof

 

29 minutes ago, 18ck said:

And had someone say I looked like Ed Sheeran (which I do if you disregard hair colour, hair style, appearance, height, the fact that I'm old enough to be his dad and everything else) so I don't know what her deal was. 

 

 

?

 

30 minutes ago, 18ck said:

But I still haven't done a marathon with 100% running and it's bugging me. It's unfinished business.

 

It's still a huge achievement, but I know how you feel.  I felt the same about the half marathon.  Both attempts, I walked the last few miles because of foot pain (if I even made it to race day -- missed a couple from training injuries/other issues).

 

Congrats on completing the marathon in any case!

[Elastigirl]

Congrats on finishing! I do hope you are eventualy able to run the whole time though.  Eternal life as a haunting ghost sounds unpleasant for all.

[18ck]

On 10/6/2024 at 8:52 PM, Everstorm said:

Congrats on completing the marathon in any case!

Thanks. I didn't realise you had such a long record with the half M. Foot pain is no joke and it's pretty fatal once it sets in. Have you seen anyone about it? What sort of stretches and stuff do you do? What sort of pain is it? 

[18ck]

On 10/6/2024 at 8:54 PM, Elastigirl said:

Congrats on finishing! I do hope you are eventualy able to run the whole time though.  Eternal life as a haunting ghost sounds unpleasant for all.

I know, but if you have to be a ghost I suppose it's better to do it in a running shop than a poundland. 

 

And thanks for the congrats. I am enjoying having not-too-bad legs today, thanks to the yoga, and enjoying some wine without worrying about it fucking up my training. 

[18ck]

I know this is petty but it makes me laugh. 

The race pics are starting to appear. They're all from the last 5 miles so it's a real horror show with me either walking or jogging and looking like I want to be dead.

 

But whatever else I do I always make an effort in the last mile and sprint (or as near as i can) in the final stretch. It happened that there was a euphoric couple ahead of me this time, holding hands and doing Instagram glory poses. There are so many pics on that lasts few yards that you can actually see me charging up from behind, overtake them and get between them and the cameras in my fucking stupid shorts. 

 

 

[18ck]

Those poor people. 

[18ck]

I've just noticed that the man's race number is 2016,the worst year in all of human history. So now I'm not sorry and I'd do it again! 

[Everstorm]

23 minutes ago, 18ck said:

Thanks. I didn't realise you had such a long record with the half M. Foot pain is no joke and it's pretty fatal once it sets in. Have you seen anyone about it? What sort of stretches and stuff do you do? What sort of pain is it? 

 

So, this was several years ago now (I was Phoenix Burning on the forums back then).  I did see an orthopedic surgeon about it and his solution to end the pain was "get a bike".  He basically said my feet were not made for running: hyperflexibility, no arches, etc etc.  I gave him the metaphorical finger at the time and kept trying to run for several more years. I eventually found more joy and less pain in trail running at shorter distances (12k or less).  Then I got distracted from running by taking up Taekwondo for a few years,  and the foot problems returned.  And then Covid hit and I pretty much stopped doing things that are cool.   I walk and swim laps for the most part these days.

 

My feet are in decent shape after several years of rest, but now I am gun shy to get back to running, even though I very much miss trail.  Around this time of year I am always eyeing my favorite spring mud runs and wondering if I should train....

[18ck]

15 minutes ago, Everstorm said:

I am always eyeing my favorite spring mud runs and wondering if I should train....

Doooo eeeet! 

 

Well, i mean obviously a orthopedic surgeon knows more about it than I do, but if it's stopping you from doing multiple things you like, maybe looking at extra work you can do to strengthen the muscles in your foot so they aren't so collapsey, as well as stretches to decrease tightness, might help prepare the feet so that if/when you decide to take it up you'll be more prepared. Saying your foot isn't designed for strain is like saying your arms aren't designed for weight lifting because they're not strong. There'll be exercises you can do to make them more capable. Maybe start by googling exercises for people who are recovering from fractures in their feet and see where you go from there...? 

 

Just a thought from someone who got his medical training from the school of hard knocks, the university of life and the kindergarten of making ill-informed comments on the Internet after two glasses of vinho verde. 

[Everstorm]

As much as I would like to, I don't think I am ready to start running again this year.  I want to do more of what I spent the summer doing (strengthening a weak shoulder for swimming) but for my feet/ankles/posterior chain.  I think I need to do a lot of auxiliary strengthening before I start running this time, rather than start running, expose a weakness, and try to rehab while increasing run mileage.  

[18ck]

6 hours ago, Everstorm said:

  I think I need to do a lot of auxiliary strengthening before I start running this time, rather than start running, expose a weakness, and try to rehab while increasing run mileage.  

Yep! That's the sort of thing I had in mind so I'm glad post-wine me wasn't to far off the mark. The beauty of foot strengthening exercises is they're usually things like heel lifts that you can do while brushing your teeth, so they're easy to fit into your day. 

 

Or if you need something more structured, I saw this on reddit the other day. Maybe they make it in your size? 

[Everstorm]

I would so rather do that than squats.

[18ck]

I felt almost completely recovered today so I hired a bike for the day thinking I'd take in a few local sites - The Boca do Inferno, Paula Rego's Casa de Histórias, a couple of bookshops etc, and maybe just cruise up and down the coast in a stress free way, to let my legs get used to being legs again. But I had so little thigh pain that I just blasted off in a northerly direction toward Sintra to see the Poço Iniciático in the Quinta da Rega. Now I know, because the cycle hire places has a distance chart, that the Palácio de Pena, quite nearby, is 21 km away - exactly a half marathon. So, there and back, via the scenic route - I have done two marathons in three days - one on foot and one on a bike. 

 

How's that for some scouting? 

 

The Poço Iniciático did not disappoint by the way.  It's not even the only amazing thing in that place but I've been fixated on it since I heard about it.