Week 2 Marathon training, just the long one left

Week 2 of marathon training has been going well, had a little niggle on my left quad but moving a session to the grass seemed to help, need to remember that I am doing lots of miles for me so I should try and get a few more in on the grass. 

Firstly I was contact by the BBC and there is a chance that I may be doing a follow up interview and hopefully getting some publicity for this challenge and helping to raise awareness for Ledderhose disease, fingers crossed this comes to something and I will be contacting some more media outlets to see if we can't really kick start this. 

Monday: (4.5 miles and 7 miles)

Lunch-time run was ok, slow out and back in my lunch break and then the usual plodders session in the evening. I could really feel the 24 miles I had done over the weekend but I did it.

Tuesday rest day

Wednesday: 5.1 and 5.0 miles 

Slightly different sessions to normal as I had the afternoon of work, both sessions were ok and the second session was done either side of the Plodders AGM where I was made assistant coach. I don't have any official coaching qualifications for running but I am a badminton coach, have a science degree and have read a lot about running. Plus my plans seem to have done a great job for my wife and I 

Thursday: 7 miles

This session was the one done on the grass, it made may leg feel much better and was just done round the park next to work. It was repetitive but this is good mental training for running anyway. Had an offer from some people I work with to run with them some lunchtimes, I might be too slow for them given my marathon training as otherwise we run a similar pace. 

Friday rest day - Originally I was going to run on Fridays and I might end up doing that now I am back running on grass, still can't believe I forgot that. I have found the extra recovery really useful. Will see how things go as the Friday run was only 3 miles easy recovery run. 

Saturday: 10 miles

This was 4 miles to parkrun, 3.1 miles at parkrun and then 2.9 miles home. The parkrun was with the buggy and I did 20:30, I wasn't pushing flat out and this showed with the massive sprint finish I did that saw hold off 4 people not running with a buggy. 

Sunday to come - I have a 16 miles long run, juggling this with Katie running 12 miles will be fun but at least Katie has someone joining her for her 6 miles (whilst I cook breakfast) and then we run 6 miles together and then the tough 10 miles by myself. 

Still I am on for another 50 + mile week, have remembered that running on grass is a clever thing to do when I can (though not on long runs as I am training to run a road marathon) and running with others is great fun and should be done. 

The good news is that the above mileage is more than I need for the 2191 but of course I have races, the 5k goal and not idea whether I can maintain it!!

The time is almost here

This week we are at the end of a 2 week period of more relaxed running after the Poppy Half Marathon. The Poppy Half went great for both of us and was a great way to set us up ready for next year. It also popped up that it was 2 years since I was on BBC news to promote awareness of the conditions. 

https://www.facebook.com/BBCSouthEastToday/videos/10152868506228648/

Feel free to watch the video and comment so that BBC know that this is still a big deal. I will certainly be getting in contact with them again to try and get another appearance on the news, would be great to have a follow up and go into details of the challenge we are doing next year. 

The challenge starts in just over a month, we have started to arrange people to look after our daughter for some of our longer runs so we aren't out all day and we are really starting to mentally prepare ourselves for the challenge. As part of this we went to a running shop to see how we were holding up. It turns out that my running style has changed a lot since I was first analysed for running shoes, apparently I now have a fantastic running style. I land on my mid-foot and I do not over-pronate any more. Hopefully these can help keep me injury free. 

We will try and keep updating the blog a lot more, hopefully next year it will almost be a diary and generate some more interest in the awareness and fund-raising campaign we are working on. As for now, next week marathon training begins, should be the perfect time to start trying to keep the blog up to date so hopefully there will be more updates coming quick and often. 

Getting back into the swing of things

In preparation for next year I was taking a look at the following page on the blog;

Track our progress

Looks scary when I am only on 1100 miles for the year, only two third's of the way through the year though so hopefully in the next few months with my ankle on the mend I can get another good 500-600 miles in and start the push for next year. 

I have made a general plan for next year just to make sure I can get all the miles in, as part of marathon training I am currently due to start the new year and therefore the challenge with a 20 mile run, which as it is New Year's day should also include parkrun as the first "race" of the year. 

It will be interesting to see how well things go and what injuries come up, a flawless year would be incredible but I do have some wiggle room and some easy short miles I can drop in to top up if I have to but whatever happens it is going to be hard-work, especially during the summer and especially learning not to race all the race otherwise I will break quickly. 

Anyway now for something very important to a runner, sleep, well as long as my daughter lets me as she seems slightly under the weather this evening and has (very unusually for her) cried out a few times. 

Injury

One of the potential issues for next year is injury. We have both been lucky to not really have had any injuries over the last 18 months that we have been running until now. a few weeks ago my old achilles problem meant I felt slightly sore and Amelia jumped on me and things started to go downhill. I did some very easy weeks however on the last of those easy weeks after a tough parkrun my achilles again took a hit from Amelia and became really stiff and painful.  

As a result of the above I took a week off running and spent it icing, compressing, testing and looking after my ankle. I walked as little as I could and then decided to go to parkrun and run with Katie as that is a much easier pace for me. There were a few aches as I went round but nothing bad and even better the rest of the weekend I continued to improve. Another couple of easier weeks to get back into it and I doubt I will bomb round too hard at parkrun. The delay in my training does mean I am not likely to be anywhere near peak fitness for the Disney Half marathon or the Brighton 10 mile race but my goal was always the Poppy Half marathon and hopefully I will be ok for that, or somewhere near PB shape. 

Next year however things will be slightly different, I need to average somewhere near 42 miles a week, take out a week for recovery after the marathon which will likely include minimal running and you are talking about another mile a week. every week I don't run adds another mile to the remaining week or more depending on how things are going. My plan is that marathon training at the start of the year will get me above that average and being down the requirement for the rest of the year. 

Injuries will come and that is what will make the 2191 miles such a challenge other than actually running the 2191 miles. I will do my best go get some walking in to replace running if I can when injured but health comes first so I will try and get as close to 2191 miles as possible. If I can't make 2191 then 2000 would still be amazing but I really want that 2191. 

Fingers crossed for now that my achilles is improving quickly and it has reminded me to stay on strength exercises and not to do too much speed work, the best foundation for running is lots of base miles and this has worked for me so far and speed can wait until I am back to 100%. 

Planning and plotting

With August fast approaching I am having to really get into planning mode for this challenge now. Sure it may seem simple, just have to run and run and run and run. But there is more to it that than that. I need to think how I am going to stay injury free, how I am going to fit in the odd easy week and most importantly how I can raise awareness for Dupuytren's and Ledderhose patients as that is what the whole process is about. 

The Pitch:

It would be great to get some publicity and a story published around this, surely man goes from tumour in foot and using a walking stick and weighing 19 stone to running a marathon, 2191 miles in a year is worth something to someone? Especially as I am aiming for a respectable time in the marathon and a decent PB over 5k. 

The Plan:

Well of course the plan is to run lots, probably there will likely be a lot of double days in order to keep the runs slightly shorter and injury risk down whilst keeping the miles high. In terms of other prep I am also very close to the finished design and ordering my running vests to support this. It will be great to have these as just wearing them to parkrun every week is another 200 people that are going to see the BDS logo and at least have heard of the conditions. 

The Social Side:

parkrun and joining a local running club have really helped me see just how amazing running with others is. I already knew it from running with Katie and Amelia but there is something about sharing new stories and pain whilst running with others that makes it different. I am going to look to run with as many different people as possible next year 1) to make my life easier and 2) to tell people about the challenge and the conditions and hopefully raise awareness. The less people have to suffer from this without anyone knowing anything about it the better. 

Other things:

The challenge is not just about me it is also about Katie, she has a whole amazing journey of her own and she is challenging herself as well to help raise money and awareness. Which is awesome. 

A challenge should be a challenge, this year I am nowhere near 2000 miles so I do not know how I am going to cope with trying to run 2191 miles, keeping injury free and mentally running so much. I have done a fair few weeks where I have done more than the required weekly miles for 2191 but not to average that for a year. You see so many people doing a challenge that they can easily do that it doesn't inspire you. I am hoping that my journey and the challenge of the challenge will help other patients and inspire some interest in the condition. 

Take care, Gary

Searching for Custom Vests

I am currently searching for custom charity running vests, I have had a few quotes but most places are geared up to providing kit for bigger events and charities so asking for a small number of vests doesn't seem to compute.

I have found one place that is quite reasonable and looks promising, just a few more places to hear back from but I am fairly certain I know who I will go with and I think the company has a good reputation.

Wish us luck, it will be great to have some British Dupuytren's Society vests to help raise awareness of the charity, at the very least some people at parkrun will probably ask about it.