This weekend’s plans are focused upon one
thing: the Brighton Marathon.
This will be the second time that I have
run the Brighton Marathon and my 3rd marathon having also run London
in 2007.
Due to a lack of specific training my first
marathon was a complete suffer fest of 5hrs 30 mins, resulting in a full 5
years of recovery before I made the decision to enter Brighton. In last years
race (2012) I managed to complete the course in 4:22, which I was happy with,
especially considering the wall hit me full on in the face around mile 18. I
also managed to record the darkest wee in my life around miles 19-20, prompting
me to consume everything liquid in close proximity for the next few miles.
This year, I hope to improve on the 4:22
time with the simple aim of running the entire race with no walking. Training
has gone well with a decent amount of long runs and tempo runs logged over the
last couple of months, however preparation has hit a slight blip in the last
few weeks with the arrival of a niggling knee pain. As with any one with an
illness/injury and access to doctors (I work In a hospital) I did what anyone
would do. I Googled it.
The top answer directed me to a physio forum on the Runners
World website which featured 10 questions of which 7 were all based on symptoms
very close to my own. The physio (very patiently) provided the same answer to
all 7 enquires; that quadriceps tightness was pulling on the knee and
irritating the sheath covering the kneecap, resulting in the pain (he put it a
lot more eloquently), a problem commonly called Runners Knee.
Queue a visit to the sports masseuse, who
basically came to the same conclusion and then caused me a great deal of pain
for the next 45 minutes. The result was a slightly less tight quad, a lighter
wallet, numerous tears, a lessening of the knee pain and strict instructions to
stretch in the next few days.
As a result, I have spent a fair bit of
time grimacing on the foam roller and in strange poses stretching and no time
running. In fact I haven’t run for 10 days (although I did play hockey and go
for a ride), but im hoping that this time out of the trainers will all come
good on Sunday!
2 days to go!
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