No sacrifice, no victory!

Richard Metcalfe Tuesday, 3 April, 2012

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It’s been a better week this week than I’ve had in recent weeks. I have continued taping my knee to help alleviate some pain I have been having. I had been struggling with getting the tape to stay on, for most the week it didn’t last more than 3 miles. I tried a few things and nothing seemed to work that great so I took some drastic action and shaved my legs in the hope that the lack of hair would make it stick better, it did make a positive difference but still wasn’t lasting a full run, but strangely enough I do quite like my new shaved legs, apart from when they are prickling me in bed. Finally today when getting ready for my long run I think I cracked it, looks like when I have been adding the tape I haven’t been bending my knee enough as today it lasted the full run. The training this week started nice and light with some cross training on Monday and then two recovery runs to get over the race last Sunday. Thursday was the first real training run of the week with a 90-minute run with three twelve minute sessions at threshold pace. I do enjoy threshold sessions but the miles seem to taken a slight toll and I felt a little sluggish this week, but I pushed on and enjoyed the harder session. Then I did my next bit of experimentation for the week, ice baths! Unfortunately I don’t have a freezer full of ice so this turned out to be just a cold water bath but the principle was the same, and I loved it. Despite some Braveheart style screaming as I lowered into the water, once I was in it was very nice, although I only lasted a couple of minutes. Saturday was a perplexing day and a day that has been weighing on my mind for quite some time. It was my brothers stag do and as much as I wanted to give him a good send off before his wedding, I also didn’t want to sacrifice my long run on Sunday as I haven’t really covered many longer distances lately and after last weekend’s race I was starting to doubt that I’d be able to complete the marathon. This dilemma is one of the most apparent things that I’ve found since starting the marathon and probably the one thing that I had under-estimated when I decided that I was going to take the challenge on, that training for a marathon takes over your life and requires a lot of sacrifice! I’m not sure if others feel the same way but the amount of other hobbies that have had to be sacrificed due to my training has mounted up. When I decided to the marathon I had read a few training plans and thought it would be a few runs during the week, a long run on a weekend and the odd bit of stretching and strength work. That turned out to be the absolute bare minimum. So Saturday I decided to be sensible and generally was having a pint of water every other pint, which meant that I got in sober and woke up Sunday relatively on time and with no hangover. The target for Sunday’s long run was three hours, two hours easy with one hour at marathon pace. I planned a route out and although I was later out than normal, it was a beautiful day and the run couldn’t have gone any better. My pacing was nice and steady for the first two hours, and then once the two hours passed and it was time to move up to marathon pace the transition was easy and I made sure it stayed nice and controlled, especially in the downhill sections which have been causing me issues. When I finished the run it was the first time in a long time that I was happy and I even felt like I could have carried on which I haven’t felt for a long time. After I did my stretching it was another cold bath, for a longer period this time and I have to admit my legs although still aching, do feel better than normal, so the cold water baths will be here to stay I think. No Sacrifice, No Victory!

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