Marathon Training - Week 15

I was working in Toronto this week and I had access to the hotel gym which had a couple of treadmills and a bike.

On Monday evening I jumped on the treadmill and ran for 30 minutes. I made sure I did my eccentric heal drops before I started (using the stairs in the emergency exit) and I ran for 30 minutes without a problem at an easy pace. I then used the bike for a 10 minute cool down.

On Tuesday I had planned to cycle instead of run, however when I went down to the gym and found that the bike was in use and didn't look like it would be free any time soon - so I jumped on the treadmill again. I ran for 35 minutes at the same pace as Monday and my Achilles felt okay. The bike was still being used at the end of my run, so I walked on the treadmill to cool down.

On Wednesday I decided to run on the treadmill again and managed 40 minutes followed by a 10 minute cool down on the bike. My legs felt a little tired after running for three straight days, but nothing more than some tiredness. My Achilles continues to only ache if I apply pressure to it with my fingers. I had hoped that the results of "pinch test" would have improved by now, but apparently it is not unusual for it to take a number of weeks for the pain to go away.

I traveled back home on Thursday and painted the Kitchen on Friday, so they were my rest days for the week.

On Saturday I went out early for a 5 mile run (at 7am it was 74F, 23C with 88% humidity) and decided to focus on my form. I have been doing lots of reading about running form (more on that in another post that will come soon) and am going to work on running with a forward lean (I had noticed that in a number of photos from races I have a backwards lean) and a slightly shorter stride. This will make me more efficient and hopefully less prone to injury. I worked hard on leaning forward slightly and keeping my stride rate up at around 180/minute. Unfortunately, this resulted in me running much faster than I wanted to (8:40, 8:07, 8:19, 7:52, 7:57) even though I was trying to slow down!

My legs were tired and tight after the run, which isn't a huge surprise as I haven't run at pace much recently.

On Sunday, I went to the pool and kicked for 30 minutes. I still find kicking hard, but not quite as hard as it was when I first started!

This week I hope to run three times outside at an easy pace, gradually increasing my mileage back up. This will be a good test for my Achilles!

Here is my plan for Week 16:
Monday: Soccer
Tuesday: Kicking - 30 minutes
Wednesday: Run - 6 miles
Thursday: Kicking - 30 minutes
Friday: Run - 7 miles
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: Run - 8 miles