Tim's 2012 marathon training by tnmboswell

An icy week in every sense of the word!  Firstly, with the Achilles soreness being stubborn in its refusal to go away, I’ve spend a bit of time icing it.  I’ve read that what’s really beneficial is actually to swap between ice and warmth, so a couple of times this week I’ve spent time on the sofa with my foot wrapped in ice cubes, followed by a stroll to the basin to put my foot in warm water, followed by a trip back to the sofa.  I don’t want to speak too soon and I certainly don’t want to tempt fate, so I’ll just say that I think it has made a difference.  Put it this way, I’ve done my longest run of the week without an ankle support on, and that’s the first time that’s happened this week.  I’ll just keep icing and see how it goes, I think.  The strangest thing is that after a minute or so of either walking or running, the worst of the pain seems to go.  I’ve also started doing some heel raises at the top of the stairs leading up to the flat – I remember this helping when I first had Achilles pain within a few months of starting to run a few years ago. 

The other ‘icy’ part of the week has been the weather!  As I type, it’s snowing outside, which seems a fitting way to cap off a cold week’s running.  For reasons I’ll explain on another blog, I’ve been trying to record the outside temperature before each run.  Here’s what I’ve got written down ...

Mon – 8.09 miles general aerobic  with 10 x 100m strides.  0.7 celcius

Tue – 5.06 miles recovery.  2.9c

Wed – 4.09 miles recovery.  ?

Thu – 8.01 miles general aerobic.  1.5c

Fri – rest

Sat – 12.1 miles.  Minus 0.4c

In other words, it’s been a week to wrap up, get my head down and get out there!  At least it’s been dry, and I’d take cold and dry over wet and mild any day!

I’d ideally not run four days in a row, but it’s been another week where other commitments (work and football in this instance), have meant a bit of schedule jiggling.  I’ve tended to do pretty much all of my runs in the evening so far, but I took my running kit to work on Wednesday to run at lunchtime.  It was good to run in some different surroundings, and to run in the daylight! 

My new trainers arrived this week, then promptly went back to the shop!  I’ve been in a bit of a quandary trainers-wise this year.  I know my current ‘best’ pair are well beyond their natural life, so I obviously need a new pair.  But it’s seemed a very expensive way of doing things, to buy a new pair just to wear them out by the time the Shakespeare marathon comes along- I’ve got up to 561 miles still to run in training and a pair of running shoes is thought to be beyond its best after about 500 miles.  So, I eventually decided to buy a cheaper pair online, and take my annual visit to a local independent running shop for advice and the latest pair at some point nearer the marathon.  When I say cheaper, I mean comparatively!  I’ve ordered the exact same shoes as my current pair, although they’re now cheaper as that model’s a year old.  Anyway, and herein lie the perils of ordering online, I was sent a pair in US size 10 – which is size 9 in UK terms.  So back off to the shop they’ve gone.  Frustrating to have to endure another week in battered shoes, but I’ve now received the dispatch notice so the new ones will hopefully be here within the next few days.

Just one other noteworthy thing this week – the hazards of watching wildlife and not where you’re going!  On today’s 12 miler I was running along the canal beyond Leamington and was approaching the Offchurch Greenway, when a bird of prey flew overhead and settled on the branch of a tree.  I was aware of a bridge coming along so headed towards the right hand side of the towpath to avoid the lowest point of the bridge.  The bird was still sitting in the tree, so I carried on watching it.  I’m not quite sure what happened next – but obviously moved in towards the left hand side of towpath once underneath the bridge, and that’s where the bridge gets lower over the towpath.  BANG – I walloped my head on the underside of the bridge.  I didn’t think it was too bad until I took my hat off just to see whether there was a bump.  I didn’t expect blood!  However, it wasn’t spurting out (!) so carried on and did the rest of the run without my hat on to try and dry up the wound.  More than anything, I was just intrigued to see how it looked!  Back home, the easiest way to inspect the damage was via the gift of the front-facing camera on my phone.

There’s just a bit of blood left now and a decent-sized bump.  Take care people – running hurts !

 www.virginmoneygiving.com/timboswell