Catching Up

Once again all the best laid plans have slipped away and I find myself a month and a half later posting here. I have come a long way since the previous post so time to bring it all up to date.

January was a get it together month for me. I realized that I was once again taking the big bite and in Marathon training again. The miles added up and I completed over 125 miles for the monthly total. Long runs were increasing and weekly totals edged into the 30 miles a week. I was comfortable with the speed work on Tuesdays and Marathon paced runs on Thursday. Long runs I kept to Saturday mornings and an easy recovery run was for Sunday. That left Friday as a rest day and Monday moved from being an off day to an easy run. There were days that I just didn't get out as early as I wanted, but I kept to the program pretty much and saw speed and endurance increase. The weather was COLD and a hat, gloves, leggings, and light layers kept me pretty comfortable.

I shared some of my longer runs with my IT instructor who is also running London. It will be her first marathon and it was good company during those rural miles. Also, her fiance's cousin from Italy made the runs even more interesting. I even learned a bit of Italian.

February was when the weekly totals creep into the 40mpw and even to 51 miles for the highest. I did my longest long run of 16 miles alone and was pleased with my pace and stamina. Although I will say at about 13 miles I was ready to be teleported home! Unfortunately on the 29th of January, during a speed hill session with my Women's Running Network group, I tore my hamstring. I wasn't aware of the true damage until a month later. I ran with soreness and eased off on the hills until I pulled it again later in February.

My training was suffering a little and I knew I needed to have it looked at. So on the 29 February I went to the physio and he confirmed that I had torn the hamstring the month before and re injured it during that week. I was prepared for the instructions to NOT run on it, but after treatment he said I could run my planned half marathon two days later, but not to race it. I would follow his recommendations and not aim for the PB I was hoping for. My monthly total was now up to nearly 160 miles.

On March 1 I went for an easy 2 mile pre-race day warm up along the ridge type hill road from the village. It was a windy morning and I just took it easy. I could feel the hamstring, so I just got the miles in. I was looking forward to my first race of 2008 and a prelude to what I might do for London.