Training Week 3 - "Novice marathon runner seeks workaholic masseuse..."

The pain!

Week 3 not so hot..did a 9km run on the Monday which just didn't feel right especially around the lower legs. Woke up on Tuesday with a dull throbbing along both shins which developed into a bit of a stabbing pain by Wednesday, so pretty much hung up my boots for the week hoping its nothing that a bit of rest can't sort out.



Did some reading on the net and talking with other runners as well as a sports therapist contact and the consensus seems to be shin splints!


All is not lost however! There are a few things I can do to minimise the impact of this injury on my training and with this clearly in the forefront of my mind I carried on with my weekend away in Berlin...


Firstly good eating!

Keeping my legs elevated where possible..

Cross-training....well.. snow fighting against zee Germans!

Oh yes and then there's the post-training ice therapy..

In all seriousness though, the legs did start getting progressively better throughout the weekend, enough even in the early hours of Sunday to go for a light 1km jog in the snow..fully coated.


Anyway plan for week 4
-Reduce distances run, increase frequency
-Invest in new trainers
-Adjust running style to be more off the balls of my feet rather than heels
-Meet friendly masseuse



Week 3 results:
Distance Covered: 10.1 km's
Total running time: 1 hour
Average speed: 10.1 km/h
Money raised: £40.00 (Massive thanks to Chris, Imelda, Kat and Rob!)

Training - Week 2

Firstly a massive thanks for all the support so far!

£200.00 raised in the first week so a big cheers to - Kerryn & Bex, Greg & Amelia, Clint & Christie, Ash, Canadian Sam, Niza, Brien, Justin, Sam, Nic, Mark, David, Vicky and Daniela. Already 14% there - great stuff!

Also a big thanks to Anna, Kevin and Southern's own 'marathon man' Frank for their training, racing and nutritional advice and an extra special thanks to Evette whose culinary excellence is keeping me fueled for those longer runs



Pre Tuesday Nights Run

Three runs again this week, the first on an incredibly cold Tuesday night was like the run from hell..if hell was going through a touch of an English winter.

Firstly my ipod crashed just as I was walking out of Go-Ahead house leaving just my own heavy breathing as company for the evening. I then ran into trouble during the first kilometre with both calves really tightening up.

I had injured my calf a couple of months back and was getting really worried I was heading for a repeat. Anyway I found I had to stop for a couple of minutes every kilometre or so just to do some stretching and massage to keep myself going. After about 5k's I stopped completely for a good few minutes concentrated on stretching and even re-laced my laces making sure they were tight all the way through, this seemed to do the trick and the following 6km's went by pretty comfortably.


My run on the Thursday I had penned to be a big one, having run nearly 12kms on a couple of occasions I was interested as to what my limit really was......turns out its just under 15km's (9 miles). I mapped out a course on the gmap pedometer site which you can see here

In order to look after my calves I took the first few km's incredibly slow and sorry ladies but I've also taken to wearing leggings to keep the lower legs warm. Anyway the run went pretty well, highlights being cursing the steepness of South Norwood Hill and praising the gentle downwards slope of Westwood Hill. The last couple of km's were pretty interesting on this one, found I was starting to really feel the cold and was getting a bit disorientated which I discovered usually means your body's running a bit low on sugars, still after a couple of wrong turns I did make it home ok.


A little worse for wear just after
Thursdays big run.

Friday was always going to be a day off..however Saturday I was supposed to go for a quick jog at some stage..unfortunately the Kiwi's vs England league world cup semifinal first thing in the morning, followed by meeting up with a couple of bad influence work colleagues at the Shepherds bush Walkabout for the England Aussie and All Black Irish games put an end to the running for Saturday..and as it turns out most of Sunday. Still with all the guts and determination of someone trying desperately to raise money for charity while incredibly hungover I managed to pull myself out of bed and jogged to the supermarket and back (with a full pack!) for another 4kms to bring me over 30kms for the week. So all together a pretty good result on the running..not to mention the rugby and league! :)

Week 3 is going to be a bit congested with 2 All Black games, a Christmas do as well as a weekend away in Berlin but I reckon I might still be able to do another 30km's..just means no drinking and maybe taking my training international..

Week 2 results:
Distance Covered: 30.1 km's
Total running time: 3 hours and 28 minutes
Average speed: 8.7 km/h
Money raised: £198.00 (Thanks Everyone!)

Cheers,

-Josh

Training - Week 1

Hey all!

Confirmed as part of the marathon on the Monday, so training officially began on the Tuesday. My plan at least for the first month is to do one night on and one night off progressively increasing distance. As its winter here its cold, wet and dark from 4.30pm so all weekday running is at night. Got off to a good start with a 10km run in the rain Tuesday, had the Wednesday off and woke up with a cold on the Thursday which kinda killed the training I had planned for the week. As it was more of a headcold I still managed 8k Thursday night and then another 6k during the day Saturday, was hoping for another run today but the cold seems to have moved more to my chest and back so going to have a rest.

So week 1 results:
Distance Covered: 24.3 km's
Total running time: 2 hours and 37 minutes
Average speed: 9.3km/h
Money raised: £2.00 (Thanks Greg)

Roll on week 2

London Marathon 2009

Hi everyone! I've set this up to give updates on my training progress for next years London marathon. Hopefully will include graphs, photo's and fundraising projects. The charity I'm running for is "Kith and Kids" whom I'm hoping to raise £1500.00 for.
Please feel free to flick me some fund raising or sponsorship ideas.

5 months, 17 days to go, which I think is about 25 weeks, officially started my first week of training on Monday will throw up the results tomorrow, anyway that is all for now and as always if you feel like making a donation please visit the following site: http://www.justgiving.com/joshuahayward

You can also see my fundrasing progress from here, anyway thats enough for now will post again with week 1's training results tomorrow.

Seeya

-Josh