Melbourne Marathon 2015 - Week 16 of 16
And so it is race week. My whole year has been working towards this week and the race which caps it off. I've dreamed, I've planned, I've sweated. I've given it everything. And in the last few weeks I've battled a hamstring tendon injury which has threatened to unravel all of this hard work. The time is now. All that matters is what I do now. It all comes down to now.
Tuesday 13 October
Tonight I went to see Rob for my last physio session and he taped up my hammy to try to lift the pressure off it. It felt a bit like getting a butt-lift with some tape and felt completely weird. After this, as it is daylight savings and was a lovely night, I went for a 5k run around home.
This was my best run in ages. I'm clearly not nearly 100% but I could run semi-comfortably at about 4.37 pace, including a couple of km's at 4.33. This was the fastest speed run I've done in weeks and was a bit of a confidence boost!
Thursday 15 October
This final short run has usually been a bit of a celebration, the pace and distance being neither long enough or hard enough to cause any kind of stress. Today, as with most of the last few weeks, it as been another test. A time to see how my hamstring is repairing itself and trying to work out what kind of race I can expect.
After Tuesday's reasonably good run I was optimistic here for another good one. The weather was quite warm (over 30 degrees) and it was a bit windy. My hammy had not felt great all day and I ran accordingly. It was not as fast or as comfortable as Tuesday night and I finished this 5k with a slow 5 min last kilo up the small bridge where on Sunday we will begin the race.
Training Program:
Full session details for my whole training plan here.
Strava links for the week:
Tuesday - Steady As She Goes 5k @4.37; good run after physio
Thursday - One Last Run 5k @4.46; last run - hot
Summary:
Week 16 of 16 (this week): 2 runs, 10.0 km, 0:47 hrs
Week 15 of 16: 3 runs, 27.5 km, 2:18 hrs
Week 14 of 16: 2 runs, 31.6 km, 2:47 hrs
Week 13 of 16: 5 runs, 58.9 km, 4:55 hrs
Week 12 of 16: 5 runs, 65.1 km, 5:19 hrs
Week 11 of 16: 6 runs, 76.1 km, 6:58 hrs
Week 10 of 16: 4 runs, 48.8 km, 3:57 hrs
Week 9 of 16: 5 runs, 65.2 km, 5:30 hrs
Week 8 of 16: 4 runs, 59.0 km, 4:57 hrs
Week 7 of 16: 5 runs, 55.9 km, 4:35 hrs
Week 6 of 16: 4 runs, 44.1 km, 3:31 hrs
Week 5 of 16: 4 runs, 53.3 km, 4:21 hrs
Week 4 of 16: 5 runs, 65.8 km, 5:38 hrs
Week 3 of 16: 4 runs, 58.3 km, 4:46 hrs
Week 2 of 16: 4 runs, 52.4 km, 4:30 hrs
Week 1 of 16: 4 runs, 50.1 km, 4:11 hrs
Total: 66 runs, 812.8 km, 69:07 hrs
Paul
ReplyDeleteSadly I have not visited your blog for a long time, but was delighted when I discovered that you had trained for the Melbourne marathon again; then disappointed to read about the hamstring. I looked back over the blog of the previous 16 weeks. As in past years, was impressed by the way you had tackled the challenge. The hamstring problem in the final three weeks must have been such a frustrating blow. I do hope things turned out OK on the day.
Hi canute ... likewise great to hear from you. My blog is very occasional these days. As you may have seen, I followed this program last year for Gold Coast Marathon and recorded a PB. Then, this year, with the hamstring tendon injury I struggled right at the end. As it turned out, I ran as well as the injury would allow and did 3h37m so nearly 30 mins behind plan. Two months on and the injury hasn't improved at all. Hopefully I'll get some improvement soon! Take care, Paul
DeleteHi, Great information! Would you please consider sharing my link to your readers? Please email me back at haileyxhailey gmail.com.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
Hailey