A Silly Mistake In Marathon Training
Has a silly mistake derailed my marathon training?
General Preparation Phase for the Marathon Project 2021
Originally planned to cover 8 weeks. I’m calling it at 6 weeks.
How did it go?
There was a loose structure I followed, a 9 day cycle:
- Easy
- Easy
- Hill Circuit
- Med-Long
- Rest
- VO2 Intervals (short)
- Easy
- Easy
- Long Run
I got reasonably close to this, but there were a few deviations.
I’ll break the stats out over the more typical 7 day week, Monday to Sunday so it makes better sense to more people.
Weekly mileage:
- 60km
- 57km
- 64km
- 64km
- 37km
- 12km
The 1st 4 weeks gave me an average of 61km/week
They went close to plan. I hit most of my targets. Stuffed up some pacing. Struggled through some runs. But also noticed some improvement in my long run.
It was going well.
Week 5 was deliberately lower in volume because of a heavier work week and other commitments. I also used it as an opportunity to get a 5km time at the local Park Run. More on that coming up.
Mistake In Marathon Training: Week 6
Did your mother ever tell you not to run in the house? …. Especially on the stairs?
I was running up the stairs to get ready for a long run.
Hoping it was just some pain and then I’d be right run….
… nup… not that lucky.
Yes my shin hurt, maybe the bone was bruised… likely
The problem is I must have smash where the patella tendon inserts. It was swollen and bruised.
Running wasn’t a good idea anymore.
Last thing I need is a problem with the patella tendon after all the work I’ve done to get my Achilles’ tendon under control.
So no long run… 2 days off.
An easy run, felt fine.
The fall was on Monday. Thursday I felt right and ran a hill circuit. It went really well.
But on Friday the tendon swollen again and fairly angry as I went out for a run. I ended up walking instead.
Such a simple and silly mistake. I just missed a step.
Yet the result is most of a week of training is knocked away.
This my running friends is one the reasons I am taking a long build up to the marathon.
To give that buffer for when things go wrong.
Diamond Creek Park Run
A relaxed 4km warm up gets me to the start line.
Diamond Creek is a mainly flat 5km, with a couple of small bumps on the way.
Concrete bike path. Quite a good course to set a benchmark at.
I ran 19:54.
Plugging this in the McMillan Running Calculator gives a prediction of 3:13 for the marathon.
24 weeks out I happy with this.
Calling The General Preparation Phase Early
I now have a race benchmark to base some training times off.
The trip on stairs has given a clear line in training
My work roster has clear change here
Plus my head is ready to move on
It’s just right…
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