Soooooooooo much has happened this week, and yet in some ways it’s been fairly uneventful. Does that make sense? I’m not sure it does, so let’s stick with the “so much has happened” statement!

So, this week was first of all the last week of big big miles. 47 of them in fact, with a 21 mile run at the end of it, the longest yet, and longest we do before New York, which of course (as I go to press with this) is actually less than 3 weeks away now! That means we are officially tapering! Yaaaaaaaahhhhhhhooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!

In terms of runs, the midweek has started to tail off already. This week was just 6 miles, 8 miles and 6 miles, which actually just seems (at least psychologically anyway, but see below) easy now, despite the tired legs. Much better than the 7, 10 and 7 of two weeks ago anyway!

Tuesday was a hill sprint run. I actually wasn’t even sure if I was going to do it or not, as on Monday my leg ( a pulled medial head of the gastroc muscle injury – see last week’s post for details…..https://aquavista.me/2019/10/06/week-12-the-fine-margins-on-which-we-sometimes-hang/ was giving me more pain than it ever has. I put it down to stiffness from last Sunday’s run, and basically hoped for the best. On Tuesday morning it tanked it down, and although my leg pain felt actually not too bad, the rest of me just didn’t have it at all. I felt spent, devoid of energy altogether, and not into it. Partly at least this was a result of a really poor night’s sleep.

I honestly wanted to give up. That hasn’t happened to me for the most fleeting of moments throughout this whole programme, and in fact I can’t remember the last time (for years) that I just wanted to stop and go home. I felt that way at least four times. What the hell was happening!

I did go through the motions and eventually get home without stopping, but when I got back home I felt down, deflated, and really not like carrying on. Is this thing beating me I wondered, and am I to get to week 13 and not be able to continue? I’m averaging 45 miles a week, and in previous years I sometimes haven’t run 45 miles in six months or more, so the cumulative effect of this must be absolutely grinding me down. I also realised that Tuesday was the day when the London Marathon results were announced. Having entered the ballot very excitedly some months ago, the only thing I could now think was “please don’t get a place, so I don’t have to go through this agony again!”. No email came, so the thought left my mind and I put the thoughts aside. Melanie did however massively pick me up when she rang me and reminded me that everyone gets down days. I really appreciated that a lot and it made me feel better.

On Wednesday it rained again. Cats and dogs style. I’m a bit fed up of getting wet (I think that 5 out of my last 6 midweek runs have been wet ones), but then again you get used to it, and ‘it’s only water’. I had however slept much better, and I was in the mood for the run, even it was 6am and pitch black. The 8 mile tempo run (at marathon race pace) went great, and I felt like I could run forever. It is so strange how 24 hours can change your outlook altogether!

On Thursday it was a six mile interval run, including 12 lots of 400m at ‘fast’ pace, followed by 12 x 200m slow recoveries. It thankfully again went great, and I felt like I could go on harder and faster. Funny thing this running malarkey! Oh and I (and Melanie too) got the news that we hadn’t been accepted into next year’s London Marathon. I was so happy, I punched the air with delight :).

I also had (my now weekly) visit to the physiotherapist on Thursday afternoon. She reiterated that my leg pain is containable, and even said “you’ll be able to do this marathon I think” (which I actually asked her to repeat to make me feel better!!). I’ve been given some more strengthening exercises for my glutes, calves and ankles, and my foot is now taped up more firmly to allow for hopefully less lateral movement.

So now to the exciting news! In a phone call during the week with my son Dan, he’s said that he and his partner Sadi are going to come out to see us do the marathon in New York! How exciting is that! He has a short break from work at the same time and fancied a weekend away, and it has amazingly coincided with our trip. If I wasn’t already the most excitable person on the planet about New York then this has just put the cherry on top!!

On Saturday something else exciting happened. In fact two things! Firstly Melanie and I were transfixed, as so many people were, watching Eliot Kipchoge make history and become the first human being to break 2 hours for the marathon. It was completely engrossing watching it unfold. The man is both incredible and inspirational in every way. And the way he conducts himself and his messages of hope for a beautiful world are both touching and incredibly uplifting. Who couldn’t fail to be inspired by this? We loved it so much: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/athletics/50025543

Then not long after Kipchoge finished his run I got a delivery of some new trainers. Not just any trainers either, but the same ones that Kipchoge was wearing! The same ones in fact that many of the professional marathon runners have been sporting this season, the Nike Vaporfly ZoomX Next% to give them their full name. They are both (very) expensive, and not very pretty, it has to be said. They are also a very lurid pink colour (they’d sold out of lime green, the only other option), but what the hell, I’m not here to look good :). I simply figure that if they can (which they are supposed to) help mere mortals to run more efficiently, or easily, or shave just one second off my time in New York even, then they might just be worth it.

Our Saturday run was a nice gentle four mile one as per usual, and went without incident. I didn’t try the new shoes out, they will have to wait – they are only supposed to last about 100 miles, and so I figure a couple of runs to see how they feel and then they can come with me to New York! They feel incredibly comfortable walking around the house in though!!

On Sunday our long run was the wettest yet, as well as the longest. It rained for approximately 19 of the 21 miles, and pretty hard at times too. I wasn’t really concentrating on that too much though, it was mostly my leg. The pain from the top of my calf was radiating around my knee the whole way. I do wonder if I’m doing it more damage by carrying on running, and it certainly is getting more painful each week, but it hasn’t actually stopped me running yet, and until it does, I’m not stopping, simple as that. I’ve come too far, and I’m too determined to do it, and the physio says I can manage it, so manage it I will. We were both absolutely exhausted by the end, but a good old Sunday lunch of roast beef and all the trimmings (and a glass of wine or two) at my local pub certainly perked us both up!

So the training continues very much, but a now reduced level. We have done around 520 miles in 13 weeks, and it has been way harder and more intense than I every imagined. We start now to taper, to hopefully be fresher and as ready as possible for that enormously big day which looms ever closer. We’ve been watching lots of YouTube videos of last year’s event and getting even more excited about things. I forgot to say, we also got our bib numbers and staring waves/times for the day itself! More about those next time round as preparations start in earnest.

It really truly is getting stupidly exciting – time to take all that in, contain it, and convert it to positive energy. I’ve got this, I think……but time to keep my (insanely pink!) feet on the ground for a little while longer yet!