WW - missed you at Watford, it was a bit messy, not too awful, I actually had a course PB nice and easy for 53. The false hope and rapid return of symptoms you describe sounds like plantar to me. So aqua jogging! When I had posterior tib issues such that I couldn't run at all for about 6 months with big fat old girl's ankle and all, I trained in the pool almost exclusively at first, even the bike jarred it. Then for the marathon phase I added one slow long run a week. Incidentally this translated to 4:18 at London, and my first mara, so I hadn't a clue what I was doing even more so then. I would do 3,2,1 hours in the pool most weeks, sometimes not the 3 hour stint, couple of 2s and a 1 or a 2 and 3 x 1s, happy days. You can do so many different sessions, and movements even. I varied between pendulum with legs almost straight [knees not completely locked], which I called RWs [because the mag said that was how to do AJ when they had an early feature]; then there's high knees fast, long slow Chariots of Fire recoveries, basically you can fit the tempo to tunes of your choice [I had Does he Wash Up?] for Wash Ups aka high knees. For the long steady runs I would just replicate normal running, obvious form tips include not bending forward at the waist. On shorter sessions I would warm up for a lap [5 mins for a circuit of a big pool like York Hall where I usually go] or equivalent, then do intense intervals. Sometimes I would just welly it as hard as I could for 45 mins [build up from like 5!] and then jog 10 mins, job done. For a laugh you can do hurdles. I have no doubt that it works, and that I should have done more of it this year. One other key point is to watch your cadence or you could be teaching your legs the wrong neural pathway selection - or even to bounce too much. I must have seen you WW - Bunt is my favourite! Always do Fred too! What about Harlow?
