Shades Marathon Training

Emmy - that is good news and a few days in Barcelona is just what you need to help you with your recovery.   Have a lovely time

VR - I bet you're mince pies were wonderful

Khanivore

 'She told me that it won't get better without a break from running'

 so why are you still running?   Yes you are training for a specific event but it's 4 months away.  I'm with S3200H on this, you need to rest from running, do some walking, stretching, gym stuff if it doesn't hurt.   A few days rest (maybe a couple of weeks rest) and then starting back on gentle running rebuilding the mileage up and then see how you are.   If you don't deal with this now you could be on the injury bench for months.  Now you know it's not a serious injury you can deal with it.

Being injured is part of running. Sorry but that's how it is and even in your first couple of years of running you can expect to pick up quite a few injuries.   And in the future there will be missed races and frustration due to injury, but that's part of this sport.

Emmy - good news about your injury not being serious, must be a big relief!

Khanivore - spend your time internet shopping for loads of fab new kit to wear when you have completely recovered..

No ice now here so not sliding everywhere, just completely drenched every day.  Am keeping up mileage as know ice will return and will not be able to get out so much.

Still on prayer mat for garmin at Christmas.. well it's that or divorce... have been quite clear about this

Khanivore - no need to be confused, i'd do exactly what Shades says. I assume you've been follwing her advice so far .....

slight change of subject: any tips on running slower?

i've been building up a base fitness since june and have found 8-8:30 to be a nice comfy pace over 10+km. building up to 21km i've tried to run slower (around 9:15) but just don't seem to be able to stick to it. the quicker pace feels fine at the time but leaves me feeling knackered for a day or so afterwards. obviously i can see this being an issue as the mileage ramps up over the next 18 weeks.

my paces based on marathon pace for the shades plan look really slow. 9:30 for easy runs and 9:50 for long ones.

don't get me wrong, i realise they are the paces i should be hitting. i'm more than happy to follow the advice of someone vastly more experienced than i. i just don't want to end up running quicker than i should and injuring myself.

so as i said at the top, any tips for running slower? preferably without having to resort to doing it whilst carring/dragging something heavy. lol...

yeah. definitely stop. best bit of advice i've had was:

listen to your body when it whispers to you or you'll only end up having to listen to it screaming at you.

Thx sofaboy and shades and others. I will listen to my body which is definitely telling me to stop running for a bit I will go for a swim today as I don't use my legs much when doing that. New physio session booked for Thursday with another chap. 

Injury has brought new perspective. I realise now, what eveyone has been saying all along anyway, that I should just aim to get through the first marathon without killing myself. I am still hoping for a sub-4 hour time but i am DEFINITELY nmot going to introduce hill or interval training. 

I hate this - just want my leg to stop hurting so i can run again.

i know what you mean. i picked up a slight achilles niggle in july after not warming down properly. after a few days off it was feeling sort of ok (but not really), i got frustrated and went for a 7km run on it. i hobbled the last km home and was out for most of the next month.

mamafox - I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you for the Garmin for Xmas...make sure you tell him that a divorce is a lot more expensive than a Garmin

Sofaboy - it's tricky as it's instinct to go as fast as you can whilst remaining comfortable.  But it's obviously too fast as you say that you are tired afterwards.   Don't listen to music, that can destroy your pacing plans, but apart from that it's just self discipline I'm afraid.

Khanivore - I'm not sure why at this stage you want to see another physio right now.   Resting (when required) is a major part of training, knowing when to ease up and let your body recover.   If there is no improvement by January then maybe think about seeing somebody else.   But there's no magic cure, if you have damaged a muscle it needs a little time to get better.

2H15 huh....

lol.

just did my first 5 mile easy. should be @ 9:30. came in at 9:31 average. bang on, pretty much. although it felt like harder work than if i'd have done it at 8:30s. must have been tensing up a bit in the legs or something.

Blimey Khanivore - the injury doesn't sound good, please take it easy.

SofaBoy - my 5 mile easy was all over the place for pace today too, but I'm lucky () that my natural pace is a lot slower than yours - so I did manage to keep it reasonably in line.

5 mile easy tomorrow, 7 mile tempo Thurs, a long Saturday run then I'm off skiing for a week. now that will make my legs hurt

Tim 

I am an expert at running at a slow pace

Sofaboy - well done on your pacing, will be interesting to see if you are less tired.

S3200H - I'm a Hadd fan too.

Slowkoala - LOL at your non running friend.   I would be very happy if Sofaboy did 2:15, but if you do 2 hours I can retire and live off selling my training plans and the odd coaching session

Khanivore - it's up to you, but you could be wasting your money at this stage.  There are no magic cures, why not try a bit of rest and reschedule the appointment for the New Year.   You will have been reading all you can about injuries and the first thing they tell you is RICE and it's the 'R' that you need to do.

Rattler - Skiing over Xmas, will be lovely

Wet and windy here today, nice and mild though