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I too have been a bit of a lurker on this thread, but like the idea of Gold, Silver and Bronze. 

Bronze: 3:09:59

Silver: New PB (currently 3:07:39)

Gold: Sub 3:05

Mind you, I'm nursing a bit of an injury at the moment so might need to revise these or maybe defer if I don't think I can get round.  This is my 5th marathon and anything other than a London GFA will feel like a failure.

Good luck to everyone and fingers crossed for some kind weather conditions!

I'm due to run in the Brighton Marathon next weekend and am looking for some guidance / advice for a possible injury.  I've run 4 marathons previously and am looking to run a London GFA time (sub 3:10).

I've had some shin problems in the past, due to that and quite a busy work schedule, my training has pretty much been 3 runs a week - Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday.  This has all worked quite well and I've been feeling quite confident of hitting my goal time - I've run 22 miles on 5 separate occasions and have on the whole not suffered any ill effects.

However, last Tuesday (26/3) towards the end of my run I had a pain on the outside of my left ankle.  I didn't think much of it as I hadn't had anything like it in the past and it felt as much like I'd suffered a kick on the ankle as much as anything else.  As I still felt a bit tender on Thursday I did the sensible thing and didn't run.

Things felt OK on Sunday, so I went for my long run (22 miles).  I felt the ankle was a bit sore after 8 miles, but nothing genuinely painful, such that I'd easily forget about it for long periods of time, so I carried on.

On the whole, I didn't feel too bad after the run on Sunday, albeit again there was some tenderness around the ankle and achilles area.  Therefore rather than run on Tuesday I went for a long bike ride. 

However, I've just been out for a run as things had felt ok, but I stopped at around 6 miles as I was beginning to get quite sharp pains through my achilles and my calf.  I think I did the right thing as although I could probably have continued it was getting sore.  It doesn't feel too bad right now and I can walk around on it ok.

So, what should be my plan between now and Brighton?

Should I just refrain from running until the marathon in the hope that it gives it the best possible chance of recovery?

Should I have a run on Sunday to see how it is?

Any general advice / rehabilitation suggestions will be greatly received.

Thanks!

I've got a Garmin Forerunner 405 and have had it for around 5 years without any major issues.

I went for a run today and noticed the screen had misted / fogged up to the point that it was hard to read the display.  The watch worked ok and the screen has since cleared.

Has anyone experienced this before with this watch?  If so, is the beginning of the end - moisture inside the watch doesn't seem like a good thing to me?!

AW - I've been reading this thread for a while now and am really impressed with your progress, you seem liked a nailed on certainty for sub three in Paris!

I too am running a Spring marathon (Brighton) and wanted to ask you about your slower, "easy" runs.

I'm aiming for a time of around 3:10 and typically run my weekly long run at about this pace - for example I did 22 miles on Sunday at about 7:05 pace.  Possibly naively, i've always felt more comfortable trying to replicate what I want to do on the day.

However most of the advice & training plans advocate your LSR being a good deal slower than goal marathon pace.  How have you found this approach?  Do you find it hard to run significantly slower?  Do you feel the benefit?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Keep up the good work!