Feeling more positive...

Just re-read my ramblings from last week where my right leg was bothersome. One week on, I'm feeling much more positive. The massage on Monday was really encouraging - confirming the yoga, foam rolling etc has been doing me good as there were several muscle groups which caused me pain in massages previously, but were completely fine on this occasion. OK, the masseuse was different but he was still going relatively deep and I was accepting of the pain without too much bother. I also did some yoga on Tuesday/Wednesday - a new youtube workout focussing on hip muscles and it really made a big difference. I think completing this three-four times a week just now is a good idea and hopefully the cumulative effect will be noticeable. Mileage wise, the week was a bit easier than previous weeks. Due to the soreness in my legs until roughly Wednesday I only did a couple of easy runs and the track was also closed on Thursday which meant another easy jog. I went to the gym on Wednesday and did a couple of 20 minute treadmill runs and focussed on some leg weights on my right leg. The result was an aching right leg until Saturday and two aching calf muscles due to running in my bf shoes! The parkrun on Saturday was good fun but a heavy wind and tired/sore legs before I started meant I was unlikely to break 18 minutes. Still, 18:26 in tough conditions counts as a good run and I finished in 12th place - my highest ever finish at Edinburgh Parkrun. A cool down with Alan and Duncan afterwards topped off 8 miles for the morning and I went home and did 30 minutes of yoga to stretch my tired legs. On Sunday, I enjoyed watching the runners in the London Marathon. I originally planned to head out early morning but I thought the extra inspiration from the race would do me good. I set off at about 1pm for 20 miles without a clear route or pacing strategy. The initial 8 minute miles felt quite tough but I warmed up ok after four-five miles (as I've seemed to be doing lately) and without effort the pace dropped to 7.40s. After a few of these my right leg was feeling a tad heavy so I slowed for a few miles and quickly recovered. In the end I did a carbon copy of the same run from the week before, route-wise, but I was consistently a bit faster on the out and didn't try too hard to pick up any pace on the return - the 7.20s were coming without too much difficulty. From mile 15 I started to feel a bit rougher but I decided a couple of marathon pace miles would be a good psychological boost, particularly after these proved so troublesome last week. The first was a bit of a struggle to get under 6.50 but I managed it in the end. I thought that I would just jog the remainder but in the end took about 1/3 mile at a jog and managed another 6.43 without too much difficulty. The remainder was just a jog back to the start with a few faster strides near the end. Pretty comfortable in the end. For race strategy purposes I took a gel at mile 10 and another at mile 15. Although I'd eaten well the night before, and that day, I was feeling a tad hungry towards the end of the run so maybe three gels are necessary for the marathon at miles 15, 19 and 22? Changing start time at short notice didn't help as I was feeling hungry when I set out. I've another couple of runs to test this out properly. Maybe it was in my head but I did notice a slight difference in my stomach after the gels but nothing too serious. They did leave me with a salty taste in my mouth, but I still think planning to run the race sans-water is the way forward... hopefully it won't be too hot on the day! [famous last words!] The compression shorts that I purchased have also proved their worth. How much of the improvement is down to yoga, massage and compression shorts is probably subjective but I will likely wear them for the marathon and accept any and all placebo benefits. Do they work? Who knows, but I'm willing to give them a try.