I knew that the marathon project was a bit of risky
business this year with so little running in the past 6 months but the fact
that I survived Lidingöloppet kind of gave green light to the project. I admit
having too few miles in my legs when I started off my marathon training, and yes,
I was forced to increase my weekly mileage a little more than appropriate according
to schoolbooks. But despite all that my legs felt strong enough for training after
spending hours at gym and on the bike. The biggest problem was of course the long
runs. I hadn’t run more than 15k at most and I needed to get a few 30k runs. So
doubling the distance of my long run in a short period of time was a risk I had
to take if I wanted to get in good marathon shape. Otherwise I was trying to
follow a minimum input principle and do only the necessary. No more, no less, just what was needed. My strategy was very simple and it was based
on three key workouts: intervals, marathon pace runs, and long runs. Rest of
the days I used mostly for active recovery. I trained only once a day and only
6 days a week. So it seemed like a pretty safe approach.
I took it
very cautiously in the beginning, listening to my body carefully, and
increasing the mileage of my long runs (as well as pace runs, and number of
repetitions in the intervals) gradually. The fact that my build-up was just
about 6 weeks made it hard to plan in an easy week in the middle. Ideal would
have been a 2+1 week rhythm. Instead I used a gradual 4-week build-up, followed
by 2 weeks’ tapering. It looked alright on the paper but meant three
high-mileage weeks after each other and three 30k long runs in three
consecutive weekends when I probably would have needed an easier week in
between.
Accumulated fatigue or inadequate rest, that’s what hit me
in my tibialis posterior tendon. The weird thing about it is that the injury came
only after I had already overcome the worst. It appeared just when things
started to look better and I was getting used to the increased mileage and long
runs. In the beginning everything was hard and I was walking on a narrow line
all the time but week-by-week I started to get stronger and more and more
accustomed to my marathon specific workouts. The last long run felt almost ridiculously
easy and I had no problems increasing the pace at the end of it. Finally things
started to look good and I was feeling happy and confident. I had covered my
peak weeks and it was time to taper. I was done with the long runs and had only
two hard workouts left. But then, right then, at the top of everything, my
ankle stroke back and put me aside. I’ve taken now 1,5 weeks off from running but
there are no signs of recovery (at least not enough considering the time
perspective). So at this stage the only smart thing to do is to throw in the
towel. I hate to do that but it’s most probably the right thing to do.
Aftermath
It’s easy to say it was stupid or too much at this stage. On
the other hand it’s sports and injuries are part of the game. It’s always
delicate balancing between the training load and recovery. Sometimes you step
over the line but that’s life. Would I do it again? Absolutely! (Obviously with
some minor modifications). So what were the pros and cons about the project?
Well the cons are quite obvious. It is very upsetting and frustrating to be
injured and not able to race. Pros? There are plenty of them! First of all I
found my lost motivation to train again. I also got much fitter during the
process and found easiness in running fast. I was happy to see that my injured calf
had healed properly and could handle the workload. And it was very encouraging
to see fast improvement during the process. I believe I got quite near the
fitness level I was trying to achieve. It will certainly be an advantage when I
get back to training again.
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