Michelle’s Marathon Mission: The How Not To Get Started With Marathon Running Guide

Ranking alongside my agreement to attend a three week conference in Germany to speak on the environment policies on my local borough that I knew nothing about (alongside speaking none of the languages of the other countries attending), as one of the most stupid decisions of my life, was my offer to run a charity marathon if singer / songwriter Billie Myers got 1000 fans on her Facebook Fan Page.

Quite why I said it I still have no idea, I had no doubt she would get her 1000  fans so it wasn’t that.  Maybe I presumed she’d suddenly decide she wanted to become a farmer and would close her Facebook page down.  Or maybe I had taken too many of those red and blue pills the day before.

Whatever the reason, one thing is now certain – I have a marathon to train for. The LA Marathon on March 21st 2010, in fact.

So how it’s all going so far? Well the first proper session was amazing. I seemed to run forever.

Then I got home.

Taking off those once much loved New Balance running shoes I was kinda aware all was not right. I’d started to have some pain in my feet whilst running, but with each pull of my shoe it got worse. In fact I have never in my entire life (and we’re talking about someone who’s not only an ex-competitive runner but also ripped herself to shreds on rock faces) felt so much pain from my feet. Ever.

And so began a week of very strange walking, no running, and me throwing those very uncushioned  New Balanxe running shoes in the bin, and replacing them with a nice new spongy pair of Mizunos.

So landmark one was passed – the first injury.

A week later, my poor damaged peroneal tendons were feeling much happier, and I began staking up the miles as though I’d be running the marathon tomorrow….

… which was to be rookie marathon runner mistake number two – too many miles too fast.

Now if you know me personally, this running mistake will come as no surprise to you, because I’m competitive, very competitive.

In fact, an example of how competitive can be seen from a recent running session when I had to leave an athletic track after a sprinter started training.  Watching him speed up and down the track, whilst I was going at my steady pace, soon had my competitive switch firmly knocked on, and suddenly I was speeding up to beat him, even though I was more than aware I was training to run over 26 miles more than him…

Anyway back to rookie mistake number two.

So what do you get for running too many miles too fast? In my case two things, a knee ligament injury that caused my knee to swell up on the right every time I went running so I could only turn left - cue comical one way laps) and an Achilles injury.

On opposite legs of course.

So we were back at  hobbling again (except in heels when all surprisingly felt cured – there’s something said for being girly).

With three injuries down in less than a month, it’s going to come as no surprise that I quickly came to the decision that this probably wasn’t that way ahead. Well, that and thinking how much trouble I’d be in if I told any ex coaches my running strategy.

I decided to stop messing about and get serious. I need to find a marathon training plan to get me where I needed to. And I have in the rather challenging running plan as set out by Runner’s World Run Less, Run Faster program.

Reducing my runs from 6 times a week to 3 times a week, this is made up of three different runs:

- A fast workout of about 5k which works on improving my speed and max VO2

- A medium tempo workout of up to 10 miles that works on my endurance and lactate threshold

- A long workout focused on upping my aerobic metabolism that peaks at 20 miles.

Working brilliantly to get my body prepared for the different elements required for the marathon, this running plan also sees me do cross training on two of the other days to help further improve my aerobic capacity.

Add to that the muscle strengthening sessions I’m doing each day (each day focusing on a different part of my body) and it’s all feeling a whole lot less amateur, and a whole lot more professional (though I’m pretty sure Paula Radcliffe still has very little to worry about).

And I have to say it seems to be working. My lungs are more than standing up the challenge the new plan is putting them under, and I’ve fallen in love with mile 8 – it’s when my lungs stop burning and I start feeling like I could go on forever (something my legs sadly haven’t quite reached the point of…)

So fingers crossed, by the time I hit LA I’ll be fitting fit and ready to actually achieve the rather over-optimistic time I told the LA Marathon time I would run when I entered. And no I’m telling you it until I’m sure I can do it.

Coming up next week: Tales of overly polite squirrels and funny looking shoes…

Photo by Seamus Murray.