Wednesday, November 07, 2012

Doctor Shuffhausen

Infection in big toe. No running for a few days whilst it settles down. I have anti-biotics to take and my first question was "I have a wedding on Friday and will I be able to drink?". Thankfully I'm okay to blow the froth off a couple...

So a good opportunity to freshen up a bit. Not ideal but in the grand scheme of things I have been very lucky with injuries for the last few years and this is only a minor thing.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Matt, I've finally made my way through your blog. There's really good info in there and it looks like you've really been putting the effort in. It seems that after your 2:28 at dublin you upped your mileage a bit for the next marathon but didn't get any faster? is this correct and do you think before dublin you just had a perfect training block and the race went well?

Can I also ask about your threshold and interval runs. How do you feel physically at the end of them. do you follow the rule of "should be able to do one more, or go a bit further" or are you knackered at the end. I ask because I think perhaps i'm falling into the trap of thinking faster is better and although I get through my sessions, i'm knackered and I think it might be starting to affect runs later in the week

thanks. keep up the good work and I hope the toe gets better soon.

John

Anonymous said...

Hi Matt, I agree with John. I think for your next marathon you should run the exact same training schedule you did for your 2.28 Dublin marathon and see what the result is.

I know most sub 2.30 guys will not agree with your training schedule. I train with a guy who has run 2.35 and only running 55 miles per week. He says that is the most his body can cope with, otherwise he just gets injured or sick.

I hope the toe is getting better!

Cheers for now,

N

BeerMatt said...

Thanks for the feedback guys.

John, to answer your questions. Yes I upped the mileage for my next marathon but didn't get quicker. For both of the marathons my training in the build-up was very good. I think the difference was the things you can't control on the day. In Dublin, conditons were perfect and I had a group up to 20 miles. In London, the group only lasted to 13 miles and the conditions were too hot. For me, that explains the difference in the times.

For fast running in training (tempo or intervals), I would very rarely push myself to the point of feeling completely spent at the end. I tend to save that for racing. I think the rule of "should be able to do 1 more" is a good rule to follow so perhaps you are pushing yourself a bit too much. I always like the pace tables you can find online (McMillan is one of the best known). That should help you to determine exactly what pace you should be running at for speed sessions. You probably already know that though!

N, I take your point that for most runners who are breaking 2:30, then 60 miles a week would be considered very low mileage. I'm sure most would be nearer to 100 miles. I sound similar to your mate in that it's what my body seems to be able to cope with. Plus time is also a constraint - I'd struggle to fit in double sessions to boost my mileage.

If I do train for another marathon then it will definetely be a case of more of the same. We shall see.

Yes the toe is a lot better. Tested it on the weekend and all is fine!