44 days ago i ran my first (of at least now 2) marathon. Initially i hated the thought of doing another and potentially going through injury crisis again, but it took me 4 days to enter my next one, manchester 2020.

But enough about running, for the last 6 weeks i’ve effectively taken a break from running (kinda forced by injuring myself a week after paris by running a half). During that time i refound my love for golf which is a sport i’ve played my whole life and was once good at it, it’s one of those sports which i can and will play my whole life so keeping it up is good for me physically, socially, keeps me competitive and i generally enjoy it.

I also went on holiday! Me and my gf visited mexico on the Caribbean coast for an all inclusive week. A week needed break from work and life and a week to reset mentally and work out what goals i have going forward which i will include at the end of this

The week was incredible, loads of great memories, highlight of the trip would be a snorkelling tour where we snorkelled with turtles, then visited a protected forrest with wild deer and monkeys wondering about, and swimming in a cenote with crystal clear water.

Back to reality and the office grind now for a while, head down. Get to work.

Short term goals:

Running: 5k sub 20, HM sub 1:45

Golf: play more tournaments, lower handicap to a steady 5 or 6 (currently 6.3)

Financial: increase savings to not be reliant on every pay check, pay off credit card in full by end of year

General life: spend less time on phone, read more books, socialise more, workout more (better) , stop buying ben and jerrys

Paris marathon, 14th april 2019. Wow, amazing experience for many reasons, enjoyable, painful, happiness, tiredness, excitement, doubt and finally relief.

26.2 miles of sightseeing around the streets of paris, streets lined with spectators cheering on anyone they can on an almost perfect conditioned day, 10 degrees with sun and shade.

Having missed 8 weeks of training due to an injury, my original goal or 3:50 was out of the window, and was changed to ‘just finish, enjoy it, and in my mind i wanted to run close to 4:10’.

I started off well, going off at 6:00KMs consistently, felt great through 10km, and still great through halfway

Went through halfway in 2:02:57 which was bang on track to what i wanted and felt great. However i knew the real struggle was to come as everyone had said its 20miles onwards that hits you, and it hit me hard

As you can see. I was still on track up to 33km, then i hit ‘the wall’ i couldn’t run anymore, had to adopt a run/walk strategy which quickly became more walking than running. I limped home the last 7km to finish in 4:25:58. Very happy to have got as far as i did before stopping and a respectable first marathon.

Overall a great weekend in paris, great support. Onto the next one, thinking of Brighton/Manchester 2020

Just under 3 weeks to go until my first marathon, training has been up and down and hindered by injury. I missed a total of 6 weeks training which has also affected the following weeks due to being behind schedule.

Things are looking brighter, since coming back from injury, i have ran 2 long runs of 10 and 14 miles, as well as a mix of shorter and interval training to keep speed/endurance in tact.

14 miles completed yesterday through richmond park, one of the sunniest days of the year, credit to katie for keeping me company and taking this photo

Probably 1 more ‘long run’ to go before i start to taper, hopefully do 16-18 miles next weekend before winding it down to be fresh on the day.

As always the standard ‘core at 4 splits photo’ took place…

A full week off training has gone well, 0 running, bit of cycling in the gym and home workouts. And a lot of golf!

72 holes of golf played in wet and windy wales for #TheMarlow2019 12 man 2 team event played each year between the stingers and the strokers, unfortunately the strokers have now won back to back events but everyone had a great time in the process.

look at the wind affecting the flag #blowing

team stingers

winning strokers team -1

Hopefully this week i can get back to a full training schedule, leg feels ok now and will test it out tonight at the track for some intervals. There is a plan for a 10mile run on sunday which will be a real indicator of where im at and if a marathon is possible in 4 weeks time

On a parting note, up the villa!

1-0 winners over our rivals birmingham city and the weekend with our captain Grealish scoring the winner

This year the national XC champs were in sunny leeds! ‘How is it tee shirt weather in leeds in feb’ one of my team mates stated and he had a point, it was basically perfect weather all day long. 24 of Fulhams finest runners took a very early train from kings cross to leeds for nationals!.

mens team pre race

women’s team pre race

Everyone did very well, with the women’s team coming 58th and the mens team finishing in 55th place 🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼

Some more photos from the weekend:

#The36

I ‘john terry’d’ the day with the full kit (if you know you know)

Injury update: progress is being made! Finally!, Tuesday i ran a very slow 3k and it didnt feel great at all, and today i ran a steady 4.6km on lunch break and it was much better, almost pain free and not affecting me almost at all , hopefully not long before complete recovery

Quote of the weekend:

‘What’s twice as good as half a ham?… FULLLHAMMM’ – leo on the start line of the race

Race results can be found here:

https://results.sporthive.com/events/6505013679656656640

The day is looming. Sunday April 14th is approaching faster than i would like to be honest, 3 full weeks off running has been tough, and the struggle is not yet over.

Things are looking brighter, today i managed a 5 minute jog on the treadmill at the gym. Not pain free, but fine enough where i can run without an emergency stop. Progress.

Nevertheless its been a good week (apart from being an aston villa fan)

Saturday me and my GF went to the muller indoor athletics GP in birmingham at arena Birmingham, we saw a WR in the mens 1500m and laura muir smash a british record in the mile by 5 seconds. Some photos from the weekend:

Podcast i listened to this week, highly recommendable:

That’s it for this week, hopefully training picks back up again and next week i have more progress to report on

That’s right, another week of zero miles ran. However things are looking up. The pain i was feeling in everyday movements has basically gone. I can walk, cycle, exercise (core and upper body) completely fine and pain free, the only thing i can’t do is RUN, which is of course the one thing i would gladly swap all of them for.

#relevant

I did manage to watch a lot of races this week though, firstly Saturday at the surrey league cross country meet. I put my self forward to help volunteer/marshall which was fun, these events really can’t happen without the volunteers and you get to see another side of the event, would highly recommend, here are a few photos:

Well done to both fulham teams putting on a great showing and the mens team winning the meet!.

Next up is the nationals in Leeds, fingers crossed i can take part but if not it’ll still be a good social weekend

Trying to stay positive, i will be back running soon just have to stay patient. Keep doing what my physio has told me. Don’t do anything stupid and keep the fitness up with cycling, core work, strength work and daily stretching

I have also been trying to keep my golf swing together, we have an annual trip away to wales coming up soon and i need to perform well.

https://youtu.be/x4KC0nUmY4Y

If you want to be inspired what that link right there, i found out about justin gallegos around a year ago, his story is inspirational and i re-watch that clip every so often so stay motivated and reminds me to work hard at everything in life

Soleus, ‘ In humans and some other mammals, the soleus is a powerful muscle in the back part of the lower leg (the calf). It runs from just below the knee to the heel, and is involved in standing and walking. ‘

i have damaged my soleus muscle, had not heard of it before last week, but my physio thinks (probably correctly) i have damaged it.

Physio expects up to 4 weeks to recover, but i could be running before this, which would be nice, all i want to do is go and train, not because i have a marathon coming up, but because i enjoy it and miss the company.

She has given me some exercises to complete at home which will speed up the process and help strengthen the muscle, see diagram below:

I am still able to work out though, which is a huge positive. I can cycle, stretch, and do core and strength exercises. basically i can do everything except put high impact pressure on my legs (run). trying to be positive about the whole thing, i can still stay fit and hopefully it takes a maximum of a few more weeks.

So 0 runs done this week, and looks like that will continue for a while. However me and my GF and another friend did win the local pub quiz on Monday with a top prize of a Sunday roast for 2 + bottle of prosecco .

Being bad TV addicts we have obviously dived into Shipwrecked and watched every night which is going well #teamsharks.

‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’  – everyone ever, but first thing that came to my head was kelly clarkson.

‘Medals are won in training, you just pick them up on race day’ – someone on Instagram i can no longer find the original post

Injury update: non scientific description: lower leg muscle on the side of my leg above ankle but below knee is hurting when i flex my foot up or down. started being like this during the end of a long run and thereafter. ice pack went on last night woke up feeling the same. hopefully a few days of rest, ice, compression and elevation (R.I.C.E) will sort it out (please please please)

Training log for week 6 marathon plan:

Monday: rest

Tuesday: intervals, 4 x 1200m + 4 x 400m at 10k and 5k PB pace

Wednesday: 6km easy

Thursday: 60 mins easy

Friday: rest

Saturday: parkrun (5km in 21:10)

Sunday: 16 miles easy (5:35km’s)

A very good quote by Eliud Kipchoge (current marathon world record holder)

What happened this week in sport:

Naomi Osaka won her 2nd grand slam at the Australian open, djokovic won the mens event

There were a few upsets in the FA cup 4th round, Wimbledon beating west ham, Newport hold Middlesborough to a draw and Millwall beat Everton.

Justin rose won on the PGA tour extending his world number ranking further with Bryson dechambeau winning in Dubai by a huge margin on the euro tour.

Podcast of the week:

Hurricane tapes by BBC, the story of former boxer Rubin Carter charged with a murder he may or may not have committed, a fantastic listen.

Running Goals for 2019:

5k: get as close to or break 20:00 for 5k, Pb currently 20:42 so that’s quite a gap to cover but concentrated speed work after my marathon will help

10k: new Pb, Sub 45:00 would be a good aim, currently around mid 46 mins

HM: sub 1:45, currently 1:51 but yet to have a successful race

Marathon: finish Pairs, in a time beginning with a 3, hopefully something like 3:4X:XX