Three races and a niggle

Hello everyone,

It's been a while since my last post and quite a lot has happened.... Here's a bit of an update on what has happened since the last one.

Race number one - The Marathon Debut

First things first, Frankfurt went amazingly well - better than I could have hoped for. I finished with so much left in the tank and never really hit the dreaded 'wall' so I'm confident there is a lot more to come. 

I won't go into detail about the Frankfurt race here, except to say that I finished in 2:43:58, smashing my target. If you want to read more about the race, I'll direct you to an interview I did for The Running Bug.

So, the next logical target for me was always going to be the London Marathon. I have dreamed of winning this race since I was little so when my coach, Nick Anderson, decided it was on the plan I was more than a little excited. The aim is sub 2:40. A tall order but one which, after Frankfurt, I feel is within my grasp...

The big build up

So began another period of marathon miles. I thrive off of long runs, long tempos and marathon pace work so I couldn't wait. Up until Christmas, I steadily built back up my running but was hindered, somewhat, by the usual winter bugs and yet more niggles. Stress also took it's toll as I commuted into London from Essex for work everyday whilst in the messy process of buying a house.

Race number two - The Mud Bath

Post Christmas, I finally seemed to be getting somewhere. My first target race was in February, the Wokingham Half. However, this was unfortunately cancelled due to flooding. 

Somehow (don't ask), I ended up making a rare cross country outing. It was meant to be a 5k park run but circumstances meant I had to look for another short (ish) race to replace it. 

So, I donned my trail shoes and lined up on the start line of the Surrey League. I probably found more water hear than I ever could in Wokingham and, being unable to wear spikes since my surgery, I did find it tough going. However, I was satisfied to finish 2nd to an olympian (at the triathlon, but still...). 

The niggle

Unfortunately, I felt a pain in my foot during the race and this was the start of the niggle that is still bothering me now. I've been training with it after the diagnosis of a strained big toe tendon in my foot by my very experienced physio, Mark Buckingham. However, it is hampering my speedier running.

Race number three - The one that didn't go to plan

So last weekend, I ran the Reading Half Marathon. I struggle to remember a race where I have felt this bad. My legs felt like concrete from 200m and I ran about 1-2 minutes slower than i'd hoped, finishing in 78:38. 

The time wasn't appalling given the conditions. If I had ran that feeling like myself I probably wouldn't have thought it was a disaster. However, something felt wrong. The level of fatigue I experienced didn't feel like a lack of fitness as I never ran out of steam. I never got going!

After the race, the usual dissection began and I came up with some ideas as to why I felt so bad. I had been ill in the week, which could have had an impact and life/ work stress probably played a part. However, the heavy legs were likely to due to the marathon miles and lack of faster work, which meant that the pace I was trying to run felt fast for me. 

Crunch time

So i've quickly brought you up to date. Now the final 6 weeks of marathon training has begun. The niggle is still bothering me but I'm doing all I can to control it and i'm jetting out to Portugal next week to put the finishing touches on my marathon training.

I WILL be bringing you more frequent updates in these final six weeks....

In other news (on which, I plan to write a separate blog), I met one of my favourite runners of all time, thanks to Adidas UK and The Running Bug.

Here's me and my (almost) namesake, Haile...so much respect for this dude.

Follow me on twitter @HayleyJane4 and please ask me any questions about my training in my Ask the Expert column on The Running Bug site.