After yesterday's aborted attempt at 30k, which ended after about 6 as my legs just weren't co-operting, probably due to not hydrating enough the day before, I had an early night, lots of water and had another crack at it today.
Jumping Jehosophat it was hard work towards the end. Got to 24-ish, which was the limit of hw far I had run previously feeling fairly strong, but then I hit a wall (not literally, although given my track record I can see why you might think that) after that it was just willpower keeping me going. It was really grinidng slog. By the time I staggered through the door at home I was utterly spent. I felt as broken as I have ever felt after a run. Could barely stand up, calves shrieking, everything done in.
Again I think the problem was hydration. On previous long runs I have arranged to meet up with my family en route and swap out my water bottle, but that was not possible today which meant I only had 700ml of drink for a 3h 10min run, which was woefully insufficient. I have been experimenting with gels, much as I am not keen in them, and they only stimulate thirst more so I only ended up using two rather than the 6 or so i should have taken in that time.
But heyho. Its all a learning curve and that's what training runs are for, to iron out these problems before race day. of course during a race the hydration will not be an issue with water stations. Today I actually got to the point of considering drinking out of drainage ditches (i didn't - i am not that daft, esp after the Weil's incident).
Happily after drinking a great deal of water, scoffing some paracetamol, doing some agonising stretches and having some food I quickly bounced back from my ordeal, although it took me nearly an hour to summon eitehr the courage or the flexibility to remove my right sock, which had set hard by that point to my foot and had to be soaked off. I couldn't find any of my pairs of Injinji socks before i set off so just grabbed any old pair, which was a major mistake. Never change anything on race day is a rule that should also apply to new distance long runs, and I have learned that one the hard way as well.
I shall spare you a pic of what my toes look like, but the insoles of my running shoes give a fairly good indication.
Still, another milestone ticked off. 3/4 of the marathon distance under my belt (give or take 500m). The thought of doing another 12k at the end of it did not fill me with great enthusiasm, but there's another 6 weeks to go before then, and it' only 5 weeks ago I did my first post injury run, so dum spiro, spero.
p.s. Excellent tag as well.
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Rignold
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Well that's a post and a half, Rig! Sounds like you really went through the mill on these two runs. First off, well done on getting back out there after the first attempt didn't go too well; that in itself is exceptional.
It does sound like hydration and fuelling that could be at play here. The water situation at this time of year is a bit grim as it's just so warm, so that doesn't help. Yesterday I did a 21 miler, got through my 750ml bottle of water, five gels and 11 Nakd cocoa Bites (one on the mile, every mile, after mile ten) experimenting with race pace, and that was tough enough, with me feeling reasonably hydrated and fuelled, so no wonder you felt it a bit.
Don't worry mate, you've plenty of time yet and will get up to distance in good time, and you'll find it comes gradually; when you get toward the final couple of long runs you should feel more confident and ready for race day. Mine is in four weeks and it was only three weeks ago I felt horrified at mile 17 that I'd have to find another 9 from somewhere, but fast forward three weeks and I feel much more confident - as will you, so don't worry, and trust your training.
Ouch, that looks painful! Hope you're recovering nicely, mate! Take it easy and for God's sake avoid those socks in future. 🏃🏃👟
Cheers, Dude. I think the mental aspect of running new distances is not to be underestimated. Its all running into uncharted territory. Once you have done a distance, however grim it may have been, you know what to expect and can rationalise it.
Definitely, Rig, and as we know, a good part of running is actually psychological. I didn't find 21 miles too different from 20, or even 19 really, for some reason.
Wow. You've got some determination! That's some distance! Well done.
I once got home and the soles of my shoes looked like that. Ashamed to say it was caused by high heels on a long night out with alcohol dulling the pain 😕 Not quite the same sense of achievement
Take care of yourself and I hope the rest of the training goes well.
I can hardly bear to look at that ! Don't know HOW you managed to keep on going...so I suppose a HUGE well done is in order !
Strooth Rig, that's an epic run. And yes, isn't it just a bit too hot at the moment, still, despite having had almost no summer? Hope the foot and everything else is OK.
Well done Rig. I think it was the thought of that lemon meringue pie that kept you running . I'd run over hot coals for that!
You could put some epsom salts in your bath, or a bowl, and soak your feet. A marvellous thing to do when there's sommat good on telly. Take a kettle full of boiling water and plonk it down beside your bowl for top-ups. Turn off the phone. Enjoy
My husband laughs at me when I do this but then he peels off his socks and joins in. Don't forget the towel!
An argument in favour of lugging all the water you need with you would be that what it adds in pain/ discomfort (and I have been forced to discover that it makes a huge difference whether you run with even a small load or not, so I'm not pretending this would be pleasant) you will just gain in additional training. Or does this kind of balance out at those impossible distances you're talking about there just get too delicate for this to be an option?
OK, so then maybe another option. Drive the route, stopping to hide bottles of liquids periodically, so you can stop, pick up, and only have to carry the empties (which again is not a trivial change to your whole balance, I know). I suppose this is always going to be quite a big schlepp, so that might rule it out. And now I'm out of ideas.
I've just remembered that this is exactly what my younger brother does for long runs. I went for a drive with him once, looking for good hiding places for his water. (He's done a half marathon, and has been running for quite a few years now, but I don't think he has any ambition of running impossible distances. ).
Oh my word, Rig, your poor toes! Please be careful with them. Don't want your marathon dream wrecked by wrecked feet!
I have absolutely zero advice to give you about refuelling en route, but it sounds like you had a massive energy collapse. If you compare what Miles_Yonder eats during his long runs compared with your intake, it makes you think!
Really hope you're feeling better (or at least not too terrible) today xx
Ow. ow ow ow ouch. Congratulations on finishing the distance, Rig, that's amazing. Rest those feet. In the meantime, I'll give you a hand with eating those cakes.
I find posts from the more advanced members like yourself a great inspiration so thanks for posting that.
18km is the max for me at the moment. I don't feel bad after the run, but I don't feel like running again for a few days after. So I think I need to improve my endurance.
The water thing is very interesting. I've never taken water with me on a run, but I feel that at 18km I'm probably reaching the point where I ought to think about it if I want to go further. I thought about maybe my cycling camel back backpack. It has a tube running to the side of your face to suck from. The drawback ofcourse is the weight. I'll have to try it and see how it feels I don't fancy carrying anything in my hands during a run.
I'm way off even thinking about training for anything close to a marathon, that is way over the horizon for me. A half marathon though, ummmm, I think I could definately work towards that for next year and then the following year ..... who knows
So thanks for your inspiring post. I hope your feet recover quickly. The best of luck for your training, and for your race
If you are running 18km then you are ready for a HM now, distancewise.
Camelbak is a popular solution. I just don't like running with backpacks of any description. particularly if it is not going to be the same on race day.
"distancewise" is possibly right (in as much as if I was forced to run a HM then I could probably do it (if it wasnt too up and downy ! )) Head wise though, probably not. Although that will come in the end. More running = more confidence
I suspect that I may feel as you do about the backpack. It isnt quite the same on a bike as bouncing around when you are running I suppose. It would tell me if I was doing as Laura said and not bouncing up and down as I run ^^. That image she described of the man on the other side of the hedge bouncing up and down kind of stayed with me
I confess I only listened to Laura for two runs and then her execrable taste in music done me in, and I had to abandon her for a robotic talking voice, which was weirdly like jogging with Stephen Hawking.
I have type 1 diabetes so need to carry a sugar supply even on short runs. When I was doing HM's I needed to carry that at blood testing kit so I used a camelback and carried water too, and found it no problem, provided I had all the straps pulled tight including waistband. The only negative was listening to the sloshing of water making me feel like i needed to pee.
ummmmm thanks for sharing your experience. I'll have to give the camelbak a go. I was thinking, it doesnt have to be full, just enough for the run If the sloshing sound becomes a problem then I'll wear earplugs
Needing a pee isnt a huge problem for me as I run in the early morning along the bank of the river, although I don't very much like to stop.
For me its really a question of training how you run the race. If you train carrying water your should be able to run the race with it. Its one of the reasons I don't use gels. If you don't use them in training don't use them on race day.
I got a cheap one from supermarket to see how it went before buying the more expensive but better fitting/quality brand. Just to see if I liked it or would use it.
ummm that brings another question to mind. It's all very well for me saying peeing along the river bank at 6am isnt a problem.... but what about on race day, with loads of folk about. What do you do then when you need a pee ?
"its really a question of training how you run the race. If you train carrying water your should be able to run the race with it"
But that is the entire problem - on race day there are water stations every mile so there is no need to carry water with you. On training runs there are not, obviously, but once you start getting into 3-4 hour training runs you become seriously dehydrated if you don't take any water on board.
Similarly with gels. Under normal circumstances I avoid them like the plague and use dates, riceballs et for refuelling on longer recreational runs. I don't eat sugar at all in general in fact. However, for a marathon that I expect 4h30 to be optimistic, I have looked at the nutrition options and feels gels are a necessary evil, hence using them on training runs, to acclimatise my system to digesting them.
When I ran the marathon last month, I was so paranoid about hitting the wall that I ate and drank something at every station and also consumed a ton of Haribo I'd bought with me as well as drinking 500ml of Lucozade that I'd carried with me - that is waaay more than I would do on a 20 mile training run and I wonder if I did more harm than good.
In terms of refuelling during training runs, running around London it's easy enough for me to run into a shop and buy a bottle of Lucozade half-way round - presumably that's not as easy where you train?
Anyway, look after that foot and best of luck for the marathon - I'm sure you'll smash it.
Just looked up stadium pal, it looks even more uncomfortable than needing to pee. My experience of raceday was that I was that dehydrated from running I didnt need to pee, though lots of other runners diving up alleyways or into fields to do the needful.
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but a brilliant effort Rignold, i'm very impressed! 
If at first you dont succeed...
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If at first u don’t succeed....
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First half marathon completed 
