Despite an injury I developed after my half marathon race two weeks ago, I’m going to run a marathon next Sunday. I already know what went wrong (lack of specific strength), and how to prevent it next time—I need to do the supplementary exercises I used to do, like hops and jumps, and running up a stair, several steps at a time, besides the usual exercises like crunches, planks, lunges and push-ups.
So, in order to not stress my body too much, I lowered my expectations for the upcoming marathon race, by starting at a 4:30 hours pace (6:20 min/km, 10:11 min/mi), and perhaps speeding up after the 35 km mark. It’s a sound strategy, provided the injury is cured (enough). I replaced running by bicycling a week ago.
I suppose I’m (re)learning by making mistakes. I really can’t fault myself, because the trainer I’m paying my track & field club for has never materialized. There’s someone, but he’s only interested in faster runners at shorter distances (3 to 10 km). Maybe I should hire a coach, though that’s rather costly, even an online coach or an app like Runna. Doing it all yourself is unnecessarily hard.
🏃♂️👈42.2 km👉🏃♂️➡️