Written by Babs Pinheiro
As I type this, we're less than 19 days away from the big day and I'm currently icing my Achilles tendon. I would love to say that things have come leaps and bounds since the last blog but they haven't, really. I've reduced my running over the last week to about 15k (of the expected 50 or 60k) to allow the tendon to recover while not fully stopping the running.
It's odd to be sitting on my couch and wondering what my marathon is going to be like on 27th April. Normally, by this point, I'd be so tired after a mammoth 20 miler run the day before, as my last proper long run, and settling into Taper Town but I guess I've been tapering over the last few weeks already.
So, instead, I'm keeping calm, cool and somehow collected while trying to keep the end goal in my sights. Initially, my goal was to try to do the London Marathon in under 4 hours but, now, that's no longer my A goal. I don't know yet what I'll aim for (besides finishing the race in one piece) but the sub-4 hour marathon will be a challenge for a different day!
Since my first marathon wasn't that long ago - less than 2 years, to be more precise - I still remember thinking to myself how I was going to keep sane during a marathon. One of the things that I've always carried with me from my days as a rower was the spirit of competition. When I rowed, I competed against other crews or boats and I applied racing strategies, things to focus on between landmarks or sections of the course, especially for boat races (like you have for Oxford v Cambridge) where we raced for 6.8km. As the Edinburgh Marathon approached, I started to wonder if I could transfer that skill over to marathon racing since it's a very long way. Could I break the course down without the landmarks, how could I do it, what would it look like? I had worked out strategies to keep my brain focused on something else besides the pain for the half-marathons I'd done (sometimes it worked, others it didn't) but, going into Edinburgh Marathon, I had to come up with something else.
I decided to enlist the help of friends and reached out to a few friends, some runners, others "civilians" to ask them to tell me something that I could focus on for a couple of miles at a time. Some of their suggestions stuck with me to this day and I use them for most races, even if the distances are shorter.
Here are my favourite:
* Count how many dogs you can see for 2 miles - I didn't and don't really count but I can tell you that I always keep a lookout for dogs when I'm running and not just to ensure that they don't cross my path. You can imagine me running around going "dog, cute dog, oh another dog" as I pass different good boys and girls.
* Sing Hotel California in your head for another 2 miles - obviously my friend knew 2 things about me: 1. Hotel California is my favourite song and I got to listen to the Eagles sing it live at British Summer Time a few years ago and 2. My singing is best kept in my head.
* Keep checking in with your body, what are your ears hearing, what is your skin feeling, what are your feet feeling when hitting the pavement and so on for 2 miles. It's a good reminder to keep relaxed and loose.
There are others but those are my favourite.
It's wild to think that the next time I write a blog post we'll be mere days away from running the ICONIC LONDON MARATHON and just after Easter. But I'll leave all the excitement to that post! Instead, I'll just tell you that I'm going to be sensible and keep working on improving the health of my Achilles heel so that I can have the best race possible and see as many of you as possible at Mile 23!