Great Wall of China Marathon Blog Week 6-7
I’ve combined my last two weeks of training for the Great Wall of china marathon into one blog as tapering means less running (mini fist pump) which means I’ve not been such a busy bee. I’ve been pretty excited about tapering and less running, mainly as in my build up weeks I was getting really tired. So much so that I was starting to feel fatigued at work which is something I have never experienced before. Usually I can manage fine with training and still get through the day with plenty of energy. This has made me feel pretty guilty and selfish really. I always try and bring 100% commitment and energy to my work as I feel that reflects on my patients. Feeling like you may not be giving that is not a nice feeling however, my conference in Malaga was really inspiring and it gave me the boost I needed to keep on pushing through and giving as much energy as I can.
These last two weeks of tapering have given me a well needed rest before the race. I have still been running 3-4 times a week but with much less intensity however, I feel like I have replaced my running intensity with my eating intensity! I always like to use this time to basically stuff my face and eat much as I can. With the pretence of pre-race ‘energy fuelling’ when in reality I’m just being a greedy hungry hippo. But in all seriousness nutrition and fuelling for a race is just as important as the training. I have been craving a lot of sugar and sweet things which I usually don’t crave. It is my body’s way of telling me it’s starting to struggle a bit and needs more energy stores. I am trying really hard though to eat all the right things and fill up on protein and carbohydrates rather than giving into the sugar cravings. Sugar burns off really quickly so it is the protein and carbohydrate stores which will keep me going through the race.
I had a bit of a scare and set back at the end of week 6. I did my weekend run of 14 miles around Richmond on the Saturday and I could feel half way round that I was going to have pretty bad blisters as my toes were stinging. When I got home and took my trainers off both my little toes were in a bit of a bad state. I won’t gore you with the details but you can imagine the agony getting into the bath and trying to let them soak. To be honest though that isn’t new for me. I always get blisters on the underneath of my little toes, it’s obviously where I get friction in my shoes. However after years of running and blisters the skin there is pretty delicate now and wears quite quickly. Usually after a day of being a bit tender it doesn’t really bother me. So I was pretty shocked that on Monday when I went to go for my run I was still in a lot of discomfort. I got my sister to look at them straight away (She’s an awesome occupational therapist) and she gave me some bad news. I have grade 2 pressure sores caused from weeks upon weeks of running. She signed me off running for a few days to let the skin harden again. Even though I didn’t want to I took her advice.
Luckily after a few days I was okay and back running. I have taken it much easier this week, as going 27 weeks training and being injury free (touch wood – I don’t want to jinx myself) I don’t want to full at the last hurdle due to blisters! So I have vowed to look after myself better until race day, and try to practice what I preach a bit more. So I have had a check-up with the chiropractor and had a sports massage to prep all my muscles for the race.
So with all the hard work and prep done and with my bags packed and ready to go, all there is left do is that small thing of actually completing the race. So with over 1000m of climbing, 5,000 stairs and 42 kilometres…………I’ll let you know how it goes!