Weekly summary - 3 weeks to go

If I hadn't mentioned, I'm doing the Isle of Wight marathon in 3 weeks time. This makes for a frustrating few weeks of training: I can't back off too much, but at the same time I need to ensure I recover properly. I have to try to get the balance right.

My legs have felt the worst they've ever done after a marathon. I did no running for 7 days after Boston. I had a good deep massage last Monday, which tackled many of the tight muscles, and did wonders for my sore adductor, but on my return to running on Tuesday I was still concerned about how tight my adductor was. This continued through the week, but I stretched, iced and heated, stretched, iced and heated, hoping to ease the muscle. I took our club handicap race steady on Thursday - I finished last - but even so I got a big twinge. I was concerned but didn't seem to have done any harm, although my leg felt weird on Friday.

Another feature of this week is how noticably slow I've been running. At the start of the week I was maybe a minute/mile slower for a given heart rate. This seems to be getting better though. Hopefully I'll get my full pace back before the Isle of Wight Marathon.

Today I did 9.5 miles and it's the first run where I wasn't constantly aware of the tightness in the adductor. To be honest it may have all settled down when I discovered I was doing the wrong stretch. The bent leg stretch (yoga sitting, pressing knees apart) was tight and painful, but it wasn't till I did the straight leg stretch (standing, leg out to side, touch floor) that it all seemed to settle. Then again, time could be the healer and I'm completely wrong about the stretches.

Ah the paranoia of the runner!

Onwards to the Isle of Wight. I'm not going for a time, but I am going to run it to the best of my ability. It's the Hampshire championships and I fancy trying for a medal - fingers crossed!

Monday	Rest		Massage p.m.
Tuesday	7.8 miles	Easy club run	Adductor tight, quads ached towards the end
Wednesday	4.5 miles	Easy run	Adductor tight, quads a little better
Thursday	4.7 miles	Steady run: the club short handicap race	Got a big twinge in the adductor - concerned!
Friday	5 miles	Easy pace	Adductor tight and tingled towards the end of run
Saturday	4.8 miles	Easy run	Adductor less tight
Sunday	9.5 miles	Easy run	Still aware that leg isn't 100%, but much better and pace returning to normal at usual HR
Total	35.3 miles