Hello, and other things

First of all, new to the forum and hope that this thread is OK in the "general" section, as I've a few questions, and also looking for a bit of moral support image

I sprained my ankle this year (back in February... February 14th, worst day ever) which completely put me out for many months. In July I started running again (commuting from work - 4.5 miles) only once a week. I signed up to a half marathon end of September thinking that would be plenty of time to get trained up again. I'm now very worried it's not!! I'm doing approximately 4.5 miles every run, about 3 times a week. My ankle is not bothering me at all, but I'm finding it hard to up the distance "just in case". I'm going to try this afternoon to get 6 miles in. Either way, I'm very worried about injury on race day!

Secondly, this is an actual question(!) I have done 200 miles on my current running shoes (Nike Citius 4s) which on the whole I've been happy with, but they'll be coming up to 300 miles when it comes to race day. I'm a fairly light runner, but given recent injury, I'm wondering whether it'd be a good idea to pick up a new pair  soon to break them in before end of September to err on the side of caution. Any thoughts?

Either way, hello and hope everyone's doing well image

 

Comments

  • Standard "average" given for a pair of shoes is about 500 miles. I've had some well over that, some about 400. Generally you start to feel a few little niggles as they approach the end of their life. As you are light I wouold expect them to be absolutely fine for well after the race, however you don't lose anything by getting another par earlier and alternating them with your current pair. Some people say this means they can get more mileage out of them as they have time for the foam to "rest" between runs - I've not really noticed a difference, but I wish it worked with legs!!!!

    I think I'd want to have run well over 4.5 miles before race day. I have done a half off virtually no running at all - 7 miles in the previous 11 weeks, and not that much before then. I got round, but it was really rather painful. Don't go mad, I'd try and get a 6 in in the next few days. Do the 4.5s next week, and try to get a 7 or 8 in next weekend. Either repeat that the following week or possibly get a 9 in. Don't do any more than one longer run a week. I've lost track of the weeks, but ease of in the fortnight before the race - just do the 4.5s.

    You will not be ideally prepared, but if you've got a couple of 8 or 9ers in your legs you can be pretty confident you'll get round so long as you just take it steady on race day.

    As for your ankle - it's not causing you any problems at the moment. Try it. If it flares up, STOP, don't make it worse. there are other races to do when you are properly fit.

  • djwolfdjwolf ✭✭✭

    Hi Plank,

    As you increase your milage, you may find it advantageous to invest in a second pair of trainers, and rotate them, giving them chance to recover, thus getting extra miles out of them.

  • Thanks both for your comments. I think I will buy a new pair and rotate them as you suggested. Can't do any harm I suppose!

    Exiled Claret, thanks for the tips on distance increase, what you suggested is pretty much what I had in mind. I'm not looking to sprint round the course, I just want to get round to increase my confidence more than anything else, seeing as this will be first race since the injury. Not looking to break any recordsimage

    My run yesterday afternoon went very well, so next week I'm going to be looking at a 7 miler next week. 

    Onwards and upwards

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