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Pre half marathon injuries

[Deleted User][Deleted User]
in Health + Injury

Hey All,

I'm set to run my first half marathon (Reading) on the 17th March. At the time of writing that's one week away.

My training has been very erratic for the last few months with various aches along the way but I've kept to schedule as best I can. At the beginning of this week I ran 9 miles (the most I've done to date) and felt very good despite a bit of soreness. Now I'm struggling again with pain in my left calf and right foot / heel.

I don't want to push it, cause more grief and potentially stop myself from being able to run next week but nor do I want to stop the training entirely in case that has a negative effect. I suppose my real question is; If I rested all of next week, will that give me the best chance of completing the half? On the day I will be fine to run past the pain barrier and deal with the concequences afterwards, just as long as I can make it to that point.

Any advice would be very welcome!

Cheers,
Tom

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Comments

  • RicFRicF ✭✭✭

    Hi Tom

    I've attempted a half marathon while carrying an injury and pain barriers aren't really an issue.

    If the injury really 'lets go' during the race, it will stop you wether you like it or not.

    In my own case, I too felt good which was due to all the rest I'd had but at 6 miles the injury decided enough was enough and reacted by sending my whole leg into spasms.

    Ride back to the finish in the ambulance.

    🙂

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  • Also-ranAlso-ran ✭✭✭
    Training during this coming week will have little effect on your performance at the weekend. Rest for a few days and do some light running later in the week to see where you stand. Before then do what you can to help recovery, wether it's icing any inflammation, stretching, massage, cross training etc



    I was in the same position this time last year, running my first half. Picked up a calf strain and spent the week wondering if I would make it to Reading
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  • [Deleted User][Deleted User]

    Thanks for the pointers guys!

    Ric; I don't feel either injury is bad enough to warrant being that concerned, only if they got worse it could definitely be an impediment. Duly noted though, I'll have to see how I feel on the day.

     

    Also-ran; I figured this week wouldn't mean much in the grand scheme of things. I'd definitely rather be safe than sorry by seeing whether I can run and if I don't feel comfortable, leaving it for the big one. I will certainly look into what I can do to aid things.

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  • [Deleted User][Deleted User]

    Help…….

    I am 7-weeks out from the London Marathon and just approaching my 20 – 22m weekly long runs. I can complete 16 – 18m without too much trouble. 3 days ago I strained my calf and cant run on it (probably for 3-weeks). I was upto 60m a week with a mixture of tempo and distance.

    I am concerned that missing this 3-week period will set me back. I can bike without any discomfort and have had a couple of sessions over the last two days (2 x 50K)

    I am targetting sub 3hrs but I am borderline as to whether I can acheaive the time (with a full training schedule) hence the 3-week lay off from running has really got me concerned.

    Any advice whether the 3-week layoff will be too much ? or if I ramped the bike could I substutute the long or tempo runs in some way ?

    I have run Marathons before so completing the event is not the issue it is down to the time I want to run.

    I am 41 and never had calf issues before, I am having treatment for the strain.

    Any advice would be great.

    Andy

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