Everything was going so well

Well, the last time I wrote anything about my training was some time ago. Since then it's been a roller coaster of a summer with building works at my house, work being busy  and somehow squeezing in a fair amount of training.

Thing's hadn't started so well back in the early summer but during August and September things started to flow really well. The past few weeks I have been averaging solid mileage for me and consistently hitting good speed sessions whilst being able to recover day to day from the increasing work load.

I certainly have felt that I was on the verge of another breakthrough with my upcoming marathon. A new PB was something that looked more and more achievable with every week that passed. On Saturday last week I had scheduled a 5km or 10km time trial. I chose to do the 5km, During the previous week I had picked up a niggle that I monitored coming off some fast downhill runs but it didn't turn into anything major.

The target was to hit around 20:10-20:30 at 95% effort. This is a good workout to do prior to the marathon to see whether I am lacking in speed or stamina. Maybe with 7 days to go this is more like a tune up.

The top of this range was about 45 seconds faster than my 5km PB but then again I don't really race over this distance. I warmed up with a good 3 miles before getting into the 5km. The sudden change in pace to around 6:30 was a little uncomfortable and I almost wanted to jack it in after the first mile.

Well it was definitely a good workout and I absolutely ran it the way I wanted to. The splits for the 5km were 6:29, 6:33, 6:32 and 41 seconds for the last bit. I ended up with 20:15 for the 5km. I slowed down to catch my breath and I really was puffing hard but I wasn't completely spent so that was good. It was during the cool down phase I noticed the top of my calf was a little sore.

I hadn't noticed it at all during this run and it didn't hurt as such yet. When I got home I got cleaned up and had a good lunch. It was then the pain hit me. My calf was immediately sore. What the hell had I done!! Then I remembered that I had a niggle in my calf during the week, it was entirely possible that this had manifested into something a little more serious. I soaked my calf and put on compression socks for the day.

The next day the legs didn't feel tired but the right calf felt painful. I could feel a nice lump of pain in the back of my calf about 2-3 inches down from the knee. Over the past 4-5 days I have self-massaged, had cold soaks and foam rolling. The problem still persists and it's firmly in my shin now.

This is making walking quite difficult at the moment and yet any physio I have spoken to says that I will need to wait at least a week to be seen! That is ridiculous and it's making me feel somewhat pissed off.

This weekend it is the Chelmsford marathon and I have had to withdraw due to the reasons above. I feel pretty gutted to have picked up a niggle that turned into a full blown problem the week before it. Alas there is nothing I can do except get myself sorted out as quickly as possible before looking at slowly coming back.

That means of course I need to get to see the physio. Time to start dialling buttons and not give up without an appointment booked ASAP.