MT CHARLESTON MARATHON 06/04/24

My next minor injury is in January, it is along the top of my left foot rather than the bottom last summer. I am worried it is a stress fracture of a metatarsal but my physio Daniel assures me it is just a strain of a muscle in between the metatarsal bones. It doesn't stop me running but needs careful management and persists for a while. By this time I've done six weeks of base training with decent mileage, and I've started on the next six weeks introducing regular tempo runs.

Training goes well and I'm taking a different approach, running by feel and listening to my body rather than following a prescribed plan. I still get in the usual mix of long runs, tempo runs and intervals. For the six week block I complete sixty to seventy miles a week with no injuries. Then two weeks out from the marathon, yet agin the chest infection strikes. It isn't as bad as previous episodes which have wrecked marathons. The coughing is mainly at night and is gone in four or five days. I'm able to start running again on the Thursday, my chest is still tight at the weekend but I have one more week to race day. For the second year in a row, I'm running the Mt Charleston Marathon in Nevada, starting in the mountains above Las Vegas and I've done another month of altitude training at The Altitude Centre in Central London, running and biking in thechamber and doing regular hour long sessions in the POD with a mask on, following their hypoxic training of five minutes at simulated high altitude followed by five minutes recovery. This cyclic approach is supposed to get the best results in terms of adaptation and incresed red blood cell count. Wearing a depressurised mask isn't quite the same as being at the top of the mountain but the benefits for the body are similar.

By the time I fly out and get to the starting line, the chest infection isn't completely gone. I have lots of breathing problems in the first half with the altitude. I've tweaked my pre race nutrition but it hasn't worked. Two portaloo stops, one in each half, cost me about 16 mins. I'm way off pace but I am pleased to maintain a good gritty controlled effort in the last 8 miles. All in all, I have made no progress. I'm five minutes slower than last year with 4.42.54.