Mind over matter

Took Monday and Tuesday off completely, in order to give my various ailments time to recover. I was starting to worry that the wheels had come off my marathon hopes as this is the crucial time for getting in the mileage/quality really before the taper starts. On Wednesday I did 30 minutes easy and while the tendon was grand during, it was a little sore after. As a result I took Thursday off and had a physio appointment Friday morning. By now I had pretty much said to myself the marathon was a non runner. I even started planning my track season (well googling race dates so I could plan my trips) to take my mind off it.
But towards the end of the massage the physio said something that surprised me - "Are you sure it's as bad as you say it is?" The reason she asked was, because she was able to work on it without causing too much discomfort. Hmm, could she have had a point? I remembered reading another runners blog who developed a problem at a similar point in training for a marathon (I won't mention his ailment in case he ever happened upon this blog, as it was quite a specific and unusual problem) and my immediate thought was that it was at least partly psychological. You get so far in training and everything is looking good, but the fear of failure makes you subconsciously seek an out.
As if by chance I was listening to a marathon talk podcast that afternoon and an interview with a runner who was racing across America. He mentioned how he'd go from one injury to the next and that one of the other competitors told him that running is able to fix most of the problems it causes (a bit like alcohol!) I took this as a sign & also remember that my Achilles managed to right itself not through rest, but by running sensibly (i.e. no killer sessions) and it'll go away of it's own accord.
So with that in mind I decided to HTFU and went out for 5 miles friday evening. I had bought a support but after a mile I realised it was the wrong size and was aggravating the problem but once I took it off I was fine. Managed 8 miles on Saturday, after about 5 felt a pinch in the tendon but once I slowed down it was ok again, it came at me again towards the end so slowed to a crawl.
So with today being 4 weeks to Limerick I had a decision to make, was I going to keep the dream alive? If so there was no doubt in my mind that I simply had to do a long run. I would prefer to quit here than hit the wall at mile 20 due to lack of preparation.
So I got up early and hit the road, into the unknown. I consoled myself in that if I had to turn back I'd be able to see Bekele's marathon debut in Paris.
Of course when I say unknown I'm talking about my body, I had driven a route near my house during the week (just in case) A hillyish 8.5mile loop http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/385461518 with 95m of ascent. This would give me an out if required. The forecast had been for about 3 degrees and light wind but it was foggy, wet and a bit breezy. It was strange but I wasn't overly concerned with would I survive the distance from a stamina point of view and was totally focused on the legs. First few miles went grand, pace was quite fast, around 6.45min/mile but had the breeze with me and a lot of downhill. HR was low 140's which was grand. Typically the hilliest part was directly into the wind but just went steady up it, leg was fine thankfully. On the road back in I started motoring for a bit and the pace dropped as low as 6.41 but was back to 6.46 by the time I was back at the house. Everything was still hunky dory, passed 10miles not a bother with pace still at 6.46. Breeze had picked up a bit. When I got to 15 feeling fine I was thinking how far should I go. As my longest run in time was 2.30 I decided I would do whichever came first of the following:
1. Exhaustion
2. 2hrs45min
3. 24 miles
Still felt grand as the miles passed on, although my HR was creeping up to high 140's with the odd foray into the 150's. Got to 20 miles , pace hovering between 6.46,6.47, still grand. Around 22 miles it finally started to get tough and my pace dropped to 6.48. I decided to increase the effort ever so slightly just to know I could stay strong until the end. Finished off with the pace back at 6.47. Delighted to get through it and satisfied with how it went but won't get too carried away as I've almost had a 2 week taper leading into it. Still it was nice to get it in. The next thing is to see how I recover. I know I'm far from out of the woods, but at least I know I'm still in the game.
Weds: 4.2miles @ 7.39min/mile
Friday: 5miles @ 7.27min/mile
Saturday:8miles @ 7.18min/mile
Sunday: 24miles @ 6.47min/mile HR146bpm