I loaded up the ipod with a couple of Marathon Talk podcasts and a running playlist that Sarah has been promising to set up for me for months. I decided to give the orthotics their first long run outing to see how they went and took 3 SIS gels with me for good measure. The plan was to run just as instructed - a slow 18 miles (around the 10 min/mile pace). I'd been feeling a little stiff all week so it seemed like a sensible plan. As usual it took me a little while to get going - speaking to Maria last week and she reckons it takes her a few miles before she feels comfortable too. It was the same route I normally take, with the long slow uphill slog from 2 to 8 miles, but once I'd got to the top I actually felt quite comfortable and had been averaging 9:53 even though it was uphill. So with the downhill stretch ahead of me, I decided to up the pace to the intended marathon pace of 9:10 for the next 5 miles. I managed to pull out 8:55, 9:05, 8:50, 9:09, 9:08 which was brill and averaged out to 8:59..... Nice :) .
For the last 5 miles I managed to average 9:58 and overall for the full 18 miles the average was 9:40 so pleased to say it was another good long run :D
The podcast was interesting and interviewed Kathrine Switzer who was the first lady to run the Boston Marathon in 1967 but whom they actually tried to pull up and stop her running it, as it wasn't thought to be the done thing for women to run marathons ;o) . She actually continued to run the full marathon but had her result voided. She subsequently played a big part in promoting women's running culminating in the inclusion of the women's marathon in the Olympics. A very inspirational woman! I had a chuckle to myself after the podcast had finished when Sarah's running playlist unexpectedly kicked in very loudly with Beth Ditto and the Gossip's "Standing in the way of Control" . Quite a contrast, but quite a good beat to run with :)
Tummy was absolutely great today thankfully. I could feel the orthotics on the arch for the first couple of miles, but then that feeling went and they generally felt pretty comfortable. Unfortunately, come 7 miles I was getting the old metatarsal discomfort coming back again. The orthotics have definitely improved the foot pain and I'm sure will do the job for London, it's bearable, but I might also consider wearing the pads I made previously. The orthotics have obviously not solved the problem completely and so I think it may well be a case of experimenting with stability shoes and/or prescription orthotics once this race is over with. Incidentally my friend Ian went to see a podiatrist this week with similar symptoms to me and it turns out he has the same problem, but unfortunately he has a week less than me to sort his orthotics/shoes out.
Another problem that has cropped up over the last couple of weeks is chaffing from my running bra on the sternum (too much information I know for the guys that might be reading this I'm sure) but that's obviously down to the lbs I've put on in the last 6 months, so have remeasured myself and it looks like I need to up (and down) my bra size to cope with the growing me :(
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