Marathon training: Week 2 – The leg is ok

This week was good, definitely good. Despite having to skip one Crossfit session due to that left leg of mine:

• Monday: Rest
• Tuesday: Crossfit
• Wednesday: 18.13km at 5:51 pace; Bikram yoga
• Thursday: Rest
• Friday: Crossfit
• Saturday: 15.17km run at 5:47 pace
• Sunday: Bouldering; 10km run at 5:02 pace

Total: 43.3km

My left leg felt really sore after Wednesdays run so I skipped Crossfit and headed over to see a GP on Thursday. Unfortunately I got the GP who’s lectured me before about how bad running is for you and sure enough – I got another lecture. He told me how bad running is for your heart and joints and how my risk of arthritis is increasing by like 500% by being a runner, etc. I listened and nodded and told him that running is good for my mental health and that I will keep doing it.

I got a referral to a sports/rheumatology doctor for this Friday so we’ll see whether that’s another lecture or whether I’ll hear something a bit more sensible.

Wednesday and Thursday nights I stretched my quads, ITBs and calves a lot and by Friday my leg felt pretty good. I did Crossfit in the morning and still felt fine. I kept stretching at least 30 minutes every day and weekend’s runs felt very nice.

I am more and more convinced that it’s not a knee issue and doesn’t require an MRI, but that it’s a tight ITB/quads issue – these muscles are very tight and therefore the ‘pulling’ or tightness feeling at the back of my leg when I try to kneel or get up after sitting down for too long.

Because of this leg issue I’m going to be increasing the long run’s distance very slowly. Part of me is itching to do runs over 20km on a weekly basis already but part of me also knows that marathon training is a long journey and people often get injured in the 3rd of 4th week of training because they’ve increased their mileage too quickly.