COMRADES MARATHON 2008 WEEKS 16-17: The valley of the shadow of death

"There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere
and many of us will have to walk through
the valley of the shadow of death again and again
before we reach the mountaintop of our desires"
Nelson Mandela

These 2 weeks have reached desperation status. It has involved making a decision as to whether I can run Comrades or not. I have consulted 2 different physios and had had differing opinions. I have a lower back, pelvic, hip area tightness with poor muscle balance that has resulted in a hamstring strain and neural symptoms. At least it is now recovering and I can move forward.
The training is very light and easy, with a focus on working on my weaknesses and instability. It has meant my goals have had to be revised from a silver medal and a target of 9 hours; to simply finishing within the 12 hour cut off and getting a finishers medal.
Game on...

Training for week Mon 24 Dec - Sun 30 Dec
Mon 24 Dec	4km
Tues 25 Dec
Wed 26 Dec	4km
Thurs 27 Dec	6km
Fri 28 Dec
Sat 29 Dec	10km
Sun 30 Dec
Weekly mileage	24 km

"A champion gets up one more time
than he gets knocked down"

COMRADES MARATHON 2008 WEEK 15: The road to recovery

"The will to win means nothing
if you haven’t the will to prepare"
Juma Ikangaa, 1989 New York marathon winner

This week started off with a good session on monday and a pretty sore leg on tuesday morning, so this week has focused on trying to get my leg right for the tough stuff still to come.
I have focused on my patellofemoral joint and eccentric strengthening of my hamstring which resulted in it feeling much better. The test will come as I start running on it again next week

Training for week Mon 10 Dec - Sun 16 Dec
Mon 10 Dec	7km, 1 hour total trainer
Tues 11 Dec	2km
Wed 12 Dec
Thurs 13 Dec	2 hours total trainer
Fri 14 Dec	40' cycle
Sat 15 Dec
Sun 16 Dec
Weekly mileage	9km

"Always measure an obstacle next to
the size of the dream you're pursuing"
John C Maxwell

COMRADES MARATHON 2008 WEEK 14: Back to basics

"Do not let what you cannot do
interfere with what you can do"
Former UCLA coach, John Wooden

After 3 slack weeks it was time to get back into it. The circumstances were made more difficult by the fact I was away in Sydney. It meant I didn't have as much equipment to cross train with so it was back into the running. After feeling pretty sore I had managed almost 50km by wednesday but my leg was starting to get sore again. Back home by friday I haven't gotten back into the routine. I think I have hopefully diagnosed my hamstring problem as referred pain from my patellofemoral joint, so I am hopeful this will lead to a resolution soon.
Meanwhile my Garmin GPS unit has died. The battery is not working unless it is on the charger. Still these obstacles are only meant to make us stronger. It is certainly a useful and awesome training tool so I have to get that sorted.
My goals have taken some adjusting and the next aim is to get some solid training in for the rest of December and build my base back to what it was before taking things to a new level come the start of 2008. Let's do it...

Training for week Mon 3 Dec - Sun 9 Dec
Mon 3 Dec	10km in morning, 11km in evening
Tues 4 Dec	12km
Wed 5 Dec	16km
Thurs 6 Dec
Fri 7 Dec
Sat 8 Dec
Sun 9 Dec	90min walk
Weekly mileage	49km

"It’s not whether you get knocked down…
it’s whether you get up"
Justin Herald

COMRADES MARATHON 2008 WEEKS 11-13: The challenge intensifies...

"Defeat does not finish a man – quitting does.
A man is not finished when he is defeated.
He is finished when he quits"
Justin Herald

Sorry for the lack of updates. This period has been extremely tough. It began with the pain/tightness I started to experience through my left hamstring. Not a crippling or overly intense pain, but more of a nagging feeling that doesn't allow me to straighten my leg properly. In this period the mind games have been the hardest to overcome and I haven't coped particiularly well through it all.
Mentally it has been a huge challenge. One can't simply push through it. The support around me has been fantastic and motivated me faster than I could otherwise do on my own.
Unfortunately my training has stopped and the progress halted and in reverse. Still as I search for positives I can only think that I have just over 6 months of hard training to go so if ever a break can be had, it is now

"You're not obligated to win.
You're obligated to keep trying to do
the best you can every day"
Marian Wright Edelman