Countdown is on for the Victoria marathon

We have less than 1 month to go. 26 days today to be exact! Ready or not Victoria marathon, here we come!

Today I am still sore. Yesterday I was very sore. I'm recovering from Saturday's 30km training run with Jean-Louis. It took me around 2 hours 45 minutes of continuous running to reach that distance. After the run, Jean-Louis was all smiles and said that he felt great. Me? I think I hit the wall. I'm not certain but about 4-5km from the end, my left foot had a killer spasm and was throbbing with pain, my back ached, I was thirsty and had no energy, my muscles and joints were sore and I was running really slow. I kind of felt like dying. If that isn't hitting the wall, I don't know what is :(

 

I've had a spasm at the bottom of my left foot for a week already. It never really heals since I keep walking and running right on it. Obviously it hurts more after I finish a run. I was worried about it when we started our long run this weekend but it didn't really start to hurt until about the 15km mark. Then the pain just intensified from there. Yesterday I was limping most of the day. I bought a compression band to wrap around it since something is better than nothing. I read various sources online about how dehydration and lack of potassium can cause spasms and cramps. Oh yeah, I bought bananas yesterday for the extra potassium! But I did eat more bananas during the week so I'm not sure it's that. The weirdest remedy seems to be pickle juice, which Jean-Louis mentioned to me before. It seems that the vinegar in that helps, not so much the pickle. I haven't looked into it too much but it's just odd to drink pickle juice.

 

My body covered in salt after running. I sweat A LOT!

Yesterday I enjoyed a full day off. Hooray!!! Today I'm going to have to drag my poor spasm recovering foot out on a 10km run. Overall, I'm more sore than usual :( I'm pretty sure it's because I slacked a bit in training the past week, almost got sick with the common cold, and ate somewhat badly in the past two weeks. It really does make a difference in my performance and recovery. Sadly, this weekend's run was a bit of a wake-up call for me.

Last time I ran a marathon (my very first one) was 9 1/2 years ago. Jean-Louis and I both did it. We trained by running races every weekend. I'm not sure if it's because I was much younger or not but I trained and raced without any particular problems. I didn't even get a single blister. I had a bit of a sore knee and had to wear a knee brace as a precaution during the race but that was all. It was kind of a breeze. Now many years later and after becoming a mom, I find that I'm sort of starting over again. This time I'm experiencing many problems common to new runners. Stuff I never knew about! I just can't believe it. Here is what I have encountered (so far - gasp):

1. Chafing everywhere! Under my arms from rubbing against my fat or clothing. In between my legs from rubbing there and other places I would rather not mention but also due to rubbing of clothing. I didn't buy new clothes to wear but all of a sudden I have problems. What the heck?! Okay so I'm at least 20 lbs heavier now than I was 9 1/2 years ago. Solution: Apply Vaseline in all areas that get rubbed during running. This works like a charm :)
2. Blisters from wearing cotton socks in hot weather and sweating profusely in them. Solution: No more cotton socks for me!
3. Black bruised toe:( This one was a killer. It started about 3 months ago(?) My toe was getting bruised more and more after each long run. It hurt so much I thought it was broken at one point. There was blood underneath the nail and the whole toe was red. It wasn't even my longest toe being affected either. I have worn my shoes for the past 3 or 4 years with no problems until suddenly. What the heck?! Then I started googling and it scared the bejesus out of me. Did you know that there are people who run often that lose nails all the time? Someone claimed they only had 6 toe nails left. It's only a matter of time before my toe nail falls off. I can see the new one growing underneath already! TMI? Solution: I bought new shoes 2 weeks ago! I specifically looked for the best running shoes for long distance running. No more black toes for me! I'm soooo happy :)
4. Ongoing foot spasm, as mentioned above. I'm still waiting for this to go away! Please go away. Solution: Compression band during rest, potassium, pickle juice???
5. Back ache. This has only happened lately on the long runs. I think I hunch forward a bit running when I'm super tired. Yeah, I'm going to have to work on good posture to correct this one. Solution: Focus on good posture?

I sure hope that is the end of it. OMG. Now that the 30km run is over with, we're dropping our distances. They say runners should run at least a 20 miler (32+ km) during marathon training but 30km is good enough for us :) With just 26 days left in training, we don't want to risk injury either. Next weekend, I want us to do a 10km mountain run. It's going to be a killer pushing the jogging stroller up a mountain. Luckily Jean-Louis is better uphill and since I suck maybe we'll actually get to run side by side. Lol. When the weather cools down even more the next few weeks, we're probably going to start stressing about getting sick. I almost got sick this past week since Tristan was sick. Jean-Louis did get sick around mid week and his nose is still running today! But he still kicked my butt during our run! He's at the top of his game. Yay for him :)