Breaking the barrier

Or barriers!
1) Sub-two-hour half marathon - Brighton in 1 hour 57 min 45 sec
2) 23km run - my longest ever by 2km, and longest training run by 7km
...all within 7 days of each other. No wonder my legs feel as heavy as cement pylons.

Surprisingly enough, my legs actually do feel much better today than they did this time last week after Brighton, and that's without a massage, so I guess something is going right.

Brighton gave me a lot of confidence as I definitely felt I could have kept going at the end, which obviously bodes well for the full distance.  Hobbled around all day Monday then had the most painful massage ever on Monday evening, my right groin/hip and left quad causing me to leap two metres in the air at the lightest touch.

My hip and groin were still very sore on Tuesday so was glad to be going to the physio. I left the appointment slightly dubious that merely some acupuncture, sticky tape and hip manipulation could solve my problems, but it appears to be a miracle cure as I am virtually pain free.  Steve the physio used to work for Fulham FC so apparently he knows his flat feet and twisted pelvises. 

After really struggling to get through the mid-week runs after the half marathon, I was dreading the 23km on Saturday but it actually went ok.  With a few more massages booked in lets see if I can get through the next five weeks of backing up the long weekend runs.  8 weeks to go!

Training report
Sunday 17th February
Brighton Half Marathon - although cold to start, the sun was out and a glorious day to run along the sea.  In the sun it was actually really warm and I thought at one point I might be getting sunburnt! Didn't turn out so, but I was really happy with my race and finally cracked my elusive 2 hours. I think I could have gone faster but was just trying to keep to the 9 min/miles so as not to kill myself.

Tuesday 19th February
8.2km run home from work - horrible, slow, everything hurt, legs weighed one tonne each - grim! Was really unsure how I was ever going to back up from any of my long runs after that one.

Thursday and Friday 21st and 22nd February
2 x 8.2km run into work - not bad and legs getting looser, the groin and hip were not painful at all so the physio has definitely worked.  SO cold though with "feels like" temperatures of minus 3 and minus 7, bitter bitter wind that just cuts straight through you especially crossing the Thames!

Saturday 23rd February
23km run at a slow 6km/hr pace. Again, bloody freezing. Temp minus 2, wind at 16km/hr makes it feel like minus 7, snow flurries the whole way.  I really don't know how much more of this weather I can handle!!  Felt quite good during the run, sore legs and knee afterwards, but nothing more than I would have expected. 

Sunday 24th February
45 minutes on the elliptical at the gym - was really glad I went in the end as I nearly didn't. My legs feel much better afterwards and gave them a good stretch out with no impact.

Coming up next
Tuesday 26th February
8km easy

Wednesday 27th February
45min hills on the treadmill

Thursday 28th February
16km fartlek

Saturday 2nd March
25km - going to try to stick to more grass than road to give my knee a break

Sunday 3rd March
Gym class/cross-training