» Marathon Mary
Marathon Mary hits the psychological pain barrier
Since the half marathon I have developed marathon fatigue. Not in the physical sense – the recognised condition where your body simply refuses to keep running past the 18/20 mile point, also known as The Wall. Apparently the solutions to that are nutrition, carb loading, regular glucose intake and not trying to show off by starting out a long run at a pace you can’t possibly maintain.
My problem is more psychological. I haven’t attempted running anywhere near 18 miles for three weeks. I’m losing my focus and fed up of my programme. An apathetic wall, if you like.
“Nothing has had a more dramatic and debilitating effect on my life except the final year of university and falling in love”
I’ve been training hard for six months now. I’ve run when it was so windy that, when I was running west, I had to turn my head 180 degrees just to take a breath. I’ve run in the dark, in the early morning, the day after a friend’s birthday party, through snow, ice, and hangovers. I’ve been on 15 mile runs where the first five miles have been spent on the verge of turning home. I’ve missed social events and work events and I barely see my family. I’ve been ill three times in two months and I’ve taken to coming home from work once a week and going straight to bed at 7pm. Nothing has had a more dramatic and debilitating effect on my life except for the final year of university and falling in love.
This week I am obsessed by how far everyone else has covered. A straw poll of people I know planning to do the marathon has drawn longest runs of: 14 miles, 15 miles, 18 miles and four miles. My longest was 17 miles, but that was before the half marathon and the last mile was walking. This weekend I’m going to try my first 20.
Now we are in the last five week stretch to the big day, I know that the month ahead is the most crucial period of the preparation. There’s no question that I’ll finish the race – I’ve trained hard and long enough and if I have to I will walk, hop and scramble the final miles.
When I signed up, my target was to finish in four-and-a-half hours. Now I’ll be happy if I manage to run the whole course, escape injury and can still walk the day after.
I keep hearing about people who have injured themselves during training and I know I’m lucky to have escaped so far. I also know that if I manage to cover one really long run this week it will give me that sense of personal victory I need to get me motivated again. I’ve stuck the marathon route on my bedroom wall in the hope that one day it will spur me out of bed at dawn for a run before work. It hasn’t worked so far, but if I’ve learned one thing about training for a marathon, it’s that it’s all about hope. I just hope I can kick my backside sufficiently to get back on the road.
The Brighton Marathon 2010 takes place on Sunday 18 April.
