13 Years Since My Last Dublin Marathon - Older, Slower, and Needing More Gels

I did my 18 mile run yesterday. I decided to go with a more controlled pace and enjoy the run, yet it still wasn't easy. My average pace was 10:13 min/miles, very happy with that considering my target time is now 4 hrs 20 mins for Dublin. I only three runs last week but it still worked out at 30 miles.

Was a good week up until today, did 3 miles easy on Tuesday, 6 miles steady on Wednesday and was 2/3 of the way tempo 3 mile this afternoon when I pulled one of my hamstring tendons. Not looking good. Not giving me pain or discomfort but tender to touch. I'll have to see I if can see a physio on Monday. Long run not happening this weekend and no activity until the situation can be assessed.

Yeah, it’s a tough one to take. I honestly feel like I did everything right, four days a week of consistent training, built up my long runs gradually, didn’t overtrain, always did my dynamic stretching before and regular stretching after. My nutrition was good too, hitting all the macros.

But I guess that’s the thing, you can tick every box and still have something like this happen. Can’t get in to see a physio until Wednesday, so it’s just a couple more days of wondering and trying to stay positive.

I’m obviously not medically trained, but at the minute it’s only faintly tender to touch, no pain walking or sitting, and the bruising is nearly gone (though it was only ever faint). Still, I’m not going to jump to any conclusions until I see the physio and hear what they say.