Late bloomer. Took what I learned from racing bikes to make sure I didn’t overdo it when teaching my body to run.
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2.5 years later I’m giving it another go, 6 weeks in so far.
Same story on the magic mile. 7:52 for the mile - although I’m not in PB shape. It seems I just don’t have a non-aerobic pace at the moment.
The really “new thing” this time around will be three moderately long runs a week instead of failing one big long run every week.
The approach this season is guided by Garmin/Galloway half mara plan again as run/walk represents the closest thing to success I’ve had at the marathon distance. Rather than a steady/sluggish pace, faster intervals with walking gives me better form when I am running.
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Workout into easy club run on Tuesdays.
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Two or three half marathon distance runs per month, running to work will be the long run day in Thursdays.
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Moderately long run at the weekend.
Rest of the week to be bike days, one lift and one swim. All in all I’m aiming for two hard days and one moderately hard per week which I think is within my wheelhouse and seems to have raised no Red Flags as I’m ramping up.
The measure of success will be consistency, and if I can get my half time down to 1h50 again and my 70.3 run leg down as well.
Then I’ll consider a 4h30 marathon attempt at the end of November as I’ve failed my 4hr targets and hit 5hrs twice in the last five years.
Then, then if I can get near 4h30 this year then I’ll consider 4hrs in 2025 after some kind of weight loss winter.
Mile times and 5k times seem to be in sync though I’m a bit faster than the ten k times I tank at 24km. Hydration and fuelling will be a focus.
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Anyone ever deal with a metatarsal stress fracture? I hope I don’t have that, but signs seem to be pointing that way. Things have been going so great too in my HM training (5 weeks out). That bony area in the front outer part of my left foot is painful to the touch, and there was pain upon impact when running. But decided to test it today and while there was some pain warming up, it wasn’t a problem during the actual run (38 minute tempo). The pain is not worse after the run and there is no swelling, but the pain is there. I made an appointment to see my doc in a week, but debating if I should continue running and see how it goes.
Is there an actual risk of making things a lot worse? As in, would I start to feel more pain before I’m making it worse? I’m thinking if it just stays at this level, it’s tolerable. I guess I could replace some runs with the bike for now but I’m in the midst of all the workouts in this training plan (Pfitzinger 11/47)
All I can tell you is what I would do. And that is definitely, 100% keep running on it.
Conversely, I’d definitely stop. (There’s the Internet in a nutshell for you. 
)
It’s just a blip in the road. Either you’ll have to stop anyway if it’s a stressy, or you’ll be able to train with confidence if not. Besides, if it’s hurting then give yourself a week off anyway. The net effect of being pain free will far outweigh any perceived loss of fitness.
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Running my second full Marathon this coming weekend. Tunnel Light in WA State on the 8th. Training was not nearly as much as I would have liked, though I was prioritizing a cycling event that took place mid July and really only gave me 8 weeks to focus on running. 2 of those weeks were spent traveling with sub optimal diet, sleep, and training. I’m targeting a sub 4:00:00 finish. My first marathon (nov 2023) was 4:12:xx and I was having insane GI problems causing me to stop 4 times. Those stops combined were 10 minutes of time lost, so fitness being equal, i’m 2 min out from my goal time.
After this marathon i’m planning to incorporate 2x days of swimming per week, prioritize strength training, and focus on getting at least one cycling and one running vo2 effort session each week. I expect my Z2 days to basically fall off which usually happens in the winter months anyway.
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On a broken metatarsal?
You decided to do a 38min tempo run to test a broken metatarsal?
Good luck! The first win is getting to the start line without injury, the second win is getting to the finish line.
Only you care about the time it takes 
Well and me, but only because I’m jealous
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typically tendon issues won’t get worse throughout the run where whereas bone issues will.
I’ve had medial tibial tendon issues in the past and they would always be a bit sore at first, but warm up during the run and then be sore the next morning. I felt like as long as I could get through the workout things were fine, but you really need to take time off to let tendons heal. 
If this is something that has lasted more than a few days, it might be worth seeing a doctor. You don’t want to make things worse by running now!
It’s probably not “broken” from the sound of things
That said, I would be more willing to run on a metatarsal stress fracture than, say, a really bum Achilles tendon or a femoral neck stress fracture. It’s not one of the really scary injuries in my book.
If it hurts a lot, I stop. If it hurts a little, I don’t. Often it just passes.
Fifth metatarsal stress fractures (outside of the foot, as you describe) are high risk for delayed healing. The doctor’s appointment is a good idea. It’s worth being proactive and seeking help from a physiotherapist who specialises in running.
I’ve been dealing with symptoms of a midfoot stress fracture on an ongoing basis for two years, with input from a good physiotherapist and dietitian, and I still haven’t figured out what’s delaying the bone healing.
How does it feel when you do a single-leg hop on the affected leg?
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Yea I don’t think there’s a fracture because I imagine the pain would get worse with the the past 2 runs I’ve done. There was no greater pain this morning after yesterday’s tempo run. So I did my scheduled run today (10 mile run) and it hurt (3/10) for the first 2 miles or so but dissipated to almost nothing for the rest of the run. Pain still there but not getting worse, so I think I’ll just keep running and monitoring.
I think the pain is in the 3rd or 4th metatarsal because it’s not on the extreme outside edge.
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Conversely, I’ve taken a few days off training despite my A race being 5 weeks away, simply because I noticed I was getting grumpy.
I know that my race performance will be better if I maintain a happy, healthy mind and body in the run up. I’m using this week to catch up on some lifemin so that I’ve got a clear concience when training resumes.
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I’ve broken the 5th metatarsal. It was non-displaced but clearly broken. I heard it break. X-ray confirmed as much. I was out of action for quite some time.
I’d def be careful until you see the doc, get a confirmed diagnosis and peace of mind. Missing a couple runs while continuing to bike isn’t going to mess your HM build. But if you carry on and really mess it up, it could be over before you get to the start line.
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I have thankfully, knock on wood, not have had to take time off due to injury in a bout 3 years. But, I have had quite a few of them over the years, and I have stopped going to doctors offices entirely after a few of them because the number of times I got anything useful out of the visit is precisely 0. The only time I would consider going is when something doesn’t respond to to a few weeks of rest at all. Otherwise, yes, they might provide a diagnosis, which changes precisely nothing, unless you need surgery (i.e. it won’t respond to rest). I find pain level to be a pretty good guideline here. If it doesn’t hurt or it bothers me a little, but it’s stable and not aggravated by my training, it’s fine to run.
I don’t know what your first marathon was, but if it wasn’t one of the tunnel marathons you should expect a much faster time. IIRC that course drops like 1500’. It’s very very fast. It’s super popular because people use it to qualify for Boston. Have fun and hopefully it cools down for you.
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Cheers! The first one I did was the Seattle marathon which has a good amount of elevation change. The tunnel marathon is all downhill so I’m expecting that to carry me! First one was 4:12:xx. Considering sticking with the 3:50 pacer for this one but afraid of blower up around 20 if I approach that pace for the distance. Finished my last taper run this afternoon in the 85 degree heat…
Came in at 4:06. Decided to just run by feel vs glue myself to a pace and be stuck looking at my watch. Rolled into mile 20 feeling great before my headphones died and the wheels fell off. 22-24 was a battle of ugly walk running before I got my shit back together and ran in the last 2 miles. Looking at my effort, those 6 mins were absolutely within grasp had I not put 10 total minutes of walk time in. Next time!
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