3 days of rest

Last night was Jog Scotland night and although I didn't want a hard run, I decided to go along for social reasons rather than for training. I had read somewhere that in these last days before the marathon, I shouldn't do any run further than 4 miles. Of course, marathon training is like parenting in that the more advice you seek, the more conflicting opinions you get. I'd mentioned the 4-mile rule to Pete though, and he took it to heart. As I left for the run, he was shouting out the door 'Don't do more than 4 miles! Don't screw it up now!'.

As luck would have it, we just did a straight run, so I jogged along at the back for exactly 2 miles, then left the group, turned around and ran back. I stopped the Garmin at 4.01m, keeping everybody happy. That will probably be my last run now, as I've got a little niggle with my back.

After a sports massage last Thursday, I felt fine until I did a spot of hoovering and housework on Friday. I had a bit of backache after that, and sciatica, which was quite painful on Saturday. After a gentle jog and swim on Sunday it eased up, but it worried me that it might have been caused to some extent by the massage. Just to be safe though, I've regretfully sworn off all housework until after the marathon. :)

So I had another appointment this morning. When I told her about my back, the physio decided to give me a physio session rather than a massage. She has diagnosed a sideways curve in the spine, leading to tightness on the left side of the back, and putting pressure on the sciatic nerve all down that leg. She thinks this was the cause of my calf pain, which has never completely gone away since it started about 3 months ago. She did some work on my lower back, keeping it light enough so as not to disturb the marathon (I hope).

Before I left, she stuck some tape on my back which has fibres in it, and will apparently help to ease the tightness there. Great, I thought, until I got to work and realised that under a thin pale shirt, I now had 2 visible strips of bright blue tape. Not a good look (see below).

I'll see how the back is, but as well as abandoning housework, I think I might not run anymore from no until Sunday. Eek!

Meanwhile, the long-awaited warm temperatures that we've been expecting in May have finally arrived, just in time for the marathon. I've trained in snow, rain, wind, cold and even mild weather, but never in heat. It's so humid today too. Typical British weather - unpredictable and annoying!















As well as sexy blue tape, you can also see how my waist goes in on the right but straight down on the left. This is because of the curved back. 37 years and I've never noticed that before today...