A year ago this time I was training to run a sub 4:10 at Goa River marathon in Dec 2021. I ended up running it in a disappointing 4:27:43 though the training went reasonably well. I ran a similar below par time at the York marathon in May 2022 . Based on the way the training for TMM 23 is going , I would be super thrilled to be able to run it in any time close to 4:30 or even 5:00.
The season did not start well.After start/stop training in August and September I managed my first 20K+ run in 3months on 8th Oct with a 2:17/21.1K at the end of which I felt quite good. This kindled hopes of being able to do 4 32K+ runs before Mumbai on 15th Jan 2023. That looks impossible now - the 20K+ runs of last weekend and today were unmitigated disasters - I had anyway given up on run pace and was focused only on increasing the distance of the long run. However, fell well short of the target distance(28K and 30K respectively ) in both runs. Today's a 3:08/27.2Km was a major struggle , physically with pain in the left glutes, numbness/heaviness in the left foot and stress in both glutes while running up gradients , and mentally deflating (due to the physical woes compounded by bad roads with puddles of water and traffic). So much so that for the first time ever a self doubt has crept in as to whether I would be able to run/walk the FM in Jan 2023 in the stipulated 6hrs time and that I may be better off downgrading to a HM or not going to Mumbai at all.
Both these options would break my FM streak at Mumbai(15 and counting) and are depressing. What baffles me is the root cause of these issues despite my minimal running of not more than 40-50Km per week and significant investment in strength training . Rather than just a weak muscle or tendon I am beginning to suspect something deeper such as an issue with the spine(Dull pain and curvature in the lower back on getting up after sitting for a while could be a pointer to this). Despite the motivation being at the lowest ebb at the moment I hope to soldier on after consultations with the Physio G and perhaps also a sports ortho. Keeping fingers crossed for the best case scenario of being able to get in two (quality?) 32K+ runs across November and December.
