If you've only been loosely following me this year you may have missed the memo:

I'm training for a marathon!

I am definitely not a new kid when it comes to running long distances.

I am also definitely out of shape to do said long distances.

And I've been reworking my running form.

It's flipping hard. It takes patience, dedication and a willingness to go slow.

(Caroline, that's called patience. You just basically said that twice... Oh, well, it's really hard so it needed to be said twice!!)

I'm really only training for the marathon and telling people I'm training for a marathon to make myself actually do the form fix stuff in the book we've been reading.

So, you're all caught up now, right?

(If you want the longer version scroll through my posts and look for the ones that mention "marathon training" in the title. The first one was right around New Year's Day this year).

So this week--since it was nowhere near as crazy hot as last week--it felt like I would be able to get back into doing closer to my plan:

24-25 min easy runs, with high cadence, every other day.

24-25 min fast walks on the alternate days.

Run as hard and fast as I wanted at parkrun.

Do at least 10K steps per day.

Do some of the exercises from the book and my usual strength and conditioning exercises most days as screen breaks.

That was all well and good but now my lower back hurts and my digestive system is far less happy than usual. 😐😤😫

So I decided to do something I rarely do, I went to see someone about it. Of the various options we have for health practitioners to see here in Australia when we have a part of our body that's hurting for an unknown reason, I chose to see an Osteopath.

I like how they work more holistically and are aiming to return the body to wholeness and health, rather than the more silo'ed way that most of Western Medicine operates.

I liked her, she was good. But did it solve my problem? Maybe not.

Still, she did a bunch of adjustments, told me my hip flexors were both tight and weak, so now I have stretches and strengthening exercises. You'll be pleased to know: I'm actually doing them.

Now, while I'm working on improving my lower back and was trying to do my training for the week in a way that still honoured how I was feeling, the number one thing I can feel right now are my calves.

See all these photos I've been sharing of me awkwardly standing on one leg? That's me doing "sticky jumps" (an exercise out of the book). I was being diligent and doing these before my run on Friday, and then I did them again before we started parkrun on Saturday.

But I did too many! D'oh!!! 🤦‍♀

So now my calves are hella sore and reminding me to take a chill pill so they can recover. Man, my progress feels so slow!

But as long as I remember that this marathon is both many months away and I can move my planned race to a different event then it's easier to be patient.

If you're interested in numbers/data/stats, here they are!

Mon 6th Feb: Walk in the bush. Distance = 2.64km. Time = 27:31. Average pace = 10:26 mins p/km.

Tues 7th Feb: Morning - Back and gut still not happy so... so... Walk in the bush. Distance = 2.17km. Time = 26:31. Average pace = 12:12 mins p/km.

Afternoon - Run/walk in the bush with Brad. Distance = 2.36km. Time = 27:11. Cadence when running = Approx 190 steps p/min.

Wed 8th Feb: Walk around the block. Distance = 2.29km. Time = 25:34. Average pace = 11:10 mins p/km.

Thurs 9th Feb: Walk on road and in bush. Distance = 2.61km. Time = 27:31. Average pace = 10:33 mins p/km.

Fri 10th Feb: Run in the bush. Distance = 3.85km. Time = 32:53. Average cadence = 172 steps p/min.

Despite Garmin telling me it was mostly a threshold run (pretty hard) my perceived rate of exertion (PRE) = 5 (1 = on couch, 10 = absolute max)

Sat 11th Feb: parkrun. I thought my friend was going to need to walk but she was happy to run! That was a little harder than I expected. Concrete path for a distance of 4.95km (5km). Time = 32:31. Average cadence = 173 steps p/min.

Garmin says almost all threshold with a tiny bit in the zone below and a tiny bit in the zone above (max). Felt harder than I would have liked. PRE = 6?

Sun 12th Feb: Walk in the bush. Distance = 2.54km. Time = 29:01. Average pace = 11:26 mins p/km.

Just one of my many pairs of running shoes. My shoe collection seems to have grown substantially since moving in with Brad. Haha.

Total walking distance = 12.2km

Total running (or rather jogging and some run/walking) distance = 11.2km

Total recorded distance on my feet (doesn't include incidental movement or my afternoon strolls with Brad) = 23.4km.

My average daily steps for this week is 10,035 and as soon as it gets a bit cooler I'll head out the door and aim to get today's step count over 10K.

This was a 7 day streak from way earlier in the week. I think I better head out the door before it gets too late so I can actually get it again :P

Photos of me doing sticky hops were lovingly taken by my partner @new.things and used with his express permission. Other photos taken by me.