Getting back in shape

After a troublesome winter I'm finally trying to get a steady weekly increase which doesn't injure my calf again. I started taking protein supplement after every run and before going to bed on a long run day. The protein helps a lot to repair damaged muscle tissue and ligaments. After long runs and hard runs I either put an ice pack on my knees and calves or while taking a shower I cool my lower legs with running water which is very cold this winter.
Hopefully I can pull out a 10 miler this afternoon. It's been a good four months since I injured my foot and then my calves which forced me to pause my marathon preparation training.
I am getting nervous already for my marathon race in April. I really want to get under 4 hours. My current runs are mostly around 5.30 per kilometer so if i can keep that pace throughout the race I'll be save...

Back on the Road

I feel it is finally save to say that I am again good to go for a full marathon training schedule including the long runs and speed training workouts. Last November I raced a 10K in preparation for my marathon this year April. But maybe I got too carried away with my training and over-trained. This resulted in Injury. The worst thing of all was that I lost the appetite to continue training, and couldn't find the courage to face the cold winter weather. At the end of December, after being away from running for more than a month, I started going out again and ran rounds of 4 to 6K only.

January feels much better, I'm feeling strong and run four times a week. Last Tuesday's tempo run felt great with almost zero muscle ache. I pushed myself to run 8K in 40 minutes flat, at a beautiful 5 minute per kilometer pace.

Winter Training

Marathon Winter Training
From October (2008) I started to increase distance and frequency of my long-runs to four runs a week with a weekly total of between 40 and 50 KM. very soon I felt my body becoming stronger and fitter than ever before. From December I did cross training almost every day, only taking Mondays off to recharge. Winter temperatures were between minus 5 to plus 10 from December to March. Doing warm-ups and stretching in this cold weather wasn’t really fun so I did that as quickly as possible, probably inviting injuries to start developing from this stage.