This year has been going smoothly so far (touch wood) with my running, with a regular routine of running each weekend. I’ve found a fantastic routine of mobilizing before a run and then some great stretches and myofascial release thereafter, which when coupled with a real focus on my technique when running has meant that my mileage is increasing quicker and my knees no longer hurt at the time.

This also means i’m getting quicker. At the beginning of the year i completed a 10.5 mile run is 1hr53mins, which i was pleased with, but my knees were sore. It was the longest run i’d ever done and felt great about it.

So from there i decided to focus even more on stretching and mobilizing, to the point of dedicating at least one training session a week to just doing that, in addition to before and after my usual workouts. This saw me not only increase my distance, but also my speed. This weekend i completed a 13.8mile run in 1hr59mins, without knee pain. The key has been focusing on how my foot lands, as long as i keep my foot flat i don’t hurt.

I’ve also invested in a Polar M400 watch to track exactly what i’m doing. The brilliant thing with this watch is you can set your distance prior to beginning and it will tell you how long it’ll take you to complete, so for the marathon i can set it for that and see how i’m doing for the sub 4 hours.

I’m going to be upping the distance again in a couple of weeks so i will let you know how that turns out!