How I trained for the London Marathon in 13 weeks with a fractured metatarsal
18-months ago, I ran the 2021 London Marathon 13 weeks’ after fracturing my second metatarsal with just 7 weeks of run-training. The consultant I saw at Chelsea & Westminster hospital broke the news to me (no pun intended) that my marathon training was probably over. I hung on to the ‘probably’ and 13 weeks later, finished the marathon with an ‘under the circumstances’ respectable time of 3:47:05. Before you ask, yes I was pretty fit before I signed up but no, I was not a regular road runner, a steady solo 10k (6.2miles) on the odd Sunday was a long run for me.
So for the many other every day athletes and fun runners who suffer injury early in your training programme, I’d like to give you hope that not all is lost and you may still be able to get fit enough in a compressed training window to get yourself round. The longest run I’d managed to build up to prior to the big day was 16-miles.
The short read:
- Find your why
- Find your yes people
- Reset your expectations
- Rest and wear the boot
- Get aquajogging
- Weight train
- Find a great osteopath
Of course this comes with a health warning, I am not a doctor, do seek medical advise (ideally from someone who understands your ambition) and don’t do anything that could cause you permanent damage.
The longer read:
- Find your why.
It sounds cliché but any kind of endurance event really is mind over matter. Having a cause greater than yourself will be the difference between getting to the finish line or not — particularly if you have fallen short on your training schedule. I’d signed up quite late in the day after The Big Issue Foundation were looking for runners in June (2021 London Marathon was 2 October) which I can only assume was because someone dropped out. Having publicly committed to run and through huge generosity of friends, family and colleagues, I’d already raised round £1k by the time I got injured (eventually reaching over £5k) — not running was simply not something I considered an option.
2. Find your yes people.
Unsurprisingly, most people’s reaction to hearing that I’d fractured my foot was ‘oh bad luck, guess you’re not running the marathon then’. But what you need to realise is: most of those people wouldn’t run a 10k on a good day. If you’re serious about doing anything that most people find a bit bonkers, you need to find your people who will support you in your madness. My biggest cheerleader throughout my training was my fiancé who would beat me to responding to a single doubter with ‘oh she’ll do it’…’slowly’. Hearing someone else say it makes all the difference when your own doubt creeps in.
3. Reset your expectations.
The easiest thing for me was deciding that I was definitely going to complete the marathon— I had my why. The difficult thing was accepting that I was not going to be able to run as fast as I might have hoped. In many ways, this was a blessing in disguise. Anything was better than nothing and I learned to appreciate every bit of training that I was able to do. I knew I was going to have to go slowly and that all there was left to do was to ENJOY IT! When it came to race day, I ran the whole way (well almost) with a smile because I was so grateful to be there. I even shed a few tears of joy as I ran over Tower Bridge. I recognised that just because I wasn’t going to finish with a time to write home about, I was still doing something really hard that most people simple don’t want to do, and that’s pretty cool.
Ok so that’s the mental bit, but what about the physical bit…?
4. Rest and wear The Boot.
The biggest mistake I made was thinking that my bones would repair in a few weeks and that the best thing to aid my recovery was to try and walk normally as though I wasn’t injured. That was the dumbest thing I did. After a few weeks of limping around in trainers, I was still in a lot pain and the swelling in my foot wasn’t going anywhere. As painful as it is to admit, my dad (doctor by trade) was right, ‘you really need to immobilise the bone and rest to give it any chance of healing’. So, I got back in The Boot, that really attractive thing they give you at the hospital, and pressed pause on limping laps of the park…for a few weeks at least.
5. Get aquajogging.
Whilst I couldn’t limp around the park, and my foot was too swollen to fit comfortably into a cycling shoe to attempt a Peloton class, I could get in the pool. As I was desperately searching for things I could do to build my cardiovascular fitness that wouldn’t put strain on my foot, I came across aquajogging. Dame Kelly Homes apparently aquajogged her way back from injury months before winning bronze at the Sydney Olympics which gave me great hope hat my much more modest goal of just finishing the marathon was possible. For anyone who has not aquajogged before, it is what it says on the tin, jogging in water. All you need is a swimming pool, a floatation belt and a good podcast. For about a month, I spent hours slowly doing laps of the pool aquajogging and listening to The High Performance Podcast. I’m convinced it helped me maintain my base level fitness, if not improve it, and gave me the confidence that I needed when I was able to get back on the road.
6. Weight train.
It may sound counter intuitive but one of the best pieces of advise I received was to carry on doing regular weight training. Just by looking at the build of a marathon runner you’d make a fair assessment that they probably weren't spending hours lifting iron in the gym but if you are going to have any chance of getting round 26.2 miles you sure as hell need to be strong. So, I did the only thing I knew how when it comes to weight training and hit up Barry’s Bootcamp double floor. Think boxing strap bound foot and one legged burpees. I think the trainer thought I was a bit strange but I can live with that.
7. Find a great osteopath.
When I eventually started feeling like I might be able to get back to some running my biggest fear was going back too early and completely ruining my chances of running at all. I booked an appointment with my trusted osteopath David Propert. I knew that whilst he might not condone my ambitions to get race fit in seven weeks, he’d give me an honest appraisal and do what he could to get me running pain free. Having confirmed that my foot was structurally sound, David prescribed me with weekly ultrasound therapy to help reduce the residual swelling and promote tissue repair. He also recommended some arch support insoles to reduce the pressure being transferred to the front of my foot where the fracture occurred and sent me off to the local running shop for a gate analysis and some extra safe impact absorbing trainers!
And that was that.
Whilst my road to 26.2 miles was not as smooth as I’d hoped for, it was an experience that taught me so much. I learned a lot about rest and recovery but also learned a good lesson in resetting expectations and a positive mindset that I’ll be taking with me as I look to take on 26.2 miles again in London 2023.
