Marathon Prep: Weeks 4–11 Injuries, Breakthroughs & Progress

Long time no hear.

But I stayed consistent running. Here’s an update on my progress as I prepare for the Postbank Marathon Münster this September.

In my last article, I shared how the first three weeks went. It didn’t take long for my first injury to show up. During those weeks, I struggled with shin splints – every run made the muscles along my shins swell and go numb.

Week 4

I still had those problems in week 4 of my preparation. Although this week didn't feature a very high number of weekly kilometres, I stopped my run on Friday due to the chin splints.

Week 5

Things got even worse this week. I only managed to complete two out of my five planned runs. It was frustrating, but I reminded myself that I still had 15 more weeks of training left to make up for it.

Week 6

This week finally felt good. Somehow, I managed to completely change my running form. I believe the shin splints came from leaning too far forward and forcing myself to land on my mid- to forefoot.

The longer runs this week really helped me fix my form and improve my running economy. I started running more upright, pulling my shoulders back, and stopped obsessing over landing on a specific part of my foot.

I managed to hit my planned volume of nearly 50 km and, in the process, recovered from the shin splints.

Week 7

This week, I had no real trouble with injuries. Since I went out partying on Sunday, I pushed my long run to Monday of week 8, which left me with a bit less mileage than planned – around 37  km instead of the full target.

Week 8

This week brought new trouble. Not shin splints this time, but pain in my Achilles tendon. It appears that running more upright while landing heavily on my forefoot puts a lot of stress on it.

I wasn’t able to finish the long run I had postponed from the previous week because of the pain. I took three days off to recover and tried running again on Friday. I managed to finish the run but aggravated the tendon again, which meant skipping the other three planned runs.

All in all, this week left me really frustrated.

Week 9

This week went better. My Achilles tendon was still giving me trouble, so I skipped two of my planned runs. But I managed to complete the key sessions – my marathon pace intervals and my long run. I also logged 40 km overall, which feels decent given the circumstances.

Week 10

This week was injury-free. I skipped one run, but only because of poor planning. In total, I ran 55 km, and my body finally seems to be adapting to the higher weekly kilometres.

With my longer runs now reaching around 17 km, this slowly starts to feel like actual marathon preparation.

Week 11

This was my best week so far – as it should be if I’m making progress. I ran a total of 60 km and had no signs of injury creeping in.

My longest run so far was a 21 km around half-marathon distance, which felt good and not too taxing.

I also started experimenting with running gels. It’s probably overkill for this distance, but I’ve read many times that you should train with the gels you plan to use on race day. Otherwise, they can mess with your digestion. Your body needs to get used to processing high amounts of carbs while running under pressure.

Learnings so far:

You can’t train seriously without dealing with injuries. It’s always two steps forward, one step back. I keep experimenting with my running form, which makes things less stable in the short term but should help me improve in the long run.

Long runs teach me the most. They give me enough time to really figure out my running movement before the run is over again.

Interestingly, my injury risk seems highest in weeks with lower mileage. The less I move, the less efficiently I seem to run – almost like I need to relearn the movement pattern after an easier week.

That said, I do see improvement. I can now handle higher weekly volumes, and my VO₂max – a solid marker for cardiovascular fitness – has gone from 48 in week 1 to 53 now (10.4%).

In the beginning, I couldn’t run at all with a heart rate below 155 bpm. Now I can hold a slightly under 6-minute pace in that zone – still not fast, but much better than the 8-minute pace I started with.

In zone 3, which should be roughly my marathon pace, I’m currently running at about 5:40 per kilometre. If I can further improve my conditioning and hold this pace for the full distance, I’d be looking at a marathon finish time of roughly 3 hours and 59 minutes.

But that’s all theory for now. I’ll keep putting in the work and share another update with you in a few weeks.