Back to the grind

Monday & Tuesday: rest
Wednesday: 4.4 miles
Thursday: 4 miles

Since I've last updated this blog I have run two more marathons. Montana--where my significant other set a PR on a sweltering day--and Chicago. Both were hot and both were rewarding. But most of all they were memorable. More importantly, I managed to finish an Advanced I training cycle with no nagging injuries. I added more speedwork into the mix (tempos, hill repeats, and 800's) and absolutely loved it. My running felt as if I was on cruise control most of the time and my easy pace dropped dramatically. However, the only problem I had was my legs never quite recovered during the taper and they felt a little heavy during the Montana Marathon. I did feel much better for Chicago which was three weeks later.

Of course three marathons in a year always seems invite injury. After Chicago I took a week (or so) off and then jumped right back into training. I built my long run up to 15 miles. I was averaging 40+ miles per week. I was on target for my goal of running 1500 miles for the year. I know that's only 29 miles per week and it's really not that much, but I can never manage to get there. In November I got a cold that knocked me out for a week. And in December I ran in a nor'easter. Well okay, I ran after the nor'easter. All the snow and ice on the sidewalks managed to completely screw up my left knee and I couldn't run for three weeks. Lovely.

I am seeing a chiropractor and I did manage to run twice this week without a knee brace, so I am quite pleased. We shall see how it goes.

A new pace

Thursday: run 3 x hill (two up and one downhill repeat). 5.4 miles
Friday: rest
Saturday: 5 mile pace run (42:30)
Sunday: 10 miles

Weekly total: 28.4 miles

My pace run this week was all about determining what is comfortably hard. There's no better place to do that than two laps of Freshie on a rainy Saturday morning. As I started the race, I realized I was quickly being sucked into everybody's pace, but my own. I slowed down and concentrated on the rhythm of my own breathing and fell into my natural pace. After the first 2.5 mile lap, I was a little winded and tired but I had a feeling it had more to do with the lack of sleep all week long and the hill workout I ran on Thursday night. Well into the second lap, I felt more comfortable with the pace and I wanted to aim for a fairly even split. Success to me was finishing the second lap within 15 seconds of the first lap. In my mind, I had calculated a 42:30 would give us an even split. As we crossed the finish line I heard the timer yell "42:30. Nice splits!" Mission accomplished.

Lessons learned

Monday: rest
Tuesday: run 5 miles
Wednesday: run 3 miles

Why is it that we can only see our mistakes after it is too late? After you've fallen off the proverbial cliff? You see I kept running despite the soreness in my legs. Utter fatigue that I could never shake. Not even after taking nearly three weeks off of running. I was too far gone. For me marathon training and overtraining go hand in hand. At the point I realize that I've done too much, it's often far too late. After ten marathons, I still haven't found that fine line.

Yes, I finished my tenth marathon. It was painful and unrewarding. I injured the tendon in my right foot at mile eight and limped my way to the finish line. I couldn't walk the next day. After X-rays, physical therapy, and numerous chiropractor appointments, I finally felt better. And then I tripped on an uneven sidewalk and popped a joint out of place in my right toe.

Here I sit on a brand new training cycle and goals with three lessons learned. Or should I say lessons relearned.

• Listen to your body. Do not overtrain. Skip runs when you need to for a mental or physical break. More is not necessarily better.
• Amazingly, the body needs protein to aid in recovery and rebuilding of muscles broken down. You need more than grilled cheese sandwiches, canned soup, and spaghetti with tomato sauce to fuel marathon training. After telling two separate people about my training woes, they both immediately asked me about my protein intake.
• Watch where you step. Especially in the Boston area.

Plugging away

Three weeks ago: 36 miles (4/7/4/7/14)
Two weeks ago: 41.5 miles (8/6.5+3.8/8/15.2)
Last week: 28 miles (8/8/12)

Monday: rest
Tuesday: run 9.2 miles
Wednesday: run 6 miles
Thursday: run 8.5 miles
Friday: rest

I ran on very tired, sore legs for about three weeks. Uggh. You see, I love to run, but my body is not biomechanically fit enough for all the pounding. I have ridiculously flat feet and no matter what shoes I put them in, I always end up with an injury. It doesn't matter how slowly I ramp up the mileage or how much I lift weights to strengthen the muscles that are neglected. I stretch until I can't stand it any longer. And yet, that soreness never dissipates.

I did the only logical thing I could do. Cut back on training. No. Cram five days worth of mileage into four days. Yes. Cram five days of a stepback week into three days. Yes. But the glorious four days off were all worth it. So glorious in fact that I ran past my turn around point on Tuesday night.

Official

Three weeks ago: 28 miles (4/5/4/5/10)
Two weeks ago: 32 miles (6/4/6/4/12)
Last week: 23 miles (4/6/5/8)

Tuesday: run 4 miles
Wednesday: run 7 miles
Thursday: run 4 miles

I registered for my marathon and I am now an official entrant for the 2007 Hyannis marathon. If I finish it will be my tenth.

The running has been going well. During my stepback week I ran a 5 mile "race". I never went with the intent of running all out, but rather putting in a solid effort. During that race I have never felt more like I am built for distance and not speed. I watched the men and women whip out in front of me with limbs flying. Some more elegantly than others. And there I was with my lungs burning with cold winter air, desperately trying not to cough. After the first lap (2.5 miles) I felt as if I had just started running. My second lap felt easier with each step and I avoided looking at my watch for most of the second half because I didn't want to ruin the moment with time considerations. With less than half a mile I finally looked down and was surprised to see that with some effort I might be able to break 45 minutes. I did that easily and finished in 44:19 with a :51 negative split.

Now if I could just get rid of the persistent soreness in my legs...

Ultra considerations

Last week: 26 miles (4/4/4/5/9)

Tuesday: run 4 miles

The nine mile run went smoothly on Sunday and I am feeling ready to train for the marathon distance. The schedule is written out on a piece of scrap paper and the only thing that remains is to sign up for the marathon. And yet I hesitate. Not because of the distance or shortened training, but rather because I want to test the waters out and see how my training goes. I would hate to sign up only to have an injury surface. But I am also hindered by the fact that I do not know when the race will fill up (and it does).

I have also found another race which has peaked my interest. For some time now I have been toying with the idea of running an ultra. Not a 50 miler or a 100 miler, but rather a 50K. It seems like a nice distance. Often during mile 20-24 of a marathon I think about what it would be like to have to keep running after the 26.2 mile mark. What lies beyond that threshold? Does that mean I'm ready for it? I don't know. But I do know that as a runner I have always wanted to run a marathon. One day I signed up for a local marathon, trained, and ran the distance. No thought process other than just get out there and do it. Is that how I should approach the 50K? Don't think. Just run.

Decisions

Last week: run 16.75 miles (3/3/3/3.75)

Monday: run 4 miles
Tuesday: run 4 miles

In my usual haphazard fashion I am suddenly considering running a marathon. In February. This all started at the beginning of this year where I decided to run Boston on no training. I think I left myself around 2 1/2 months to train. This time I have three months before the Cape Cod Marathon and I think I can do it. I wrote out a mini-training schedule and that's usually the last step before signing up for the marathon. I think I'd like to do a little experimenting with the schedule though by making my long run 18 miles instead of the standard 20. I seem to run better with less mileage, so I'm going to test that theory. My longest run before Boston was 16 miles and although my feet were burning throughout the race, my legs never really felt tired. Perhaps 18 will be the magic number. Hmmmm, I'm going to take a day or two to think on it.