bring on the taper

Wow. I am officially less than a week away from my first marathon!!?!

I can’t say that my training went exactly as I had hoped. My foot injury back in January put a big kink into things. As a result, I lost a full month of training.  Eventually, there was a slow attempt at easing back into running and then a focus primarily on increasing my distance…but not wanting to push my pace out of concern for a ‘too much, too fast’ injury.  Oh, and just to liven things up a sudden change in the shape of my feet required me to ditch my running shoes about a month ago and invest in a new pair. For the first time in my life I’m officially wearing a wide-width shoe?!

Looking back over the last few months, I wish I could have gotten more than only three runs in per week. I also wish I was able to add in regular speedwork.  But you know what??? Even though those things didn’t happen I’ve got NO complaints! I am so very thankful to even be running at all right now!

Once I started back-up in February I decided that I would scrap a time-goal entirely. The course is open for 6 hours and 30 minutes…that’s my new goal, BUT…I would consider myself very lucky if I were to come in around the 5 hour mark. Not a very lofty goal, but my mindset has changed since my injury. It was either take it a little easy for this one, or back out…and there was no way I was going to back out just because I wouldn’t be able to rip-up the course with a (relatively) speedy finish time!!

Since things were going so well and physically I was feeling 100% I decided to go ahead and register for a local 8k. I was a little nervous at first, the idea of ‘racing’ two weeks before a marathon didn’t seem to align with my very conservative training plan! I ended up deciding to do it about an hour before the race! To be honest, I think it was Boston that influenced my final decision. It was the Saturday after and I just felt like I wanted to run…to be with a group, at a race and run without any concern for a PR.

I’m so glad I showed up that morning!! It was a very challenging course…two MASSIVE hills, one was virtually a wall that I walked up while leaning forward with my hands on my thighs!! The other was a long, steep incline right up to the finish line.  Oooofah!!

I finished at 47 minutes…a 9:27 average pace. Five minutes longer than the Philly 8k back in November, but considering that I haven’t done any speedwork since December AND Philly was a totally FLAT course…well, I was pleasantly surprised!!

So, now I’m tapering. I know this because I am a paranoid wreck that I’ll get sick. Like right now…I suddenly have a sore throat, but is it a real sore throat or a taper sore throat??? If it’s a taper sore throat then I’m probably just thirsty : |

mile two monstrosity

17-mile long run…complete. I am well over halfway there!! On Saturday, I decided on a completely different route than I normally take. I knew there were going to be a few big hills, but the idea of just a straight out and back seemed a lot better than having to snake through side streets and crossing relatively busy intersections.

There was a monstrosity at mile two that seemed endless!! I started pushing my way through it and at about halfway I looked up to find that the end was nowhere near being in sight. Once I finally made it to the top I still had 15 miles to go.  Ooofah.

In the end, it was a really good run. Very challenging at times, but I was able to push through and felt pretty solid the whole way. Since coming back from my foot injury I’ve been running during the week on the treadmill, so when I head out for a long run on the weekend it’s probably a really good idea to get some hills in anyway. My hope is that it will all balance out, particularly since the NJ Marathon appears to be a pretty flat course. Once it warms up a bit I’m hoping to start getting outside at least once for a mid-week run as well.

In other news, I had to retire my Nathan Quickshot***. Only for a bit, but I was sad to see it go. The Quickshot is beyond awesome, I trained with it all summer last year and it was perfect for the half-marathon I ran back in October. Unfortunately, 10 ounces won’t cut it for marathon training. I tend not to drink a whole ton of water, because I get stomach cramping pretty easily, so I figure 16 oz should be enough to get me through. Of course on race day there will be water stops I can utilize, but I always run with my own water as well. When I stop at a fluid station during a race I tend to take an unneeded walk break and they do add up by the end. So, I utilize them when necessary, but not every time.

The new 16 ouncer I’ve taken out on my 15-miler last weekend and my 17-miler this past weekend and it officially has my seal of approval!! The Amphipod Hydraform Handheld In-Touch. My iphone 4S fits perfectly inside of it (without it’s case and there’s no hole for the earbuds, so you have to loop the wire around and out below the zipper) and there’s room to spare! It’s comfortable and it was definitely worth the investment!

***btw, in the quickshot post linked above i mentioned that it kept leaking…turns out it was NOT the quickshot, but the fact that i was putting a nuun tablet in…the carbonation was creating too much pressure. once i started putting plain water in the leaking stopped entirely.

the marathon plan

Allow me to think ‘out loud’ for a moment.

As mentioned in my previous post, I’m trying to play catch-up for marathon training. I know that I won’t be able to train the way I WANTED to…not that I won’t be able to train AT ALL. Sorry, I guess I should have been more clear on that.

Anyway, I’m not focusing on speedwork anymore. Whatever my finish time ends up being will be okay with me at this point. I’m also cutting back to three running days a week (for now), to allow for an additional rest day. Below is the breakdown of my upcoming mileage. The first column shows what the original training plan called for, the second column is what I plan to run and the third column shows the increase in mileage over the previous weekend’s long run. (I have an 11 mile run scheduled for this weekend)

As it stands I’ll have only four weeks out of the next nine (mind you I still have over two months of training time left) where I will need to be a bit aggressive with a two mile increase over the previous week. I have kept ALL four of the scale-back/taper weeks and I will only fall one mile short of the 20-miler (thinking that’s safer than increasing by three miles to achieve it)…finishing on the precise week the original plan calls for.

As of right now, my gait is one hundred percent fine. In fact, it’s better than it was before the injury…mainly due to the fact that the black toenail I had on that same foot made some serious progress during my break and is feeling MUCH better during long runs now.

I think anyone who knows even the slightest bit about running knows that injuries happen. Sometimes they happen regardless of you following all of the expert advice (like it did to me last month) and sometimes it happens because of poor judgement calls.

At this point I’m well enough to run, I know it. I knew when I had to stop and I know that for the moment it’s okay for me to go. I could make it to the finish line with absolutely no more problems or I could get sidelined again. No one can predict that.

I haven’t just been out there randomly running 4 or even 8 miles….for the last year I’ve been consistently averaging 25-30 mile weeks. I’m not new to this. I put my time in. The training. The work. Over the last year I’ve raced in 5k’s, 8k’s, 10k’s, a half-marathon and a relay. I’ve gone for long runs in humid 95+ degree weather and I’ve been out there jumping over ice patches with temps nearing single digits.

I know that some people would see this set-back as a perfect excuse to back out, but you know what? Excuses are fine for other people. I hear them all the time. I don’t judge. We all have our thresholds. For me personally, I’m not a fan of excuses. Right now if I were to give up training TWO MONTHS before the race…it would be an excuse. It would be GIVING UP. I’d rather walk the entire marathon (and people, there’s no shame in that) then give up because I’ve got some hard work ahead of me.

on the road

Right. So. Where was I????

Yes, of course, injured. Over a month lost from marathon training. After teetering back and forth between 85-95% recovered I finally decided on February 6th that it was do or die time. I hit the treadmill and figured I would either complete three miles or snap my damn foot in half trying.

As it turned out…it was a pretty nice run. I ran again a few days later. Four miles that time. My foot definitely did not (and still doesn’t) feel 100%, but it’s definitely no worse after I run…so there’s that.

The following weekend I went for my first long run in a month. Seven miles, with a sinus infection. I was very sore the next day. The run itself went well and my foot held up fine, but it was definitely disappointing to feel soreness after a run that just a few weeks earlier was a pretty typical distance for me.

Anyway, ran on the treadmill a few times during the week…then cracked out a 9-miler yesterday. Mile 5 was a beast, but 6-9 were pretty solid. No soreness today. I’ve lost a lot of speed on my long runs, but I’m completing them and at this point that’s the most important thing.

There’s no way I’m going to be able to train for this marathon like I had hoped. There’s just not enough time. I will literally be playing ‘catch-up’ straight through until taper week. As it stands now, in order for me to get at least one 19-miler in, I will need to increase my long run each weekend by TWO miles…as opposed to the preferable ONE.

So, there’s some frustration, annoyance, disappointment…but mostly a whole lotta’ determination to give it everything I have in an effort to at least complete the goal (of finishing) that I set for myself.

I won’t lie. I’m not super-interested in running right now. I enjoyed my ‘break’ a little too much. I started getting a lot more variety in my workout routine and I absolutely fell in love with yoga all over again. I’m hoping that as the weather starts warming up and I find my groove the love of running will return.

In the meantime, I’m breaking in a new pair of Mizunos…because experimenting with new running shoes is exaaaaaactly what you should do when coming off of a random foot injury, yes???????

to marathon or not

There’s the question that I’ve been struggling with for a while now. I have no idea whether or not I want to run a marathon. I’m in a very strange place, with my thoughts on registering for one pretty much all over the map.

My top five random thoughts in no particular order:

1.) I should just go for it because it’s the natural progression of the sport. 5k, 8k, 10k, half…FULL. Makes perfect sense.

2.) But maybe it would make more perfect sense to master each distance before moving on to a full? So, instead of showing up to each race and just squeaking by, I should actually set time goals that need to be achieved before moving on to bigger and better things.

3.) Now is so very much the time to do it. I’m comfortably running 12 mile long runs on the weekend. At this point I’m almost halfway there. I’ve put a lot of time and effort into my half-marathon training and who knows what the future may bring. I could let a big opportunity slip by if I don’t go for it soon.

4.) {This is where things get a little weird…} I would much rather skip marathons all together and head straight for an ultra (!??!?!?!) Yeah, there’s logic behind this one, but it would require a post all of it’s own.

and finally…

5.) I could be very happy with ‘only’ a half under my belt and there’s always trail running. Got a taste of it recently. Loved it. Could easily see myself saying goodbye to pavement for a while and making 2013 all about off-roading!

Well, there it is. This is why I can’t seem to decide if I’m going to go for 26.2 or not. In the meantime, when people ask me if I’m going to do one I just tell them I’m not sure I have ‘the time’. This is a complete and total B.S. answer. See, non-runners hear that and enthusiastically shake their head ‘yes’ in agreement. They either have no idea what it’s like to train for a race OR you’re giving them the extremely convenient answer that they WANT to hear.  BUT…you offer up that exact same response to a runner and they know it’s a cop-out. If you want to do it, you will make the time. As it is I leave the house at 7:30 AM for my weekend long run. Would leaving at 6:30 really make that much of a difference? No. Of course not. Will I need to run 20 miles per day for six straight months. No. Of course not. Time is definitely not the deciding factor. I am.

…to be continued…eventually.