Marathon Training - Week 26 of 30

Image by World of Good via Flickr

I'm training for my first marathon, which will be the White Rock Marathon in Dallas on December 4, 2011. My training week runs from Monday to Sunday. Today is Monday, which means the beginning of a new training week!


Week 25 Review:

• Monday: Schedule rest - completed
• Tuesday: 5mi run - replaced with a short bike ride
• Wednesday: 8mi pace run - skipped
• Thursday: 5mi run - did 1hr cycling instead
• Friday: Scheduled rest - completed
• Saturday: 19mi long run - completed
• Sunday: Cross-training - more cycling

Last week was all about trying to get my left foot healed so I could at least do the 19mi long run. So I did a couple of bike rides, then did my 19 mile run on Saturday. The run was both comfortable and hard if that makes sense. My left foot started hurting early on, and the pain would come and go. I guess without realizing it I started relying mostly on my right leg to compensate. By about 13 miles into the run, my left hamstring really started to cramp up and ache, which really slowed me down. It got so bad by about mile 15 that I finally had to take a break. So I walked for a solid 4 or 5 minutes and did some stretching to try to get it to loosen up. By mile 18, I guess the adrenaline finally kicked in because I knew I was almost done. I kicked pretty hard that last mile, but as soon as I crossed the finish line and slowed down my right leg started to really hurt. Lucky for me there were free massages at the finish line. I was told that I needed alot of work (no, really?). So, on the bright side, I really felt fine other than the leg and foot injuries. If I was fully healed up, I think the 19mi run would have been no problem.

Oh, and here's something - I scored my first ever first place finish* on Saturday:

* Okay, so I was the only one in my age group. I'll take it.

Now, a couple of days later, my hamstring feels fine, but my left foot pain continues to bother me. Looks like more resting/icing in my future.

Week 26
(week 14 of Hal Higdon's Novice 2 program)

This is a step-back week according to the schedule. What it really will be is a try-to-get-healed week. I plan to replace my runs with bike rides at least on Tues-Wed-Thu. We'll see how I feel on Saturday. I may ride instead of run on that day too. I really need to get serious about getting my foot healed, and the sooner the better. I don't want to try to run 26.2 on my foot the way it is now.

Okay, so in summary, here's what's on this week's schedule:

• Monday: Schedule rest
• Tuesday: 5mi run (to be replaced with 1hr cycling)
• Wednesday: 8mi run (to be replaced with 1.5hr cycling)
• Thursday: 5mi run (to be replaced with 1hr cycling)
• Friday: Scheduled rest
• Saturday: 12mi long run (or a couple of hours of cycling)
• Sunday: Cross-training

Good thing I got a new saddle for my bike.

Have a great week!

Improvements

My left foot has been feeling better the past couple of days, so time to get back on track! Altogether I missed three training runs this week, but I did get in a couple of bike rides. Tomorrow I've got a 19 mile run on the schedule. I'm registered to run in a half marathon in Cleburne (boorun.org). My plan is to arrive early and do 6 mi on my own before the race, then do the half to get to 19. The weather is looking great for tomorrow morning - sunny and about 45 degrees. Should be a good time!

Sidelined...continued

As of this morning I've missed three runs this week. But I did do some cycling last night and Monday night, so I haven't been completely inactive. The good news is that my sore foot seems to be responding to all of this extra rest, so I'm feeling optimistic that I'll be back to running form by Saturday.

Staying optimistic.

Sidelined...

The pain on the outside of my left foot started Sunday afternoon. Three days later I've missed two of the four runs on my training schedule this week.

Lile most runners, I'm no stranger to running through minor aches and pains. I think it goes with the territory, especially when you're a 40 year old recovering couch potato like me.

But something about the pain is different this time, and my gut is telling me that I better rest it.

The location of the pain has me a bit concerned that it could possibly be a stress fracture, but I'm hoping it's just the tendons. There's no bruising or swelling. And after I've been off my feet for a while the pain is gone. But after several minutes of walking the pain returns and quickly escalates.

I'm trying to stay positive and convince myself that it's improved since Sunday. And maybe it has. My goal at this point is to at least be ready to run the half I'm signed up for on Saturday.

Marathon Training - Week 25 of 30

Image by Lincolnian (Brian) via Flickr

I'm training for my first marathon, which will be the White Rock Marathon in Dallas on December 4, 2011. My training week runs from Monday to Sunday. Today is Monday, which means the beginning of a new training week!


Week 24 Review:

• Monday: Schedule rest - completed
• Tuesday: 5mi run - completed
• Wednesday: 8mi pace run - completed
• Thursday: 5mi run - completed
• Friday: Scheduled rest - completed
• Saturday: 13.1 Dallas Half Marathon - completed
• Sunday: Cross-training - skipped

The highlights of last week were the 8mi pace run on Wednesday and the half marathon on Saturday. The 8mi pace run went well. It was the last one on my training schedule, so I really wanted to give it my best effort.

The half marathon on Saturday went pretty well also. Most of the race I was torn between pushing my pace and holding back because it was supposed to be a training run, not a race. I was actually on pace to match my PR for about the first 8 miles. I started feeling fatigue set in and started slowing down around mile 9 or 10. Then around mile 11 I started getting more tightness in my patellar tendons. It's pretty painful when it happens, but fortunately I can make it go away if I just stop and stretch. I had to do that about three or four times the last few miles, which really killed my momentum and my pace. The result was a 2:14:27, about 14 or 15 seconds slower than the half I ran last December. I'm okay with that, because I know that I was much more rested for that run (plus it was about 30 degrees colder that day!).

On Sunday afternoon while mowing my yard my left foot/ankle started hurting. It was so bad that I could barely walk on it. It's a hard pain to locate - sort of stretches along the outside of my left foot up over my ankle bone. I decided to rest instead of doing my cycling. I'm hoping this is a very temporary pain and it goes away soon. This isn't what I need with a 19mi run coming up.

Week 25
(week 13 of Hal Higdon's Novice 2 program)

Wow, week 25 of 30. It's really starting to feel close now.

This week is a bit off. I'm supposed to do three 5mi runs and a 19mi long run. One of the 5mi runs will be skipped due to the left foot/ankle pain. Hopefully I'll be good to go for the other two. My main goal is to be 100% for the long run on Saturday, which is the most important run on my schedule this week.

Speaking of the 19mi run, I decided to make it fun by doing another half marathon this Saturday. My plan is to show up early and do 6mi on my own before the race. Then my final 13mi will be the half marathon. It will be nice having aid stations and lots of other runners to keep me company for those last 13 miles. Plus I get another medal!

Okay, so in summary, here's what's on this week's schedule:

• Monday: Schedule rest
• Tuesday: 5mi run (I'll most likely skip)
• Wednesday: 5mi pace run (probably make this an easy pace instead of race pace)
• Thursday: 5mi run
• Friday: Scheduled rest
• Saturday: 19mi long run (the combined 6mi run and half marathon)
• Sunday: Cross-training

Have a great week!

Marathon Training - Week 24 of 30

Image by castle79 via Flickr

I'm training for my first marathon, which will be the White Rock Marathon in Dallas on December 4, 2011. My training week runs from Monday to Sunday. Tomorrow is Monday, which means the beginning of a new training week!


Week 23 Review:

• Monday: Schedule rest - completed
• Tuesday: 5mi run - completed
• Wednesday: 8mi run - completed
• Thursday: 5mi run - missed
• Friday: Scheduled rest - completed
• Saturday: 18mi long run - completed
• Sunday: Cross-training - 1hr cycling

What a week last week. I was fighting a cold all week that had my energy level much lower than usual. I also continued to have some lingering pain in my right ankle. The ankle pain was the main reason for skipping Thursday's run. Missing Saturday's 18mi run would have been a much bigger deal than missing Thursday's 5 miler, so I decided to give my ankle an extra day of rest on Thursday so that I could (hopefully) be ready for Saturday's long run.

By Saturday morning my ankle was still a bit sore, but not too bad. The 18mi run was yet another distance PR. And it was also yet another really challenging run. I seem to really be struggling once I hit about 15.5 or 16 miles. It's about that point where my mid section starts to hurt. I'm not sure what to think about that. It's happened two weeks in a row now. My best guess is that it might have something to do with my gatorade/gel consumption, so I'm just going to continue to try to adjust it a bit and see if it helps. I may need to mix more straight water in with the gatorade. Not sure at this point.

This week I also experienced some familiar tightness in my patellar tendons. I had the same issues with my patellar tendons last year while training for my first half - it would usually happen during long runs of 8 miles or more, which were new distances for me. I learned I could just stop and stretch them and the pain would immediately go away. So I had to do that at least a few times from mile 15 to the end of the run. If things go like last year, then the patellar tendon issues will go away as I get more experience at these longer distances.

So, overall I think it was a pretty good week despite some health issues that threw me a curve ball or two. It sure feels good to have completed my first 18 mile run.

Okay, enough about last week.

Week 24
(week 12 of Hal Higdon's Novice 2 program)

I finally get to do a race this week! This Saturday I'm running 13.1 Dallas as my 13 mile training run. I haven't raced since June, so I can't wait for Saturday. Even though I'm treating this as a training run rather than a race, it will still be great to be out and running in a race event.

So this week is a step-back week, as I get a break from the 15+ mile long runs this week. I never thought I'd look at a 13 mile run as a break, but that's what it is at this point. I also have my last 8mi pace run of the training schedule this week. After this week, wednesdays start to taper.

In summary, here's what's on this week's schedule:

• Monday: Schedule rest
• Tuesday: 5mi run
• Wednesday: 8mi pace run
• Thursday: 5mi run
• Friday: Scheduled rest
• Saturday: 13.1 Dallas half marathon
• Sunday: Cross-training

Have a great week!

Marathon Training - Week 23 of 30

Image by Leo Reynolds via Flickr

I'm training for my first marathon, which will be the White Rock Marathon in Dallas on December 4, 2011. My training week runs from Monday to Sunday. Today is Monday, which means the beginning of a new training week!


Week 22 Review:

• Monday: Schedule rest - completed
• Tuesday: 4mi run - completed
• Wednesday: 8mi pace run - completed
• Thursday: 4mi run - completed
• Friday: Scheduled rest - completed
• Saturday: 17mi long run - completed
• Sunday: Cross-training - skipped

Okay, last week was pretty tough. I thought the 8mi pace run was pretty challenging, and the 17mi long run was very challenging.

The 17mi run was a distance PR by 1.5 miles, and time-wise it was my longest run by about half an hour. I wish I could say that I flew through it and felt great. But...

I felt tired right from the start of that run. I think I'm fighting a cold that has had my energy level lower than usual. Also, the weather was low-mid 70's, with humidity around 90%. Not exactly ideal running weather for me. Then about 2mi into my run I tripped over some rebar that was sticking out across the sidewalk and cut my right leg in a couple of places. I guess you could say that the run wasn't going so well early on, and never really got much better.

But here's what I learned during the 3 hours of running that followed: Stubbornness and Optimism are essential sometimes. Be too stubborn to quit, and be optimistic that you can finish.

Good or bad, I stuck it out and finished the run. I was surprised to find out later that my average overall pace was 11:21, which is within my long-run pace window (10:30 to 11:30 minutes/mile). I expected it to be alot slower. If it had been 14 minutes per mile, I wouldn't have been surprised. I'm not kidding.

Now that it's behind me, I'm feeling pretty great about it. I feel like I overcame a huge hurdle on my way to my first marathon. If I can run 17 miles, then I can run 20. And if I can run 20, I can run 26.2. Or at least that's what they say, and I'm choosing to believe them (remember - "optimism").

Oh - also still having some mild pain in my right ankle, but better than last week. Decided to skip the cross-training on Sunday again and give it some extra rest.

Okay, enough about last week.

Week 23
(week 11 of Hal Higdon's Novice 2 program)

This week is the second of the peak 6 weeks of my training. This week I say goodbye to 4mi runs for a while. My Tuesday-Thursday runs get bumped up to 5 miles, the peak of this training program.

This Saturday continues the streak of distance PR's, as I go for 18 miles.

In summary, here's what's on this week's schedule:

• Monday: Schedule rest
• Tuesday: 5mi run
• Wednesday: 8mi run
• Thursday: 5mi run
• Friday: Scheduled rest
• Saturday: 18mi long run
• Sunday: Cross-training

Have a great week!

Marathon Training - Week 22 of 30

Image by Leo Reynolds via Flickr

I'm training for my first marathon, which will be the White Rock Marathon in Dallas on December 4, 2011. My training week runs from Monday to Sunday. Tomorrow is Monday, which means the beginning of a new training week!


Week 21 Review:

• Monday: Schedule rest - completed
• Tuesday: 4mi run - completed
• Wednesday: 7mi pace run - completed
• Thursday: 4mi run - completed
• Friday: Scheduled rest - completed
• Saturday: 13mi long run - completed
• Sunday: Cross-training - skipped

Training went pretty well last week. The weather continues to improve. Temps in the mornings are starting to dip into the low 60's, and even into the 50's on Saturday. The only low point this week was some minor ankle pain on Sunday. I decided to rest it and skip the cycling this week.

Saturday's run was meant to be a half marathon. But there was no official half marathon around here, so I just did a 13+ mile run on my own. I am running an official half in a few weeks. Can't wait. One of the challenges of all of this training is that I'm missing out on doing the occasional 5k because I want to stick closely to my training schedule. Maybe I could do one and be okay, but with this being my first marathon, I don't want to call any audibles. I think it's better to play it safe and stick to the schedule. Still, though, I enjoy racing and miss it alot right now. So I can't wait for the half marathon coming up in a few weeks.

The 13 mile run was very comfortable this week. It's amazing how the mind and body gets acclimated to running longer distances. It hasn't been that long since running a half marathon seemed almost impossible.


Week 22
(week 10 of Hal Higdon's Novice 2 program)

This is week 10 of Hal Higdon's Novice 2 program, which is an 18 week training program. So I'm now into the second half of the program.

This week really kicks off the peak 6 weeks of my training. The next six weeks include long runs of 17, 18, 19, and 20 miles. Also, I'll average 33 miles per week over the next six weeks. After that, it's a couple of weeks of tapering and then race day!

My mid-week sorta-long run extends to 8 miles this week, the max mid-week distance on my schedule. Wednesday mornings are getting really early! But I actually only have to do 8mi mid-week runs four times. Not bad. This week my long run will be 17 miles, another distance PR for me.

So, in summary, here's what's on this week's schedule:

• Monday: Schedule rest
• Tuesday: 4mi run
• Wednesday: 8mi pace run
• Thursday: 4mi run
• Friday: Scheduled rest
• Saturday: 17mi long run
• Sunday: Cross-training

Have a great week!