Packet Pick-Up

As aforementioned, I have a half-marathon Saturday morning. Today is packet pick-up, so I decided to test the healing process and jog over to the NYRR office (I have not run since Sunday). I was disappointed to feel virtually no improvement, and as such decided to only run to the office, about a mile, and walk back. I immediately popped a motrin and iced when I got home. 

RICE

Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation.

Repeat. 

Check It

In my escalating frustration with this blasted injury and a looming marathon date, I decided to take action not chances. So in 5-8 business days I will be the proud owner of a bike trainer! And I got it at 60% off with free shipping. Aaaahhh, it's like it was meant to be. My husband and I have wanted one of these for years, so I know we will get a lot of use out of it even after the marathon. So excited!

(PS - I did not  run today...again)

Rainy Days

are meant for splashing in big puddles in your rain boots with your one year old in his rain boots! (plus after a long run Saturday and a race yesterday, I figure I deserve a day off)

5th Avenue Mile

This race is always so much fun, racing down 5th avenue in New York City as fast as you can in the gorgeous Fall weather. I had already decided that it would be more beneficial to get my long run in yesterday than to perform well in today's race, so I wasn't expecting a PR. In fact I was bracing myself for an 8 or even 9 minute mile (PR of 6:56). I ended up running a 7:24! I will take that considering I ran 18 yesterday and am nursing my leg. Plus it was so fun to have my son there and for us to watch my husband run his heat. Love this race. 

Yield

Good news first: I was able to complete 18 miles of my scheduled 20 under a less than desirable physiological condition. Bad news: said condition is not improving and forced a pedestrian 10:56 pace for the run. I am trying to stay positive and appreciate that I am not completely sidelined with my injury, I mean 18 miles no matter the pace is nothing to snub! The root of my frustration falls mainly in that I have already put in so much work and was just beginning to see fitness gains when I got injured. Yes, I hear you. It's my own fault that I forgot to change out my shoes. 

Here is the recap: when I first started my run, my leg was causing excruciating pain that I thought would force me to quit after only a few miles. Thankfully, the pain in my right leg actually subsided after about 4 miles and I felt comfortable enough to press on, but carefully. I had to yield to my leg today in order to get as many miles out of it that I could. My pace suffered but, again, I can't complain about completing 18 miles. Here are the splits I managed to remember as I looped around the park:

1st loop (5.4 miles): 60:00 (11:06 pace)

2nd loop (9.4 miles): 1:42:24 (10:53 pace)

3rd loop (14.6 miles): 2:36:32 (10:43 pace)

4th loop (18 miles): 3:16:53 (10:56 pace)

I was also scheduled for a 'fast finish' to this run, which typically means you pick up the pace in the last 1-2 miles to simulate running on very taxed legs at the end of a race. I wasn't able to perform a fast finish for the last 1-2 miles, but gratefully I was able run about a 9 minute pace for the last half mile. It was painful, but I tried to imagine myself at the end of the race and wanting to have a kick. 

I have a half marathon race next week, so I will be making decisions about how much I run on a daily basis in hopes that I will be able to complete the race. My goal is to run the race at my marathon pace to give it a test drive...if I am feeling well enough (fingers crossed)

Off in Hopes

I am completely taking the day off today in hopes that I will be able to complete my 20 mile run tomorrow. I have been icing and taking motrin every day; some moments or stretches of time I see improvement and others I do not. The stone still has not passed but I am actually feeling better in spite of that; perhaps it just shifted to a position by body finds more tolerable. In any case, I am grateful that it is not bothering me now so I can focus on my run tomorrow. Time to turn in.

Worse

Feeling worse today, both in terms of my leg and the kidney stone. I was only able to run over to the NYRR offices to pick up my race packet for the 5th Ave mile on Sunday; a total of 2.5 miles. I am beginning to think I am in trouble both for my long run Saturday and my race Sunday. Frustrated does not even begin to describe how I am feeling. Cursed comes to mind...

Regression

I thought I was out of the woods with my right shin/calf, but todays run (or job more aptly put) was proof that I may have done some actual damage. I went out for an easy 4 miles (actually scheduled for 8-10) and only completed 2.7. Very acute pain in my right shin...oh yea, plus I am trying to pass another kidney stone. Great. 

Say What?

After all of the time off required lately, I looked at my schedule last night and realized I get today off. Legitimately. I guess with my 20 miler on Saturday, that is over half of my mileage for the week. Nice. This will be bonus time for healing...my right leg really started bothering me at the very end of yesterday's run. Today's agenda, therefore, is: icing, motrin, repeat.

First Tempo

Last week I was supposed to start integrating tempo runs into my training, but since I was forced to take several days off, I missed my first tempo workout...so I decided to run it today instead. I was scheduled to run 800 repeats today, but upon further consideration figured a tempo run would provide greater returns than an interval workout. I will run an interval workout next week.

So I needed to run an 8 mile tempo run with 6 miles at tempo pace (8:30/mi), flanked by (2) 1 mile cool down/warm up. I didn't have time for the full 8 due to family time constraints, so I opted to run a 6 mile tempo with a 1 mile warm up and 1 mile cool down. I started running South in the Park for what ended up being a 1.1 mile warm up at just under a 10 min pace then accelerated to my tempo pace and tried to hold it for the duration of the first loop. I came through the 5.2 mile mark at 44:40 (4.1 miles at tempo pace and 34:40 time... this is an 8:27 pace. Perfect). I finished up with a 1.5 mi cool down. Total time for 6.7 miles was 58:19.

Sidenote: My time for the tempo portion is a PR for 4 miles. My fastest 4 mi race was a 8:39 pace (this past July)...Pay Dirt!

For Good Measure

I had originally planned to run a few easy miles today just to round out my injury/down week. I was actually feeling fine, even after Friday's effort, but decided to take the day off in preparation for a hard week. A few easy "junk" miles would not do me a lot of good anyway, other than to make my running log look good...which I don't care about. 

Day Off

We spent the entire day visiting my sister and her husband today in PA...apple picking, safari tour/petting zoo, and playground. I was glad to have the day off after yesterday's effort. Still feeling pretty good. I iced my shin again for good measure. I hope to get in an easy run tomorrow and start another new week Monday...

Pay Day

Call me crazy, but I decided to attempt my 18 mile long run today while pushing my son in the running stroller...that's about 45 pounds of baby+stroller. I knew it was ambitious, especially considering my week but I just had to get in my long run today no matter what it took.

I timed it such that the bulk of my run would coincide with my son's usual nap time in hopes that he would sleep for most of the run. It was, after all, going to take me 3 hours to complete. He does enjoy riding in his jogger, but perhaps not for 3 solid hours. My plan was to make 4, 4 mile loops in the park, then tack on an extra 2 at the end if I could. I have never run farther than about 5 miles pushing my son...

The first three miles, luckily, were not indicative of the rest of the run. When I first started off, my shin actually felt okay...almost like a memory. I could tell that it had been hurting, but while I was running it was not painful or bothersome. It was sort of like when you get a bruise and it doesn't hurt until you press on it. The surprising thing was that I had a pinching feeling in my right pelvis...the exact same pain I felt when I injured myself training for my last marathon. Great. What in the world had I done?

Happily, the pain in my pelvis subsided and my shin never bothered me. My first two laps seemed like a breeze. I was feeling good and not really struggling with pushing my son. It's true, I was running very slow (a sub 11 pace when I typically run a sub 10 pace...not shocking). He had fallen asleep by the time I started my third lap, 8 down 10 to go. Around mile 10 I started to fade, however. The added strain of running with the jogger was taking its toll. I pushed on. By the time I got back around to the park exit where we live, my husband was waiting to take my son to the playground on his lunch break. I had completed nearly 14 miles. I hammered out another 1.4 and called it a day at 16.2 miles. I was tired, but mostly from pushing the stroller. My legs felt great and never bothered me. Although I wasn't able to complete all 18 miles, I attributed that to the stroller and felt confident that taking the 3 days off had paid off. I am relieved that my marathon training is back on track and I can get right back into next week. 

Struggling

I hate it when my circumstances dictate my attitude...it should be the other way around. But, I am increasingly frustrated with not being able to run and today it has become evident to me that not running makes me cranky. It started this morning with my son being a bit difficult and escalated this afternoon. I was thankful when my husband came home from work. I am really hoping I can run tomorrow. I plan to try my long run tomorrow, partly because I have had 3 days off in a row and party because we have plans all day Saturday. I am cautiously optimistic...

Another Day

Another Day off. Still icing and taking motrin with little improvement (sighs)

For the Best

After the past 2 days of running and my shoe snafu Sunday, I have decided to take a few days off. I have been icing my shin and taking motrin to hopefully reduce the inflammation and heal quickly. It is really hard to resist going out for my run, especially since I am scheduled to run my first tempo run today. So frustrating. I talked through all of my options with my husband and we both came to the conclusion that in reality I would not lose any of my fitness by taking a few days off and it will help me get back on track sooner by running less. Seems counter intuitive, but I think it will work...

Too Close

My memory lapse may have caused me to inadvertently negate one of the cardinal rules of running: don't run in  worn out shoes. A few hours after my long run yesterday, I began to feel sharp pains in my right calf and shin. These pains got progressively worse as the day passed. I iced my shin (the worst area of pain) and took some motrin in hopes that I had just irritated it...well much to my chagrin the pain has not subsided today. Could I have really caused an injury with one long run in my old shoes? Surely not. I hope.

So all I had to run today was 3 miles easy, thankfully, but even that was a challenge. My right shin was on fire the entire run and it took me 32+ minutes to run the 3 miles. So discouraging. I am going to ice it again and load up on the motrin...we will see what tomorrow brings. I am hopeful that this is just inflammation so I can carry on with my training...I'm too close now to suffer an injury.

Toast

Thankfully this blog title describes my shoes for today's long run and not my legs. I was scheduled to run 14, a distance that at this point in my training is not daunting. I had neglected to remember that after last week's 16 miler I told myself I needed to break in my new Asics for today's long run. Ooops. I remembered this around mile 9 when all of my joints started aching...I knew this feeling and I knew it was not from mileage but from pounding on worn out shoes (around 500 miles).

I already was kind of winding around the park because there was a charity run/walk being held there today, so when it was evident that I needed to cut the run short to spare my legs, I took note of my time at various points around the park and then mapped it out when I got home to see exactly how far I had managed to run and at what pace. This is what I determined (building cumulative):

5.5 miles - 51:59 (masses better than last week at a 9:27 pace)

9.8 miles - 1:34:00 (9:35 pace)

11.6 miles - 1:51:59 (9:39 pace)

13.3 miles - 2:08:36 (9:40 pace)

Clearly I slowed as my shoes caused added stress, but I am really encouraged by my overall pace (9:40). I was scheduled to run a 9:58 pace and despite the aches/pains the 9:40 felt good. Overall I am pleased with today's run...now I have to gear up for my 18 miler next week. Bring it.

Deferred

I felt like crap this morning and did not sleep well last night. I knew there was a reason I moved my long runs to Saturday: so I can defer it to Sunday when I need to! Long run deferred. Today I ran an easy 3 with the hubs and my son biking alongside. What a perfect way to start a Saturday morning.

Pick it Up

My training schedule has just recently started incorporating a little bit of speed work. Not full fledged intervals or anything, just little reminders to my legs that they can do more than long, slow runs. Yesterday I was scheduled to run 5 miles easy with 5 strides. After a similar workout last week, I decided that I don't like to run strides at the end of my run. It's like telling someone they can have dessert if they finish dinner, then making them eat 5 pieces of broccoli first. I want my dessert as soon as I finish dinner!

So this week, I thought I would try picking up my speed for around 30 seconds throughout my run. My husband mentioned that this is actually what the pros do. Sign me up for that. I started out at a sub-10 pace and about 1 mile into it decided to run about 90% for 30 seconds. It felt pretty good. I slowed back to my pace just until I felt recovered, then ran another pick up. I did this a total of 4 times for what ended up being a 3.4 mile run. Why not 5 times for a 5 mile run? You try explaining to a 16 month old as we pass a playground that mommy has a little more to run. Life is too short for that, so we veered off, cut the run short and took my son to play. Now that is a pick (me) up.  

Forget It

I am still tired from no sleep yesterday, I had a dentist appointment this morning and some errands to run this afternoon, my husband was off of work today, and I just did not feel like running today. So I didn't, and I'm cool with that. See you tomorrow, Park. 

Tiiiiiirrrreeeedddd

My son woke from his slumber screaming before my head even hit the pillow for the first time, and I was up with him all night. So, needless to say, I was completely exhausted today...and crabby. I managed to eek out a slow, tired, heavy-footed 4 miler that I hesitate to even record in my log book (sighs to herself). He will be all grown up one day...

Quick Trip

As previously blogged, I have decided to keep my weekly mileage pretty even until I feel I am able to handle an increase, so I knew this week I was only going to do around 32-34 miles, and with 8 in my pocket from yesterday and 14 on the horizon for Saturday, I don't have a lot to run in between. 

So. Today a friend of mine called and wanted to meet at a local museum for a free children's function for our kids, and I thought sure why not, I'll just run over there and be done with it for today. So I loaded up the kiddo in the jogger and out the door, across the park to the East side I went. We had a fabulous time hanging out and I logged 2 miles to boot. Fine by me. 

Ocho Loco

I did crazy eight hills this morning. That's not a real thing, I just made it up but I did run an 8 mile hill work out around and around and around the North Hills...about 4 times. I completed the workout in 75:40, a 9:34 pace. I was quite elated with this run because A) it is the longest hill workout to date and B) I was able to perform well after my long run 2 days ago. If this run was a litmus test, I have achieved a quick recovery and will have a good week of training. Finally.

Unscheduled Off Day

After yesterday's run, I was scheduled to run 5 miles easy today to round out my week with 38 miles. I feel like I am increasing my mileage before my body can adjust to the new stresses each week. My training schedule follows the logic, in part, of increasing each week for 3 consecutive weeks, then decreasing for a "down" week (recovery).

I've been having an ongoing conversation with my husband (the sub-elite runner, remember) about this and he mentioned the method that Jack Daniels, PhD suggests in which you don't introduce a new stress until your body acclimates to your current level. In this case, instead of upping your mileage every week by, say, 10%, you keep the same weekly mileage for a few weeks, until your body adjusts, then up all of your daily runs the next week such that the sum is greater than a 10% increase but your body is ready for that next jump. So on and so forth.

I think I am going ti implement this logic, which means instead of running today I am taking a day off. My weekly mileage sits at 33. Last week it was 33. Next week it will be 32. The week after that it jumps back up if I complete all of the scheduled runs. Hopefully my body will have adjusted at this level to enable me to increase appropriately.  

Good, Not Great

This week's long run was masses better than last week's, but it was still quite tough. I got up early and was out the door by 6:50am, knowing that it was going to take me over 2 1/2 hours to complete 16 miles. I was feeling optimistic, but tired. My first lap around the park I just felt like my legs were so tired that they were pretending to still be nestled under the covers sleeping. Finally, around 5 miles, I started to loosen up and was able to pick up the pace. I came through my first 5.2 in 53 flat, a sorry 10:12 pace.

As I started on my second loop, I was conscience of the fact that I needed to run a negative split for the next 5.2 miles. I made that my focus. Happily, my husband pulled up beside me with my son in his bike seat around mile 7 and rode alongside until I completed the second loop. What a treat. I came through mile 10.4 at 1:44:35, which means I was able to significantly pick up the pace and manage a 9:54.

Less than 6 to go. I was already feeling it,  but again it was not as bad as last week. My legs were aching, but I felt like I could push through and hold my pace to complete the run. With 2 miles left, I bonked and wanted to quit. Take the short cut home...but I didn't. I finished the 16 miles in 2:38.34, a 9:54 pace. Good.

What I am curioius to see is how long it takes me to recover. Last week it took 6 days until I felt fully recovered, which is unacceptable to me. My hope is that this week, even though the run was tough, I will recover more quickly. I really am anxious to start seeing gains in my fitness.

Nada

I did absolutely nothing today and it felt great. My legs finally feel back to normal today, which is encouraging since I did the quick hill workout yesterday despite still feeling sore from last Saturday. Time to rest up fpr the 16 miler tomorrow. Up until today I was dreading this long run because it has taken me so long to recover this week, but today I am feeling optimistic. Let's hope the running gods smile upon me tomorrow...say around 7am?

Ready, Set, Hills!

I had an incredibly busy day planned today, so I knew when I went to bed last night that I would need to get up early this morning and get my run in...a 7 mile hill workout. I was already looking forward to my off day Friday and Thursday had not even come yet...needless to say I am not a morning person in any sense of the word...

I almost always set my alarm for my husband to get up for his run at 5am, as I did this morning, plus I had a second alarm set for 6:30am for myself thinking that I would be ready to go by 7 and my husband would be back by 7...I snoozed for 30 minutes, but was indeed ready to go running shortly after. Problem was I failed to inform my husband of my plan, and let's face it he knows I do not go running in the morning.  He did not get back from his run until 7:30, and he still had to take out the dogs, get ready for work and leave by 8:50. Yikes, better make this a quick workout and squeeze as many miles as I can around the North Hills. 

I took off, literally starting my run from the door and hit the park already at a good clip. Not only was I constrained by time to get back and relieve my husband, but I also wanted to try and beat the 8am traffic when the park opens up the west drive to commuters. Did I mention it was already 7:30am?

Straight to the North Hills I went, hoping I could run them in a "U" shape instead of a loop to get the most bang for my buck in the time I had...oh and also there was a movie being shot on the 102nd transverse which makes up part of my usual loop, so I needed to avoid that at all costs. Annoying.

I managed to get in 2 1/2 "Us" before the traffic hit, and hoofed it through the last one to round out my 3. This put me on the East side, away from frantic, obtuse commuters but also opposite the side of the park I live. So I ran South on the East drive and cut through above the reservoir, stuck to the bridle path on the bit of the West side I had to run, and again ran literally to the door. 

When I walked in my apartment, exhausted, the clock said 8:24. Just enough time. Whew, what a workout. I ended up covering 5.6 miles in about 50 minutes. That's an 8:55 pace people! 

Switching It Up

I was scheduled to run a 7 mile hill workout today. Not happening. My legs have STILL not recovered from last week's long run and it is really starting to irritate me. I knew I would not be able to hammer out a hill workout, of any length, so I looked at my schedule for the week and plucked my 5 mile easy run from Friday and decided to do that today.  My plan is to try the hill workout tomorrow (a scheduled rest day) and then rest on Friday to prepare for my long run Saturday. We will see how that works out. 

I ended up with 5.1 today in 52:13, so a 10:24 pace (9:58 pace scheduled). At the end of this day I am just thankful to be writing any mileage down in my log book.