Training log – final long run

Originally uploaded by MikeWas

I’ve now completed my last long run before tapering for the Disney Marathon on Jan. 10. Today was a 20-miler in 3:57.

For the first time, I think I’m ready.

Eighteen miles, in a car, is not far at all. It’s a brief excursion; a side trip; a short jaunt.

On two feet, eighteen miles is brutal.

Thirteen? Doable. Fifteen? Challenging, but still enjoyable. Eighteen miles is pain – a totally different beast from the slightly shorter distances.

I’ve tried it twice now, once by myself, once with a friend who’s also training for Disney. Both times, I’ve hit a wall, where it seems like the body just refuses to obey commands to keep moving forward. Fifteen miles takes me, on average, about 2:45 to finish. Eighteen, I can’t finish under 3:35.

That extra three miles shouldn’t take 50 minutes.

And if eighteen is this hard, what’s going to happen in four weeks when I try to tack more than eight miles on top of that?

The one thing I know I can improve is my pre-run dinner. Both times, the night before my run was not the pasta-rich carbo-loading I have enjoyed before my more successful runs. So next week, I will not deviate from the pasta plan, and hope that makes a difference trying to run twenty. Something’s got to change dramatically between now and next week if I’m going to finish this marathon next month.

Experienced runners, feel free to chime in with advice.

( Photo Source / Photo Rights )

Back At It

A Good Start and a Frustrating Stop

After a seemingly strong start, and then a bit of a setback, I’ve been pounding pavement again. July and August were a bit frustrating, but on Labor Day I was able to run the Nike+ 10K (on a treadmill, on vacation, but I did it.) Ten kilometers – just over six miles – is the longest distance I had ever run, and one that I hadn’t touched since high school. Unfortunately, after that, I found myself unable to run more than a once or twice a month.

Tempus Fugit

Around Thanksgiving, I realized that my goal of running the half-marathon in the Gasparilla Classic would slip away if I didn’t start training in earnest. And so I did. I learned the importance of weather, as my runs in the cool fall and winter air felt easier, faster, and longer than those of the brutal summer. The calendar told me I had only a few short weeks to add to my long run before March 1. Adding a mile per week – ambitious, but not crazy – would put me where I needed to be.

Longest Run Ever

Last night, driving home, I felt good and the weather felt cool. Almost on the spur of the moment, I decided to skip my planned six-mile run (postponed from Sunday due to the holiday) and go straight to seven. There’s a straight shot from my house to a nearby car dealership and back that’s exactly seven miles, a route I’d measured before but never actually run, and as I drove home, rock music blasting from my iPod, I decided to give it a shot.

I made it.

The run was challenging without being too punishing. I tried to keep a slow, steady pace throughout, figuring that was my best shot at avoiding a flameout after mile four. A bit to my surprise, the third mile was the hardest – that’s when my calves and quads hurt the most, when my energy level seemed lowest, when I seriously began to wonder if I hadn’t made a colossal mistake. Then just after finishing that third mile, I rounded a curve and saw the lights of the car dealership in the distance. The pavement slid quickly under me as I reached the halfway point… and then, I was just going home.

A Personal Best

Just a year ago, if you had told me I would be running seven miles before 2008 closed, I would have laughed, or at least rolled my eyes. Not only had I never done it, I had no reason to think that I even had it in me to try.

Now? I’ve checked off that box, well on my way to my goal of 13.1 on March 1. And in the process, I’ve achieved something that I had never been able to accomplish in my entire life.

If you’ve been waiting with bated breath for my next running report, you’ve probably been sadly disappointed. Then again, if you cared that much about it, then odds are you’re already one of the people who knows I’ve been nursing a leg injury these last several weeks.

Warming up for my last race, on May 17, I felt a fairly significant strain where I had been feeling a twinge just before – around the top of my left thigh. Foolishly, I ignored it, and went out and ran a 5K personal record ending in a sprinting contest between me and some 12-year-old. Ever since then, hip flexors on my left have been extremely sore, stopping me from running altogether at one point.

The last six weeks have been extremely frustrating. I tried to restrict myself to slow runs for short distances but even that was a hit-or-miss proposition, and once had me giving up just a quarter of the way into a slow three-miler because I just didn’t want to force something that wasn’t working.

I’ve tried a couple of things since then – I got myself some new shoes, (Nike Air Zoom Structure Triax+ 11), medicated per doctor’s orders, and kept running short and slow. I could feel my quads objecting as both my legs compensated for the shortcomings of the left one.

This weekend, I think I’ve finally broken through. Early Friday afternoon I went for a three miler. And besides the trouble one would expect from running at one in the afternoon on the Fourth of July in Florida, I had much less trouble than before. I made the entire three miles with only a short walk break, and after my initial warm-up, little pain. Then, yesterday evening, I went out and attempted four miles. Wow, was that hard compared to before. But not for the same reasons. Yes, my legs hurt, but not my hip flexors. Muscles were sore – quads, calves, groin, maybe a couple of other muscle groups I can’t recall. Apparently, I’ve adjusted my stride just enough to allow the flexors to recover while shifting the work to other, formerly underused muscles.

Muscles sore to getting worked -that I can deal with much better than the mind-trip of imagining connective tissue peeling away from my bones, like was happening in my head before. Sore muscles mean building strength – and I know I can do that.

So I’m back – not completely, but on the recovery path. I might still aim for a big race in October if I keep making progress. If not, I’ll definitely go for the half-marathon here in Tampa next March. Either way, it’s back to building my base. More miles, here I come.