There is nothing to fear, but fear itself. Unless of course, you are training for a marathon and you think you might have a broken foot. I actually don’t think I have a broken foot, but something is not right.
I first noticed the injury soon after I was through patting myself on the back for the 20 miler on Saturday. The day after the run, my legs felt generally sore, but on Monday, I felt a noticeable pain on the top of my left foot. If felt like I had been hit with a baseball. The pain wasn’t great, but it was constant.
It didn’t take long to Google my symptoms and come up with a preliminary diagnosis: Metatarsal Stress Fracture. I became quickly educated on metatarsals and stress fractures. I can even go as far as to say, my problem is with the second metatarsal. I took each toe in my hand and gave them a tug and a wiggle. I felt nothing, except on metatarsal number 2. It’s the toe next to the big one. When I probed my foot to find the tender spot, it was at an area that lines up with that bone.
On Tuesday, I took Danny to a college music audition. I was home in the early afternoon and the went to Y for a run. There was no pain as I walked around on Tuesday and it seemed safe to test the foot. I ran six miles on the treadmill and I could feel it, but still the pain was not enough for me to stop. I rested on Wednesday and did some more research and ran again on Thursday with similar results. Although I did notice a momentary sharper pain on Thursday’s run.
So I’m spending all my time walking around trying to gauge how the foot feels. It has become an obsession as I foolishly search the Internet for a Costana-esqe ‘Stress Fracture,, Get out of here!’
Upon sifting through hundreds of web pages on the topic, I can find some common ground that probably qualifies as fact.
Of all metatarsal stress fractures, a fracture of the second is most common for runners – That’s Me
The cause is an increase in duration or intensity of activity – Me Again
The pain is localized to a specific spot on the top of your foot – Guilty
On the other hand, there is other information that causes me to be optimistic.
I have no swelling or redness
I can do the hop test (hop up and down on the bad foot) and the tippy toe test without any pain
While I can find the spot with my finger, I can not cause a sharp pain.
I do not have an irregular menstrual cycle
The good news is that this type of injury virtually always heals without complication. The bad news is that 4-6 weeks of no activity is the prescribed cure. Furthermore, this injury will not show up on an X-Ray until scar tissue from the healing process is present. It is often diagnosed from the symptoms alone. This leads me to the really far fetched idea of seeing a doctor.
I took Madeline to a sports podiatrist during last years track season. This guy has impeccable qualifications and I will go to him if the time is right. But I’m not there yet. If I were to visit him now, I think I know how it would go. He would likely interview me for my symptoms, tug on my toes, prod my foot and come to the same conclusion: it might be a stress fracture. He would order some combination of X-Ray, MRI and Bone Scan. And for the four weeks it would take, while I get a initial appointment, and then get the tests and the results processed and see him again for follow up, he would tell me to stop running. When he got around to letting me run again, I would be back at Week Two mileage. In other words, the 2008 Ocean Drive Marathon would be off.
I’m going with a more moderate approach:
* I have pain on the top of my foot
* I’m going to take a week off from running and concentrate on cross training
* I will ice the foot twice a day, every day
* I’ll see how it feels when I start running again in a week
A one week break is really more like two weeks, because you can’t just pick up where you left off. But I think I can afford it. I will rest and cross train during Week 13. I will then have six weeks of training before I start my taper (which I must now reduce from 3 weeks to 2 weeks). It is still to be determined how I train during the six weeks. I need to plan this with the assumption that my google-based medical research was an idiotic waste of time, and I am really OK, just a little banged up.
I have no intention of running through a serious condition. I have no intention of ignoring significant pain. But I do intend to the take the course of action that maximizes my chances for getting back on track for the race in March.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Monday, January 21, 2008
20 Miler Long Run Report (1/21/08)
Friday night, Patti asked me how far I was going to run the next morning. I said “Don’t ask’. She said “20 miles?” I rolled my eyes and nodded yes.
During the week, I did some brushing up on proper hydration during Long Runs. As is usually the case, I came across lots of opinions with a wide range of answers. Most of the advice suggests that there is no set amount you should be drinking. It depends on several factors like: how much you sweat, the temperature, your weight etc. In order to determine the proper amount of fluid replacement, you should weigh yourself before a run and after a run to determine how much you need. That didn’t do me any good with Saturday’s run. Fortunately, I found some general guidelines.
The most consistent guideline is to take in 8 oz of fluid for every 20 minutes of running. For last week’s long run, I took in 34 oz over 3 hours. If you do the math, I took in less than half of what I should have. So now, I am really starting to think positive. Not only do my Long Runs qualify as hill workouts, I’m running in a dehydrated state. I can surely improve.
As Saturday morning came near, I tried not to think about the fact that I would out running for close to three and a half hours. I tried not to think about reaching mile 17 and knowing I had 3 more to go. I just planned the run as best I could.
For my provisions I got three 16 oz bottles of water and a 24 oz bottle of Gatorade. I also got two gel packs for the run. I had my peanut butter on toast and Gatorade about 60 minutes before the run. I loaded up my stuff into a back pack and was ready.
The plan was to run to the 1 mile mark with my fluids and dump them in a safe spot. I would then continue to the 2 mile mark and turn around. This gave me a 4 mile out-and-back that I would repeat five times. I would be passing my aid station every two miles. I checked the Ocean Drive Marathon web site and the aid stations will be similarly placed. I would drink water until mile 9, then switch to Gatorade. At miles 13 and 17, I would take a gel pack with water. I had 72 oz of fluid with me.
After I ate and went to the bathroom at home, I weighed myself, dressed and headed out the door.
It snowed a little on Thursday and the paved trail where I run doesn’t get much sun. I was hoping it would be clear. There were some icy spots, but it was not a factor.
When I am alone, I talk to myself quite a bit. On the run, I would be alone for well over three hours and the I-Pod can only entertain me for so long. So I alternated between music and conversation with myself. As you can probably guess the topic was running. In particular, I was breaking down the 20 miler into the five segments I had planned. Through conversation during the early part of the run, I decided that after 4 miles, I should feel like I was just warming up. After 8 miles, I should still feel good, but expect to be tired. At 12 miles, I should expect to be hurting, but still strong enough to keep up the pace. Finally at mile 16, I should be hurting some more, but with no fear of the last 4 miles and no inclination to quit or shorten my run.
I went about my business of running and listening to music and then at the end of each 4 mile segment I would interview myself in order to evaluate how I was feeling. I also took close tabs on my pace and would discuss that as well. Halfway through each segment, I would exercise my brain and predict my time for the next turn around.
Generally speaking, I was pretty close in predicting how I would feel along the way. My goal was to run at between 10:15 and 10:30 pace. That is not much of a slow down from last week, but I would certainly not attempt to run the first 12 miles at 10:00, like I did last week. I don’t have exact splits, but it is something close to this.
0-4 miles @ 10:18
5-16 miles @ 10:28 (even pace throughout)
17 – 20 @ 10:04
The total time of 3:27:00 comes out to a 10:21 pace.
Aside from the obvious pain and throbbing of every bone and muscle from my feet to my waist, the last 4 miles was a beautiful experience. They were the fastest 4 miles by far and I could have gone on further. My breathing was fine and I was talking to the end. It turned out to be a pretty good plan and I think it was well executed. Now I can take a week off from Long Runs.
When I got home, I dried off and weighed my self. I lost four pounds during the run. I consumed all 72 oz, so I will plug that into the fluid replacement calculators and see what it tells me. For someone of my size, I think a 4 pound loss for that type of run is OK. There was no dizziness and no tingling of the fingers.
Speaking with my brother John, later in the day, he commented that now I must feel as if I could actually finish the marathon distance. I agreed. 20 miles is a milestone for me. I think that if this were the beginning of my taper, I would feel good about breaking 4:20 or 4:15 for the race. But this is not the beginning of my taper. I have seven weeks until the taper and 10 weeks until the race. And 4:15 is not my goal. My goal is 3:59:59 or better. That is about 70 seconds per mile faster than I ran this 20 miler.
But rest assured, two things will be different on 3/30/08. I will be racing, not training and I won’t be nearly as talkative, at least not out loud.
During the week, I did some brushing up on proper hydration during Long Runs. As is usually the case, I came across lots of opinions with a wide range of answers. Most of the advice suggests that there is no set amount you should be drinking. It depends on several factors like: how much you sweat, the temperature, your weight etc. In order to determine the proper amount of fluid replacement, you should weigh yourself before a run and after a run to determine how much you need. That didn’t do me any good with Saturday’s run. Fortunately, I found some general guidelines.
The most consistent guideline is to take in 8 oz of fluid for every 20 minutes of running. For last week’s long run, I took in 34 oz over 3 hours. If you do the math, I took in less than half of what I should have. So now, I am really starting to think positive. Not only do my Long Runs qualify as hill workouts, I’m running in a dehydrated state. I can surely improve.
As Saturday morning came near, I tried not to think about the fact that I would out running for close to three and a half hours. I tried not to think about reaching mile 17 and knowing I had 3 more to go. I just planned the run as best I could.
For my provisions I got three 16 oz bottles of water and a 24 oz bottle of Gatorade. I also got two gel packs for the run. I had my peanut butter on toast and Gatorade about 60 minutes before the run. I loaded up my stuff into a back pack and was ready.
The plan was to run to the 1 mile mark with my fluids and dump them in a safe spot. I would then continue to the 2 mile mark and turn around. This gave me a 4 mile out-and-back that I would repeat five times. I would be passing my aid station every two miles. I checked the Ocean Drive Marathon web site and the aid stations will be similarly placed. I would drink water until mile 9, then switch to Gatorade. At miles 13 and 17, I would take a gel pack with water. I had 72 oz of fluid with me.
After I ate and went to the bathroom at home, I weighed myself, dressed and headed out the door.
It snowed a little on Thursday and the paved trail where I run doesn’t get much sun. I was hoping it would be clear. There were some icy spots, but it was not a factor.
When I am alone, I talk to myself quite a bit. On the run, I would be alone for well over three hours and the I-Pod can only entertain me for so long. So I alternated between music and conversation with myself. As you can probably guess the topic was running. In particular, I was breaking down the 20 miler into the five segments I had planned. Through conversation during the early part of the run, I decided that after 4 miles, I should feel like I was just warming up. After 8 miles, I should still feel good, but expect to be tired. At 12 miles, I should expect to be hurting, but still strong enough to keep up the pace. Finally at mile 16, I should be hurting some more, but with no fear of the last 4 miles and no inclination to quit or shorten my run.
I went about my business of running and listening to music and then at the end of each 4 mile segment I would interview myself in order to evaluate how I was feeling. I also took close tabs on my pace and would discuss that as well. Halfway through each segment, I would exercise my brain and predict my time for the next turn around.
Generally speaking, I was pretty close in predicting how I would feel along the way. My goal was to run at between 10:15 and 10:30 pace. That is not much of a slow down from last week, but I would certainly not attempt to run the first 12 miles at 10:00, like I did last week. I don’t have exact splits, but it is something close to this.
0-4 miles @ 10:18
5-16 miles @ 10:28 (even pace throughout)
17 – 20 @ 10:04
The total time of 3:27:00 comes out to a 10:21 pace.
Aside from the obvious pain and throbbing of every bone and muscle from my feet to my waist, the last 4 miles was a beautiful experience. They were the fastest 4 miles by far and I could have gone on further. My breathing was fine and I was talking to the end. It turned out to be a pretty good plan and I think it was well executed. Now I can take a week off from Long Runs.
When I got home, I dried off and weighed my self. I lost four pounds during the run. I consumed all 72 oz, so I will plug that into the fluid replacement calculators and see what it tells me. For someone of my size, I think a 4 pound loss for that type of run is OK. There was no dizziness and no tingling of the fingers.
Speaking with my brother John, later in the day, he commented that now I must feel as if I could actually finish the marathon distance. I agreed. 20 miles is a milestone for me. I think that if this were the beginning of my taper, I would feel good about breaking 4:20 or 4:15 for the race. But this is not the beginning of my taper. I have seven weeks until the taper and 10 weeks until the race. And 4:15 is not my goal. My goal is 3:59:59 or better. That is about 70 seconds per mile faster than I ran this 20 miler.
But rest assured, two things will be different on 3/30/08. I will be racing, not training and I won’t be nearly as talkative, at least not out loud.
Halfway Point Plan Adjustment (1/18/08)
For a few reasons, I wanted to take a closer look at the remaining weeks of the plan and make some adjustments. A few weeks back I made a change to spread my mid week miles during the Endurance Phase to be shorter in distance, but run more of them, without much change to overall mileage. At this point in the plan, I am pleased to see that I have completed 96% of the total planned mileage.
Looking ahead, I don’t think its smart to be only running three times a week. It will be better to have at least four runs per week. After the mixed results from my 17 miler, I did some more reading and evaluation of my own plan. My general conclusion is that I need to add more miles to the plan. In particular, I need to add significant miles to the Speed Phase.
The first step is to plan my remaining Long Runs and then build around that. My original plan had three more in the Endurance Phase (19, 21 and 23). I know I need a break and will replace one of these Long Runs with a faster weekend workout. I also had one Long Run in the middle of the Speed Phase (23) and another final Long Run (20) at the start of my taper, three weeks before the race. The original plan had 4 runs of 20 miles or more.
After my last Long Run, I gave much thought to giving myself a break from the weekend grind. My decision is to actually increase the length of my next Long Run to 20 miles, then take a one week break from Long Runs and finish the Endurance Phase with a 22 miler. I wouldn’t let myself take a break after a bad run.
In the Speed Phase, I’m going to skip Long Runs altogether. My final Long Run will be as I originally planned: at the start of my three week taper. The net result will be a reduction in 20+ runs from four to three. However, the mileage that I added amounts to approximately 70 miles across the remaining weeks. The thought is that the additional miles will help more than the one extra Long Run. Furthermore, a Long Run during the Speed Phase will take away precious weekend time from the track. There is also time set aside for quality Marathon Pace runs.
It might not make sense to go for a 20 miler this coming weekend, but I am eager to reach that milestone and the confidence that it should bring. I plan to watch my pace and fueling better.
Looking ahead, I don’t think its smart to be only running three times a week. It will be better to have at least four runs per week. After the mixed results from my 17 miler, I did some more reading and evaluation of my own plan. My general conclusion is that I need to add more miles to the plan. In particular, I need to add significant miles to the Speed Phase.
The first step is to plan my remaining Long Runs and then build around that. My original plan had three more in the Endurance Phase (19, 21 and 23). I know I need a break and will replace one of these Long Runs with a faster weekend workout. I also had one Long Run in the middle of the Speed Phase (23) and another final Long Run (20) at the start of my taper, three weeks before the race. The original plan had 4 runs of 20 miles or more.
After my last Long Run, I gave much thought to giving myself a break from the weekend grind. My decision is to actually increase the length of my next Long Run to 20 miles, then take a one week break from Long Runs and finish the Endurance Phase with a 22 miler. I wouldn’t let myself take a break after a bad run.
In the Speed Phase, I’m going to skip Long Runs altogether. My final Long Run will be as I originally planned: at the start of my three week taper. The net result will be a reduction in 20+ runs from four to three. However, the mileage that I added amounts to approximately 70 miles across the remaining weeks. The thought is that the additional miles will help more than the one extra Long Run. Furthermore, a Long Run during the Speed Phase will take away precious weekend time from the track. There is also time set aside for quality Marathon Pace runs.
It might not make sense to go for a 20 miler this coming weekend, but I am eager to reach that milestone and the confidence that it should bring. I plan to watch my pace and fueling better.
End of Week Eleven (1/17/08)
At the conclusion of Week Eleven, I realize that I am slightly more than halfway through the training program in terms of total weeks (21 in the plan). This is also the completion of the fifth of eight weeks in the Endurance Phase. As I look at my running log, I notice that there aren’t any comments on the mid week runs in Week Eleven. The Long Run on Saturday (1/12/08) is the only real story of the week.
The weather on Saturday morning was not remarkable. It was about 40 degrees when I started and the sun was coming through when I finished. I have been fortunate with the weather so far in this phase of my running. I had a real concern that if the winter brought some ice and snow, it would make weekend Long Runs difficult or impossible outside.
This is the weekend of Suzanne’s half marathon in Florida. She has been with me for the first portion of my Long Run for the previous three weeks. As I got ready to do this scheduled 17 miler, I needed to plan my individual pace from beginning to end. In the previous weeks, I knew that I would be going at Suzanne’s pace for more than half of my total distance.
I ran the first 6 miles at a 9:50 pace. I thought this was too fast for this run and tried to hold back a little. I ran the next 6 miles at approximately 10:10 pace. When I looked at my watch after 12 miles, I had mixed feelings. I was pleased that I was at right on target for an overall 10:00 pace. However, my body was telling me that this was too fast for this particular training run, on this particular day.
My feet and my legs were hurting more than they should at this point. I had five miles remaining and the next 2.5 miles would be uphill. I told myself to slow down , but as a runner, I knew that it was too late. The run should not be 70% complete when you realize that you have gone too fast. In the race, I expect pain in the final stages and I even expect that there will be some slowing of my pace. But for these training runs, the last bunch of miles should not be slowest: at least not by much.
I ran the last 5 miles at a 10:40 pace. The uphill portion was brutal. I was cursing the hills and at one point I realized I stopped running. My pace was so slow going up the hill, that this brief 30 second walk didn’t cost me any time at all. Nevertheless, this was not in the plan. I very quickly picked up a mantra, of ‘Push Through It’ and ran the rest of the way. When I got to mile 16, with just one more to go, I had planned to stop for water. I picked up the water without stopping and drank on the run to the finish. I thought that if I stopped briefly to drink (as I planned), I might melt down into a walk-run finish. I repeated ‘Push Through’. I lost the energy to say ‘It’.
The final blended pace for the 17 miler was 10:14. This was actually faster than the previous week’s 15 miler (10:20). But it didn’t feel right and certainly not a well executed training run. Unlike the previous week, I did not feel like I could go any longer.
When I stopped, I felt a little dizzy. I drove to the WaWa to get some Gatorade. I was still a little fuzzy in the store, but felt much better after the Gatorade. Next came the numb finger tips.
About 30 minutes after the run, I noticed one of my fingers was numb at the tip. Then it seemed that one by one, all ten finger tips went numb. I felt stable otherwise and the numbness went away after a shower. I read later some explanation for the feeling in your fingers after running for long periods of time.
Suzanne finished her race in 2:17. This was a faster pace (10:27) than her training pace, which is how it should be. Based on our runs together, I told her that 2:20 was doable and would be a great race for her. She smoked that time easily.
The next day, Peter and I went over to my dad’s to shoot the breeze for a while. Dad was a college cross country runner and continued to run into his seventies and still gets out now for tennis, bike rides, walks and maybe some jogging as well. In any event, he always has interest in this kind of thing so I mentioned that I ran 17 miles at Ridley Creek.
Dad’s first reaction was ‘Are you sure your OK to do that?’. I realized, I probably shouldn’t mention the dizzy part or the numb fingers. He offered to join me on the next one and ride along on his bike to make sure I had water and stuff. I’m not sure if he realized that would be a 3 + hour bike ride. But he later made a comment about the hills at Ridley Creek. I immediately ran with this in my brain.
‘Of course I was not able to do these Long Runs at 10:00 MPM. This was a hilly course. I am basically doing hill work as part of my Long Run. Am I a stud or what?’
The only way to prove this theory would be to find a good flat course for the Long Runs. Ridley Creek is so convenient in terms of location and placing water etc, that I question how seriously I will look.
The rest of the runs for Week Eleven were done in the morning at the Y. They were a group on uneventful 4 and 5 milers. I ended up with 31 miles for the week. This is another milestone in my training: the first 30 mile week of my life (I think).
I am scheduled to do a 19 miler next week, but I need to give the final ten weeks of the plan some further evaluation.
The weather on Saturday morning was not remarkable. It was about 40 degrees when I started and the sun was coming through when I finished. I have been fortunate with the weather so far in this phase of my running. I had a real concern that if the winter brought some ice and snow, it would make weekend Long Runs difficult or impossible outside.
This is the weekend of Suzanne’s half marathon in Florida. She has been with me for the first portion of my Long Run for the previous three weeks. As I got ready to do this scheduled 17 miler, I needed to plan my individual pace from beginning to end. In the previous weeks, I knew that I would be going at Suzanne’s pace for more than half of my total distance.
I ran the first 6 miles at a 9:50 pace. I thought this was too fast for this run and tried to hold back a little. I ran the next 6 miles at approximately 10:10 pace. When I looked at my watch after 12 miles, I had mixed feelings. I was pleased that I was at right on target for an overall 10:00 pace. However, my body was telling me that this was too fast for this particular training run, on this particular day.
My feet and my legs were hurting more than they should at this point. I had five miles remaining and the next 2.5 miles would be uphill. I told myself to slow down , but as a runner, I knew that it was too late. The run should not be 70% complete when you realize that you have gone too fast. In the race, I expect pain in the final stages and I even expect that there will be some slowing of my pace. But for these training runs, the last bunch of miles should not be slowest: at least not by much.
I ran the last 5 miles at a 10:40 pace. The uphill portion was brutal. I was cursing the hills and at one point I realized I stopped running. My pace was so slow going up the hill, that this brief 30 second walk didn’t cost me any time at all. Nevertheless, this was not in the plan. I very quickly picked up a mantra, of ‘Push Through It’ and ran the rest of the way. When I got to mile 16, with just one more to go, I had planned to stop for water. I picked up the water without stopping and drank on the run to the finish. I thought that if I stopped briefly to drink (as I planned), I might melt down into a walk-run finish. I repeated ‘Push Through’. I lost the energy to say ‘It’.
The final blended pace for the 17 miler was 10:14. This was actually faster than the previous week’s 15 miler (10:20). But it didn’t feel right and certainly not a well executed training run. Unlike the previous week, I did not feel like I could go any longer.
When I stopped, I felt a little dizzy. I drove to the WaWa to get some Gatorade. I was still a little fuzzy in the store, but felt much better after the Gatorade. Next came the numb finger tips.
About 30 minutes after the run, I noticed one of my fingers was numb at the tip. Then it seemed that one by one, all ten finger tips went numb. I felt stable otherwise and the numbness went away after a shower. I read later some explanation for the feeling in your fingers after running for long periods of time.
Suzanne finished her race in 2:17. This was a faster pace (10:27) than her training pace, which is how it should be. Based on our runs together, I told her that 2:20 was doable and would be a great race for her. She smoked that time easily.
The next day, Peter and I went over to my dad’s to shoot the breeze for a while. Dad was a college cross country runner and continued to run into his seventies and still gets out now for tennis, bike rides, walks and maybe some jogging as well. In any event, he always has interest in this kind of thing so I mentioned that I ran 17 miles at Ridley Creek.
Dad’s first reaction was ‘Are you sure your OK to do that?’. I realized, I probably shouldn’t mention the dizzy part or the numb fingers. He offered to join me on the next one and ride along on his bike to make sure I had water and stuff. I’m not sure if he realized that would be a 3 + hour bike ride. But he later made a comment about the hills at Ridley Creek. I immediately ran with this in my brain.
‘Of course I was not able to do these Long Runs at 10:00 MPM. This was a hilly course. I am basically doing hill work as part of my Long Run. Am I a stud or what?’
The only way to prove this theory would be to find a good flat course for the Long Runs. Ridley Creek is so convenient in terms of location and placing water etc, that I question how seriously I will look.
The rest of the runs for Week Eleven were done in the morning at the Y. They were a group on uneventful 4 and 5 milers. I ended up with 31 miles for the week. This is another milestone in my training: the first 30 mile week of my life (I think).
I am scheduled to do a 19 miler next week, but I need to give the final ten weeks of the plan some further evaluation.
Friday, January 11, 2008
End of Week Ten (1/11/08)
According to the plan that I devised ten weeks ago, I was scheduled to run 29 miles this week. I ran 28 miles and consider it a very good week. I am now in the middle of the Endurance Phase of the BEST plan and the focus is, and should be, the Long Run on the weekend. On that score, I am pleased with my Long Runs. My 15 miler this week was a good experience.
A general premise of my plan from the start was that after the conclusion of the Base Phase, I wanted the flexibility and rest afforded to me by reducing my runs to three per week. The plan called for two mid week runs to accompany the Long Run. I am finding that aside from the scheduled Long Runs, I need even more flexible scheduling for the other miles in the week. This week, I spread my two scheduled mid week runs (7 and 7) to three mid week runs (6, 4 &3).
So I guess you could say that I want to have my cake and eat it too. If I want more days off, I will run longer mid week runs and if I want to reduce the length of the mid weekers, I will run more days. It seems fair to me. Rationalization: In this phase, the focus is on the Long Run and the other miles can be scheduled when it suits me as long as I continue to increase overall mileage. The sharpening and pacing will come in the next phase.
As I previously mentioned, the longest I have ever run in my life was 15 miles. I did that about eighteen months ago in a half hearted marathon preparation. I remember that 15 miler, and I walked often during the final 3 miles and I would classify that run as a bonk. In fact, that run was convincing enough at the time to ditch any thought of the marathon for 2006.
On Saturday, I set out for what I hoped to be a much stronger 15 miler. This would be the last time that Suzy joined me for a Long Run, as her race is next week
There are lots of things that can wrong when you ask your body to run for four hours. While it’s impossible to eliminate all possibility of bad things happening, there are things you can do to reduce the likelihood of problems. Very near the top of the list of items for which to prepare is proper hydration and fueling of your body for the Long Run.
Like other aspects of marathon training, you can find volumes of information and opinions on the Internet about how to best fuel your body. I have read lots of the material and the one piece of advice that is universally offered is to do the same thing on race day that has worked well for you in training. Up until now, I have just basically followed a common sense approach to make sure I ate before I ran and had water during the run. As I now enter the 15 mile and beyond world, I need to make sure that my fueling before and during the race is not a source of any worry or doubt.
Fortunately, I do have experience with using Power Bars and Gels (Goo) and Gatorade. In my experience with them all, I have found them helpful and they do not cause any issues with my stomach or otherwise. My plan for the 15 miler this week was to drink lots of water the evening before my run. Then in the morning, have a bagel with peanut butter, a banana and some skim milk about an hour before I ran. I brought water and two gels to take during my run. I ran at Ridley Creek, so it was easy to bring water along and place it at a point that I passed several times during the run.
I started the run with Suzy at her pace of just under 11:00 per mile. I felt like my energy stores were fully loaded during the first couple of miles. At mile 6, I took my first gel with some water. At mile 9, Suzy stopped as planned and started her taper for her race. My goal was to run the final 6 miles at a much faster pace. I took my second gel at mile 10 as I was picking up the pace.
I completed the last 6 miles on my own at a 9:25 pace. While I was running the final 2 miles, my body ached a bit from my feet to my waist. But, I had a strong feeling that I could go faster if I needed or longer if I needed. The new shoes felt great and the blisters I reported earlier were not an issue.
Later in the day on Saturday, I felt the effects of running for 2 & ½ hours. But my assessment was positive. My fueling strategy worked: I didn’t run out of gas. And I knew that my legs had just ran 25 miles over the past three days and could take more punishment if required.
There is not much to say about the mid week runs. I ran a 6 miler, a 4 miler and a 3 miler to complete the 28 mile week. My attention is really on the Long Run and next week is 17 miles.
Over the next several weeks, each run will be the longest I have ever gone. I am hopeful that the confidence of each breakthrough will offset the physical discomfort of getting to three hours and beyond.
A general premise of my plan from the start was that after the conclusion of the Base Phase, I wanted the flexibility and rest afforded to me by reducing my runs to three per week. The plan called for two mid week runs to accompany the Long Run. I am finding that aside from the scheduled Long Runs, I need even more flexible scheduling for the other miles in the week. This week, I spread my two scheduled mid week runs (7 and 7) to three mid week runs (6, 4 &3).
So I guess you could say that I want to have my cake and eat it too. If I want more days off, I will run longer mid week runs and if I want to reduce the length of the mid weekers, I will run more days. It seems fair to me. Rationalization: In this phase, the focus is on the Long Run and the other miles can be scheduled when it suits me as long as I continue to increase overall mileage. The sharpening and pacing will come in the next phase.
As I previously mentioned, the longest I have ever run in my life was 15 miles. I did that about eighteen months ago in a half hearted marathon preparation. I remember that 15 miler, and I walked often during the final 3 miles and I would classify that run as a bonk. In fact, that run was convincing enough at the time to ditch any thought of the marathon for 2006.
On Saturday, I set out for what I hoped to be a much stronger 15 miler. This would be the last time that Suzy joined me for a Long Run, as her race is next week
There are lots of things that can wrong when you ask your body to run for four hours. While it’s impossible to eliminate all possibility of bad things happening, there are things you can do to reduce the likelihood of problems. Very near the top of the list of items for which to prepare is proper hydration and fueling of your body for the Long Run.
Like other aspects of marathon training, you can find volumes of information and opinions on the Internet about how to best fuel your body. I have read lots of the material and the one piece of advice that is universally offered is to do the same thing on race day that has worked well for you in training. Up until now, I have just basically followed a common sense approach to make sure I ate before I ran and had water during the run. As I now enter the 15 mile and beyond world, I need to make sure that my fueling before and during the race is not a source of any worry or doubt.
Fortunately, I do have experience with using Power Bars and Gels (Goo) and Gatorade. In my experience with them all, I have found them helpful and they do not cause any issues with my stomach or otherwise. My plan for the 15 miler this week was to drink lots of water the evening before my run. Then in the morning, have a bagel with peanut butter, a banana and some skim milk about an hour before I ran. I brought water and two gels to take during my run. I ran at Ridley Creek, so it was easy to bring water along and place it at a point that I passed several times during the run.
I started the run with Suzy at her pace of just under 11:00 per mile. I felt like my energy stores were fully loaded during the first couple of miles. At mile 6, I took my first gel with some water. At mile 9, Suzy stopped as planned and started her taper for her race. My goal was to run the final 6 miles at a much faster pace. I took my second gel at mile 10 as I was picking up the pace.
I completed the last 6 miles on my own at a 9:25 pace. While I was running the final 2 miles, my body ached a bit from my feet to my waist. But, I had a strong feeling that I could go faster if I needed or longer if I needed. The new shoes felt great and the blisters I reported earlier were not an issue.
Later in the day on Saturday, I felt the effects of running for 2 & ½ hours. But my assessment was positive. My fueling strategy worked: I didn’t run out of gas. And I knew that my legs had just ran 25 miles over the past three days and could take more punishment if required.
There is not much to say about the mid week runs. I ran a 6 miler, a 4 miler and a 3 miler to complete the 28 mile week. My attention is really on the Long Run and next week is 17 miles.
Over the next several weeks, each run will be the longest I have ever gone. I am hopeful that the confidence of each breakthrough will offset the physical discomfort of getting to three hours and beyond.
Friday, January 4, 2008
End of Week Nine (1/4/08)
It might be generous to say that my execution of the plan for Week Nine was not ideal. But it might also be harsh to say that it was just plain lousy. In the end, I think it’s fair to say that if my Week Nine performance becomes commonplace, the whole plan is in jeopardy.
The week called for a Long Run of 13 miles followed by two mid week 7 milers.
I got out on Sunday for the Long Run. Once again, I ran the first several miles with Suzy. Her half marathon is on 1/12/08 and today I ran the first 8 miles with her. She did well and we completed these miles at an approximate 10:45 pace. She left, and I went on for 5 more miles. I was generally pleased with my 5 solo miles, which I completed at a 9:23 pace. My total run was 13 miles in 2:12 (that’s hours and minutes).
Looking back on the Base Phase, I never got around to running much at my race pace. Now in the Endurance Phase, it will be even more unlikely to go out and do many runs at Marathon Pace (MP), it I want to get in all the miles. I look forward to the Speed Phase to start running faster. However, I am reminded of what I have read from a few marathon training experts, specifically Mc Millian, who promotes the value of the ‘Fast Finish Long Run’. The general principle behind this is to keep the first portion of your Long Run at 60-90 seconds slower than MP. Then run the last few miles at goal MP.
As you know, 9:23 is not my goal MP; I am shooting for 9:00. In McMillian’s writing on the Fast Finish Long Run, he suggests that these are hard workouts and should not be done every time you go out for a Long Run. On Sunday, I could have done the 5 miles at MP, but that really wasn’t my goal. My goal was to get under a 10:00 mpm pace. I chalk this up to a modified Fast Finish Long Run.
On the subject of pacing, I realize that I need to test myself at some time in the near future. I want to make sure that I am not delusional about running 26.2 miles at 9:00. I will consider a 10K or 10 miler in the coming weeks to test my fitness. McMillian also has an excellent tool for figuring equivalent performances at other distances. For example, you plug in your time for a certain distance and it will calculate equivalent race times/paces at other distances. Of course, you must have trained for the distance in order for this to be valid. My time for the half marathon was 1:49, which equates to a 3:50 marathon. This is one of the things that give me confidence of my ability. But my current running times are slowly chipping away at that confidence.
After the Long Run I took Monday off and Tuesday was New Years Day. The weather was good, but I didn’t run. Then I didn’t run on Wednesday either. To stick with the plan, I would need to put in a 7 miler on both Thursday and Friday. This is what I mean about less than ideal execution of the plan.
Patti and I are hosting a large family party this coming Saturday evening and I know I will spend all of Sunday in clean up mode and taking down Christmas lights, tress etc. I won’t have time to spend two and half hours running, so my 15 miler next week needs to be on Saturday. If my math is correct that totals 29 (7+7+15) miles in three consecutive days. That is what I mean about execution that is just plain lousy.
I should have run Tuesday and when I didn’t there was no excuse not to run on Wednesday.
I ran my 7 miler on the treadmill at Y on Thursday AM and it was monotonous, but not too difficult. On the drive to work, I was once again, going over the alternatives of running over the next couple days. At one point I was convinced to skip Friday and be fresh for the 15 miler on Saturday. Since I felt OK, I then convinced myself to suck it up and put in all the miles. In the end, I got on the treadmill Friday morning and did 3 miles.
I did 23 miles for the week, which is the same total as last week. I didn’t skip any runs, but did cut one short. I am pretty sure the right thing would have been to take the day off and focus on Saturday’s Long Run. I guess I can’t stand the shame. One thing is certain, as I write this on Friday afternoon; I am glad I didn’t do all 7 miles this morning. 15 miles is the most I have ever run and I am coming off two days of running.
While I should have been running on Tuesday, I went out and got a new pair of running shoes (Asics Nimbus 9). I like them very much after two runs, but have a little blister situation going that should make Saturday even more fun.
The week called for a Long Run of 13 miles followed by two mid week 7 milers.
I got out on Sunday for the Long Run. Once again, I ran the first several miles with Suzy. Her half marathon is on 1/12/08 and today I ran the first 8 miles with her. She did well and we completed these miles at an approximate 10:45 pace. She left, and I went on for 5 more miles. I was generally pleased with my 5 solo miles, which I completed at a 9:23 pace. My total run was 13 miles in 2:12 (that’s hours and minutes).
Looking back on the Base Phase, I never got around to running much at my race pace. Now in the Endurance Phase, it will be even more unlikely to go out and do many runs at Marathon Pace (MP), it I want to get in all the miles. I look forward to the Speed Phase to start running faster. However, I am reminded of what I have read from a few marathon training experts, specifically Mc Millian, who promotes the value of the ‘Fast Finish Long Run’. The general principle behind this is to keep the first portion of your Long Run at 60-90 seconds slower than MP. Then run the last few miles at goal MP.
As you know, 9:23 is not my goal MP; I am shooting for 9:00. In McMillian’s writing on the Fast Finish Long Run, he suggests that these are hard workouts and should not be done every time you go out for a Long Run. On Sunday, I could have done the 5 miles at MP, but that really wasn’t my goal. My goal was to get under a 10:00 mpm pace. I chalk this up to a modified Fast Finish Long Run.
On the subject of pacing, I realize that I need to test myself at some time in the near future. I want to make sure that I am not delusional about running 26.2 miles at 9:00. I will consider a 10K or 10 miler in the coming weeks to test my fitness. McMillian also has an excellent tool for figuring equivalent performances at other distances. For example, you plug in your time for a certain distance and it will calculate equivalent race times/paces at other distances. Of course, you must have trained for the distance in order for this to be valid. My time for the half marathon was 1:49, which equates to a 3:50 marathon. This is one of the things that give me confidence of my ability. But my current running times are slowly chipping away at that confidence.
After the Long Run I took Monday off and Tuesday was New Years Day. The weather was good, but I didn’t run. Then I didn’t run on Wednesday either. To stick with the plan, I would need to put in a 7 miler on both Thursday and Friday. This is what I mean about less than ideal execution of the plan.
Patti and I are hosting a large family party this coming Saturday evening and I know I will spend all of Sunday in clean up mode and taking down Christmas lights, tress etc. I won’t have time to spend two and half hours running, so my 15 miler next week needs to be on Saturday. If my math is correct that totals 29 (7+7+15) miles in three consecutive days. That is what I mean about execution that is just plain lousy.
I should have run Tuesday and when I didn’t there was no excuse not to run on Wednesday.
I ran my 7 miler on the treadmill at Y on Thursday AM and it was monotonous, but not too difficult. On the drive to work, I was once again, going over the alternatives of running over the next couple days. At one point I was convinced to skip Friday and be fresh for the 15 miler on Saturday. Since I felt OK, I then convinced myself to suck it up and put in all the miles. In the end, I got on the treadmill Friday morning and did 3 miles.
I did 23 miles for the week, which is the same total as last week. I didn’t skip any runs, but did cut one short. I am pretty sure the right thing would have been to take the day off and focus on Saturday’s Long Run. I guess I can’t stand the shame. One thing is certain, as I write this on Friday afternoon; I am glad I didn’t do all 7 miles this morning. 15 miles is the most I have ever run and I am coming off two days of running.
While I should have been running on Tuesday, I went out and got a new pair of running shoes (Asics Nimbus 9). I like them very much after two runs, but have a little blister situation going that should make Saturday even more fun.
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