End of Week Fourteen (2-8-08)

It’s Friday morning and I just completed a good 15 miler. I did it in exactly 60 minutes. I actually got stronger during the finish and completed the 15th mile in just under three minutes. Yes it was on the exercise bike.

This was the first week after my setback. All things considered, I’m pleased with the results. I mixed in 3, 4 and 5 mile runs across the week and finished with 20 miles for Week 14. The pain in my foot comes and goes during the week, but I believe it is generally diminishing. I’ve been keeping true to my icing twice a day. Based on my expert medical opinion, I’m classifying this as a case of tendonitis. I won’t go into reasons that lead me to this diagnosis, but they are compelling enough that I have suspended all Internet based research on the topic.

Its very important for me to get the mileage cranked up real quick. Irrespective of the actual condition of my foot, I’m certain that it an over-use injury. I’m also relatively certain that the condition was triggered by the Long Runs of 15, 17 and 20 miles on consecutive weeks with overall weekly mileage that was only in the high 20’s and low 30’s. Finally, I’m betting it all on the belief that I can get back on track for 30-40 mile weeks without risk of injury as long as I manage the distribution of my miles better.

I re-read what I wrote a couple weeks ago about the adjustments that I wanted to make to the plan. After my setback, I still agree with most of what I wrote. In particular, I agree with the part about needing more miles and the relative importance of base mileage vs. individual Long Runs. However, I got one thing backward (I think). I wrote ‘The first step is to plan my remaining Long Runs and then build around that’. I now think overall mileage should be planned first and Long Runs placed whereby their duration and timing make better sense.

It is seven weeks until the race. Next week I plan to run 27 miles. That’s the same mileage that I was running back in Week Nine. From this point forward I can then count on safe and modest weekly increases to max out at 40 miles right before my taper. That will be when I run my next and final 20 miler. The multiple weeks of high mileage will surely make the Long Run easier and more importantly, it will make recovery easier. If this holds true, it will leave me with 3 runs of three hours or more. I can live with that.

Following next week’s mileage buildup, I am looking forward to hitting the track and roads for the Speed Phase. When my foot started acting up, I feared that the Speed Phase would need to be reduced or cut out completely in order to get to the starting line injury free. That was pessimistic thinking that is no longer with me. As the weather starts to warm up, I’ll be out there doing more Marathon Pace runs, Mile Repeats, and other fun stuff.

Does it sound like I’m making this up as I go along? I’m really not. The plan has kept its shape with the four phases. Yes, there have been some adjustments and doubt along the way and I’m sure there will be more of both before this whole thing is over.