Rebirth after an
injury is really awesome thing! My running has been going extremely, extremely
well! My last week's appointment with the podiatrist went better than
expected. All the pain in my peroneal tendon is completely gone, I got the go
ahead to run a fall marathon if I choose and both of my insoles in my two pairs
of running shoes were tweaked by a professional. Since then I've been steadily
ramping up the mileage. A good rule of thumb is to only add about 10% more
mileage per week when building up. As somebody who's been running for a long
time I think that this is a pretty solid rule to follow. That being said, I
think that everyone's different. Some runners can tolerate more, some can't
tolerate that much. I think that my base was really solid going into the
injury. So, I think I may have some wiggle room with that number. Nothing
crazy. But, I think that my body can take a little more than someone who's new
to running.
To all of you who responded
to my FB question about whether to run the Empire State Marathon or a self
imposed 26.2 run on New Year's Eve I thank you! To think that some of you even
offered to keep me company and pace me during my New Year's Eve run is unbelievable!
I'm so speechless! You guys rock!
After much consideration and
thought I decided earlier this week to scrap the Rochester Marathon. Even with
not getting much mileage logged for my two month injury hiatus I could probably
still run the race. But, the suffering would be pretty difficult. The
marathon isn't like any other race. And after running 10 of them I've come to
realize that the more quality training you put in equals a more relaxed, less
painful and overall enjoyable race in the end. For those of you contemplating
running a marathon, please don't read too much into this. The marathon is a
great distance and even though I swore up and down after running my first that
I would never run another, you will be instantly hooked and return for more
races. You will come to enjoy that suffering in a way that only a long distance
runner could understand. Please go for it! On a side note here, one of my
coworkers who's running it this year was perusing the pre-registered runners
names and came across a Mark Sands. He mentioned that he saw that I was
registered. Old age does bad things to your mind. After emailing the race
organizers I discovered that I'd registered already all the way back in March
for the full! Ooops! Totally forgot! I'll be able to defer that until next year
with no penalty thank goodness! Look out Rochester
What I did decided on is to run the Empire State Marathon on October, 20
in Syracuse , NY Rochester
Today I took a good long look at how much time I've got and my training
plan. I've got a lot of time until the
race and think that I can safely build up to some really good solid long runs.
Maybe even as many as three 20 plus milers. But, I'm going to have to pay
attention to my body, eat well, heavily emphasize the cross-training and core
workouts, get my sleep and be flexible with my expectations. Unless the Running
Gods smile down on me quite a bit, this race isn't going to be the Boston Qualifier
I wanted this year.
So, I had my plan and today's long run was a huge test to see if it was
even possible. To be honest, I was a little scared. It wouldn't be the end of
the world if I couldn't run a marathon this year. I could always gamble on the
New Year's Eve weather. But this is upstate NY, when you typically gamble on
the weather, you loose. Today's nine miles would be the longest that I've ran
in a long time. This week was really exhausting too. This stupid chest cold is
sticking around, making sleeping impossible and leaving me hacking like a chain
smoker after my runs. But, being a distance runner means going out of your
comfort zone and pushing yourself. So, I got out there.
What
an amazing run! It's been sweltering here all week with high humidity. But,
today the heat wave finally broke. Just perfect weather. I felt really good
during the entire distance. It also was the first run of the season where I
brought fluids and gel. Felt a little bloated from the fluid. Gotta figure out
the right amount of fluid intake. Felt that way earlier this year during my
half marathon too. Something's changed. More than likely, with my weight loss I
don't need as much as often. The tendon didn't ache a bit. Nothing did
actually! My pace was a tad slow but not that bad. Between now and October I
think that I can improve on that. I stretched well after and just basked in the
good vibes. Damn, it felt good to be back!
I'm
looking forward to lots of good training in the next couple of months. It's a
good feeling to have that hunger again. I bought two fresh pairs of my Brooks
Beast running shoes. Out of 25 pairs, the red and black color scheme is the
best that I've ever seen! Man, I love the smell of new running shoes! Can't wait to run in them! Finally bought a
replacement silver lightning bolt pendant to replace my old broken one. Athletes
are superstitious people and that includes runners. I love the superhero Flash
and his symbol is a lightning bolt. It may be a silly mental thing, but I've
run some fast times wearing that necklace getting my superhero mojo on! I'll
have to tell you sometime about my insane good luck way that I lace my running
shoes. Good lord, I'm weird!
Come October I'll have a great race regardless of what the clock says. New
race, new course, new outlook. I'm going to run that race wearing my superhero Flash
bling with my particularly laced bad ass colored running shoes and cross that
finish line with a smile! This year I'm going to run for my life.
As
soon as this stupid chest colds takes a hike I'll throw out some more 366 Podcasts.
For now, I'll spare you me hacking up a lung! Some of you gave me a really good
idea for the final day of the 366 Project on New Year's Eve. Next blog and
podcast I'll discuss this further. But, for now, keep your social calendar
clear on that day and buy some cold weather running gear...
No comments:
Post a Comment