Getting back to Boston

What a way to start a new month of running! Five a.m., temperature above 80, heat index above 85 -- and dawn is still an hour-15 away. Six of us really deranged Crackheads showed up, only to find our meeting spot occupied by a fishing tournament. So we moved a quarter-mile down and set out from there. Pat and I really tried to go out slow, drink a lot, walk occasionally. Pat set out his cooler where we would run by it twice, and we raided it for ice-cold water both times and stopped to rest. And even with all those precautions, and our gels and my four water bottles, we all crashed in the heat. My 15.66 miles took just about three hours. And all of us looked like we needed an IV when we finished.

Thus ends my 45.66-mile week, my most ever -- until next week. Now, back to bed. So I finally get back up at 1:30 p.m. It's already 102 degrees outside. That ain't right, y'all.

Decided to shuffle the schedule once again -- the Monday run gets pushed to Tuesday, with another recovery run moved into the Monday slot. The Wednesday sorta-long run gets moved to Thursday. Friday is still the off day. We'll see how that works, and if my legs are able to snap back between a Thursday night 10-miler and a Saturday dawn 16-miler. Might end up doing 19 miles back to back some weeks -- 9 on Tuesday, 10 on Wednesday -- or might go back to the Monday-Wednesday split.

Anyway, peripherally connected to all that, did four miles of recovery on the TM. Could have done it around noon when it was cloudy, windy and (relatively) cool -- about 90. But I didn't, and by 5 p.m., when we went to see my brother in the hospital, it was back up to 100 degrees. Scott's doing better, but seems to be quite subdued after getting zapped (zapping does tend to do that). Hopefully he'll be discharged by midweek. The legs were a little bit rubbery after yesterday's 15.6, but no real pain. Certainly not as bad as yesterday -- I tried to get out of bed during my post-run nap, and the left hamstring cramped up massively, even worse than during the marathon. I was able to push my knee back out straight which got the cramp to subside, and went back to bed for another two hours' snooze time or so.

There was a new twinge tonight, though -- after about a mile, my left heel began to hurt, kind of an intermittent, stabbing type discomfort. I shifted my stride a little bit and it soon went away. Kinda reminded me of the Sever's disease I had as a kid, although not exactly. Is it due to shoes that need to be replaced? Possibly. I bought this pair of shoes in January; not sure how many miles they have, but quite a few. I need to work in a couple more new pairs in the next 2 months, for sure.

Not quite the routine recovery run. Three miles at 9:22, then 0.75 at MP, then cranked it up to 8.2 mph for the last lap. Felt the need to run somewhat fast tonight, even if not for very long. Tomorrow, nine miles of more of the same. Legs felt fine, no more twinges in the left heel.

Tonight is what it's supposed to feel like, I think. After 3.25 miles at MP+20%, and roughly 3.25 miles at MP+10%, I decided to let it rip and cranked the TM up to MP. And I was cruisin' at MP -- not straining, not pushing, just maintaining a steady pace without much difficulty. Then for the last lap, I cranked it up another mile an hour and basically sprinted. Capped it off by going over to the parking lot and doing my strides as my cat, Max, stopped by to watch. That pace took its toll a litle bit during the strides, as my right groin felt a little sore -- not strained, just unusual-level-of-exertion sore. Hopefully over the next 17 weeks, that level of exertion will be neither unusual nor cause discomfort.

Amazingly, the problem after last night's 9 is not the legs. The legs are fine. What hurts like heck are my abs. It feels like I did 3000 situps. Sometimes the abs are a little sore early in a run, then I settle in. Not tonight. They never did settle in. The best way I could get through the run was to almost feel like I was leaning backwards as I ran; that at least reduced the discomfort. Was I running leaning forward last night? I don't think so, but the abs seem to be telling me otherwise. I think I'm going to ice down my abs tonight (boy, that sounds strange). But with sore abs, no temptation whatsoever to push the pace (but a whole lot of temptation to turn the TM off and leave).

Good night's sleep last night, which helps, and work was not bad. But the abs were sore even at work, which probably should have tipped me off.

So here I am in another first -- my first marathon-equivalent in 36 hours during training. Tonight, 10-mile progression run on the TM; Saturday morning, 16 on the road. I am pleased to report that the abdominal discomfort, while not completely gone, is much better, The legs, well, not so much. Not painful, but just lackluster. I was able to maintain a good pace, all right, but the energy wasn't there. Of course, a little session of, uh, marriage maintenance before the run might have had something to do with that :)

Started the run at 10:12 pace and just gradually bumped up the pace, spemding about .75 miles at each level before speeding up again. Finally got it to 8:20-something for the last two miles and left it there. Overall average for the 10 miles, right at 9:00. Since Sub-Four remains Plan B, that's kinda sorta MP-B on average, and the last half of the run was faster than MP-B. Never quite got to MP-A level, though, so I'm not going to count any MP miles on the log.

Saturday will be interesting. In my favor, the weather is supposed to be much cooler, maybe even in the high 60s when we depart pre-dawn. Working against me is an extremely hilly course -- Arts Center to Central High to the Capitol, up Kavanaugh, loop around Cammack Village, back down Kavanaugh and Markham to the River Market, then work back to the Arts Center. After this one, though, Memphis, even with cambered streets, should be a snap. And the last probably 6-7 miles is essentially downhill. Hopefully, I'll handle this 16 a lot better than last Saturday's almost-16.

All sorts of firsts for me today.

* First 48-mile week.

* First time to run the equivalent of a marathon in a 36-hour period in training.

* First time I put the hammer down in the second half of a long run.

Finally got a break from the weather. It was 71 when we started at 5 a.m., and 73 when I finished two hours, 38 minutes later. Ran with Pat and Anna for the first 3-4 miles, then Anna peeled off. Pat kept trying to slow down, which I went along with for the first 10 miles, but once we headed back down Kavanaugh from Cammack, I just put the hammer down and pushed about four sub-9 miles. Water stop and traffic interrupted the flow, and I also stopped to eat a gel at about 12 miles, but overall very pleased with the run (9:43 avg. even with the blips).

I think I've finally determined that my left foot must be a little bigger than the right, or else my left shoe on the adizero CS pair is smaller than the right. That's the one that's going to give me trouble if I have any trouble during a run. I definitely like the weight savings with those shoes, though, and will just order a 9.5 next time.

No problems with the abs, although abs have not been a problem anyway on the road runs, just the TMs. Maybe my body is telling me to get off the treadmill and go outside, and if we start getting a lot more weather like today, I can do that.

Slept well last night, but a nap would work too. So I'm gonna go take one.

Pretty much took it easy most of Saturday and today after the 18-miler, helped in large part by the fact it rained a lot. Went to the grocery around 4, then after that decided to get my run in before Pam and Tyler got home from Camden. Only then did I discover that the abs, or the iliopsoas or whatever the heck is hurting, are back with a vengenance. Hurt during the run, hurt a lot more after it.

It was still raining, or misting, as I ran, which succeeded only in washing skin oil down into my eyes, so I was basically running blind. Not a comfortable run by any means, between the abs and the eyes. Kept it to a 10:00 pace. Then got home, iced the abs, which helped for a while, did some core strengthening (which probably made it worse), watched a little Olympic swimming, then went to bed. Around 2, the muscles had stiffened again, so I got up to take something and decided to update the blog. I'll ice some more at work, I think, but may h ave to put off the 10-miler I'm supposed to do Monday night.

After ice and some core work last night, the abs felt better today, both at work and on the treadmill. Took it a little bit easy on the run, in that I extended the warmup period to get up to MP+20%, then kinda cut short the MP+10 period -- but that last one was because I decided to do my strides on the treadmill instead of going outside. So for the last five laps I'd stride 100 meters, jog 100, stride 100, etc. Worked well except the speed control didn't want to slow down from stride a couple of times (seems to happen when my sweat's been flying for 75 minutes or so).

Overall, a good 10-mile run, and the abs were a minimal issue, hardly noticeable at all, especially when I started having to concentrate on maintaining the pace of my legs. I still have to become more willing to slow down on my runs; my tendency to run too fast, which can get me in trouble on race day, also can get me hurt in training. Pat is a good influence in that way, but he won't be with me in Memphis and in a few Saturday runs before then.

Routine five-miler on the TM. Still some residual soreness in the rectus (recti?), but that's mainly an issue when I sneeze, not when I run. For now, anyway. Just kinda cruised the five at 9:22 pace; took about three miles to really get warmed up, then the legs felt stronger the last five miles. I'm really trying to take advantage of the TM to work on my cadence, pick it up instead of loping, which is my tendency. If I really focus on cadence, I'm in the mid-170s at a slow pace, better at a faster pace. Even got over 180 last week for about four minutes. I know it's not supposed to be that way, your cadence is supposed to be the same at any speed, but it's not for me, at least not on the TM.

I could pretend that the acceleration in today's run was because my legs felt so great. That would be a load of bull. I cranked up the TM because I wanted to finish and get the heck off of there. Period. I was supposed to go get an errand done this afternoon and thus left work an hour early. Couldn't do the errand, and knew it beforehand, but left anyway (I'd seen all my patients), and thus got to start the run an hour early. Not entirely good (it was the warmest in the fitness room I've ever seen), but got it over with and finished before Pam even got home from work (although she DID stay a little late).

Having said that I just wanted to get that run over with, the legs did feel a little better once I got to about MP+5%. Feet didn't feel that great though; wouldn't say they hurt, they just felt weird, almost like I was running barefoot. Abs were mildly bothersome, but again I forgot about them as the run went on and other physical issues intervened.

This puts me at, what, 29 miles for the week, with another 22 or so to go, so on track for a 50-mile week. I remember a year ago, looking at training plans that topped out at maybe 47 mpw and saying to myself  "I can't possibly run 47 miles in a week, nor do I want to." Well, here I am -- 48 last week, looks like 51 this week, on my way to 61 in a month or so. 

Had dinner with Mom and Dad, so debated waiting until Friday morning to put in this five-miler. As usual, my dislike of the alarm clock won out, and I ran tonight. Went fine, except that I triggered the shutoff switch on the TM somewhere around 0.20 miles (thus this mileage figure is an estimate). Since I wasn't sure exactly how far I'd gone before the TM shut down, I just ran the whole 5.0 once I restarted. Easy pace, went well.

Sitting here watching Michael Phelps go for/win gold medal #6 as I type. I'll never be in the Olympics, or the Trials, may never even attend an Olympics (ATL may have been my last best chance), but I have my own gold medal dangling in front of me. It's called Boston. And I think if I cross the line in Memphis in, say, 3:30:05, I'll have the same feelings of accomplishment and goal-reached as Phelps or hopefully Tyson Gay, Deena Kastor, Amy Yoder Begley or any of my other fellow Razorbacks in Beijing.

Only 70 degrees this morning, but man, there was zero evaporation. I kept hoping that those clouds would start dropping some rain, but never saw a drop. Saw three screaming sirens though; apparently something happened at or near Big Dam Bridge when I was crossing it on the way back to Allsopp Park, and the sirens soon followed up Rebsamen Park Road. Did somebody jump off? Maybe.

I don't know if the humidity or the state of my hip flexors was the bigger problem (and they may well have been connected). They never loosened up. Since the stretching study ended, I haven't been as diligent about my stretching, but I wasn't doing any stretches of the hip flexors anyway, so I'm not clear as to the connection. I guess I definitely need to identify and do some focused stretching in that area, though; it is becoming a recurring issue.

As tight as the HFs were, though, I got my 17 miles (roughly) done in less than three hours. Not great, but could have been worse. Probably went out a little too fast; I felt comfortable at about 9:00 pace for the first six miles, but that along with the humidity may have caught up with me.

Now nap time, then take my son shopping for school stuff and new New Balances, then watch the women's marathon tonight. Go Deena!!!! Sooieee!!!!

A routine, pain-free, slow five-miler on the TM. No ill effects from my first 50-mile week, yet, although we'll see how Monday's tempo run goes.

I keep having runs like this, I might start to think 3:30 is actually doable. I started tonight's 10-miler basically dreading it, especially that little five-mile tempo segment in the middle. I didn't feel like my legs were recovered from Saturday's 17. Did the three-mile warmup, then accelerated to LT pace (in this case, 7:35). I kept expecting the flexors to lock up or the hammy to cramp or the abs to explode or something. But they never did. So I just kept going and before I knew it, the five miles were done and I was backing off to recovery pace. Then, even better, the pool outside was (a) empty and (b) actually cool, for once, and I had a nice, refreshing 10-minute swim/underwater stretch before I headed home to finally eat dinner at 9 p.m.

Not much to report today. Just cruised an easy 5 on the TM. Kinda achy this morning after the LT run last night, but no ill effects on tonight's recovery run.

It occurs to me that my sleep reports on this blog are largely works of fiction, or at best extremely rough estimates. I wake up SO many times every night -- because I'm cold, because I'm hot, because I've been in one position too long, because the cat is crowding me, because Pam just came to bed, because I have to go to the bathroom or get a glass of water -- that merely doing the math between the time I turn off the lights and the time I turn off the alarm clock doesn't tell the true story.

Hard time with the 10-miler -- not my legs this time, just general exhaustion, as though I were going to fall asleep on the TM. Actually backed down the pace the last 0.75, but I'd done the Pfitz progression the first 9.25. Then showered, ate and went straight to bed. Hopefully that will recharge the battery somewhat.

Pretty routine 5-mile recovery run tonight on the TM as it rained outside (again). Had a little twinge around the left heel, which subsided as the run went on. But there's now a little rough spot or kink in the lining of my right insole in the LRM shoes (which I REALLY need to replace) and it's rubbed a nice blister on my right instep. I'll have to put one of those mondo Bandaids over that puppy before Saturday's 18-miler.

Legs felt good, and I overall felt much better after a solid nine hours of sleep.

Meanwhile, I'm getting ticked off watching the Olympic track team screw around. I blame the coach, who was selected by politics instead of on merit, and then pointedly cut out the single greatest track coach in American history (that would be John McDonnell if you haven't paid attention to American track for the last 30 years). John only has about 40 more national championships than that clown they took from Texas.

OK, I need to figure this out. Either I've pushed too hard, too fast, or my nutrition really is inadequate right now. Or both. Probably both, in fact. But this morning was a struggle. So much so, that I bailed on my run. The 5 a.m. start brought us 75 degrees and 100 percent humidity, and I did not adapt well at all. By the three-mile mark, I could tell it was going to be a really long run, and by 4.5, I told Pat to go on ahead. The legs never did have any life, and finally at 9 miles, I got back reasonably near the starting spot and faced a choice: Turn left and take a seven-mile loop, or turn right and go back to the start. I took about five steps left, then said "don't be stupid" and turned around and went toward the start. Getting back to the start was about 10.5, then I ran a lap around Lake Willastein, left the start area for a Club Manor-Audubon loop, then did another lap around the lake. All of that got my total up to 13.12 -- almost exactly a half-marathon. I actually managed a decent pace on that last lap around the lake, but all in all this morning was a bonk, to be honest.

Even though I know cutting the run short this morning was the right thing to do, I'm still torn between that and wanting to slap myself upside the head for being a wuss. But I think I could have/would have gotten into serious trouble if I'd pushed another five miles: injury, or heat stress, or both (why is it that every time we run at Maumelle, the weather is unfavorable -- usually ridiculously humid?) 

Now the true test of my obsessive-compulsive nature -- will I go out tonight for another five miles to get my 18 for today? Depends on how the legs feel in five or six hours. Maybe I'll run on the TM while I watch the men's marathon tonight. 

Next week was already scheduled as a back-off week, possibly a week too late for my legs; I think I'm down for 42 with another 13 next Saturday, but I may back that off some more.  I'll try to make sure my nutrition improves during the week to restock the glycogen stores. 

No treadmill for me; they changed the access code on the fitness room and I don't have the new one yet. So I just went down to the river and ran from the I-30 bridge to the skateboard park and back. Very warm and humid, but a nice breeze made it almost tolerable, especially as the sun set. Ran the five in less than 9:00 pace, which seems right now to be what my body wants to run if I'm not conscious of exactly how fast I'm going. Wasn't a great run, but better than yesterday. That blister on my right foot is still bothering me; it keeps getting rubbed. Put a bandage on it for the long run which slipped off within the first three miles (big help there).

Hmm. Starting to develop some theories about last week's case of dead legs. Did I need a stepdown week? Absolutely. But was that the only issue? I doubt it. Seems like I had gotten into a rut -- running the same types of workouts at the same speeds, recovery/GA/MP+20/MP+10. Needed to do something different. So last night I did my whole recovery run at basically MP plus 10, and tonight I turned my GA run into an MP run, first one I've done in quite a while.

I think my nutrition and hydration is still not where it should be, although I'm working on them, so tonight was probably tougher than it should have been. But I managed to hold MP for more than four miles tonight, then did some strides at the end at MP-minus speeds. Then I got in the pool, which felt REALLY good (oh, I got the new fitness center code today, so back to the TM).

Tomorrow I'll do a slow four, then another eight on Wednesday, four more on Thursday, then 13 Saturday before I go to Fayetteville. 

Just cruised four miles on the TM tonight (and retrieved the t-shirt I left up there last night). No muss, no fuss, just put in the miles. It was harder getting through work today (given the unshakable desire, all day, to curl up and take a nap) than running, by a long shot.

Good progression run tonight, starting from 10:00 pace all the way up to MP-6%. Ran for exactly 72 minutes. Energy level was good, thanks in large part to a huge lunch that had me fighting off the urge to nap all afternoon, but not starving six hours later. Then the pool afterward felt REAL good.

Saturday's a stepdown day, only 13 miles, but we go back to Oucho's -- the West Little Rock Alps. You Utah people on this blog would feel right at home on the Oucho's run -- all they'd need is snow and some chairlifts and you'd have at least a medium difficulty ski run on much of this route.

Cruised for 40 minutes, which wound up being 4.22 miles. Felt easy, didn't even sweat much (got away with a cotton t-shirt). Legs feel a little stronger after backing off this week; I guess Saturday's 13 will be a better test. Saturday will also test some psychological things I need to work on, like not letting myself take walk breaks.

Now that's more like it. Solid 13-miler today, no walking, good pace, even picked it up the last four miles on an EXTREMELY hilly course. Only three miles run at more than 10:00 pace, all of those on the big hills, and none slower than 10:30.

Which tells me two things: Poor nutrition has been part of my problem, as well as the legs just needed a break after five weeks of continually mounting mileage. Weather was not much help today (75 and humid pretty much throughout), but it didn't clobber me like it did last week, even with a less than satisfactory sleep last night (I don't sleep well anyway, but particularly it seems when I'm going to be getting up at 4 a.m. to run). So weather didn't bother me, lack of sleep didn't hamper me, but lack of fuel in the tank and tired muscles did.

So now for a recovery bar, a shower, a nap, then get up and get ready to drive to Fayetteville. One more reason for the nap: I'll probably get back from Fayetteville around 1:30 or 2 a.m., which makes this a 22-hour day. Good thing I don't have to work Monday. I'll need most of that day to do the laundry and other things I won't get to today or Sunday.

Oh, one more thing: Today pushes me over the 200-mile mark for this month, which I'm pretty sure is a PR for me (even counting high school track, for which I did very little base training; that's probably why I was so mediocre. Oh, if I'd known then...).