11 Weeks and Counting

With 11 weeks to go before my 25k planned for May my training is about to become a bit more specific.  For the last few weeks I have been trying to acclimate my body to the stress and strains of training by focusing on slow and steady mileage with the occasional tempo workout thrown in for good measure.  I have a long way to go before returning to any sort of good racing shape, but have confidence in my training schedule and am not putting too much weight on my performance in the Spring.  I would rather go into the spring healthy and at 80 percent fit, than to go into the spring injured.  Being fit in May will make transitioning into marathon training a breeze. 
Yesterday I started my weekly outdoor sessions with an easy 10 miler with 2 of the miles at tempo pace and the rest at or below my steady state training pace.  I ran into another runner who when I passed him @ 7:30 pace he wanted to press on with me through the hills for a couple of miles.  I used this experience to  run below 7:30 pace for a couple miles, use the hills to my advantage and remember how to press on when someone in right on your shoulder.  I normally don't do this when out on a training run, but I am a competitor at heart and do not get enough chances to shift into a higher gear too often.  Tempos also remind me of just how far from being in shape I am.  In two weeks I run 4 miles at tempo pace and am sure I will reaffirm that I am not in that great of shape.  I look forward to the challenge that the 4 mile tempo will bring.  This week I am running 3 x 1.5 miles at tempo pace and a 9.5 mile steady state run.  Pretty simple week with 2 longer runs, a tempo and 2 or 3 easy runs thrown in to round out the mileage.  At this early in my training cycle I am still a little timid, but I have to remind myself that with 11 weeks to go your body can make profound changes and become stronger and sharper than you would believe possible. 

Icy Beards

Trying to move myself back out into the cold this week for my long run.  The treadmill sessions have been great, but I am starting to feel that the repetitive pounding of the same footfall in my shins.  Not a big deal, I didn't plan on running more than 25 miles a week on the treadmill anyway.  I took a nice easy 9 mile run on Sunday morning. 17 degree tempretures didn't seem to phase me and I was warmed up by mile 3 or so.  March is on the horizon so my long runs need to start to build.  The plan is to get up into the upper 30s by the beginning of April, and move back into the forties for the month touching 50 once or twice before my taper in the first week of May.   I am off to New York at the end of March where I will be visiting my sister and my parents and I have a date with those monster Shawangunk mountains of New Paltz.  I am excited about climbing and building some strength.  Such fun I tell ya.  Such fun.

Walking Sideways Down The Stairs

I think I have found the solution to my over training issues.  I have been running on a treadmill for the past week and am having absolutely no leg fatigue. Normally as I get back into my mileage of 30 plus I start to get tired pretty quickly and am always walking sideways down the stairs.  I am thinking that in March when I return to the great outdoors I am going to continue to run about 30 of my miles indoor on a treadmill.  My biggest fear for this training year is over doing it.  I think that if I keep my outdoor / indoor ratio at around 50/50 peaking at 80 miles per week in September should not be a problem.  Okay, fingers crossed.

Why do this?

Part of being a runner is having to deal with injury and self doubt.  In my case the two tend to come as a pair and at the worst time in my training.  Last week  I signed up for The 2012 Chicago Marathon while nursing both a calf and knee injury.  I do not run with knee pain, this is my one rule that I hope will save me from the scalpel later on. Not running for long periods of time makes me into another person.  I sit around and drink too much wine, eat for pleasure and dance the fine line of despair.  Emotionally I have been a wreck and committing to Chicago made me doubt myself even more.  The big question that keeps coming up is 'why am I doing this?'.  Training for a marathon is not an easy task to take on as a parent of 2 small babies and an active 9 year old.  My wife and I are already passing like ships in the night, so adding a training plan that will peak at around 75-80 miles a week, massage therapy, juicing, biking, swimming, core and flexibility work to the mix makes everything so much more difficult.  Why? 
This morning I put the why question to sleep.  As I woke at 4:30 for my morning tempo run I could feel myself returning to form.  My calf  is still tight and I will continue to work on this as we progress into the base phase.  My knee pain is gone and I am taking the proper precautions to avoid injuring myself again.  The balance has returned, and I am elated, even manic.  I have no choice but to set my goals for the year so high that I almost can not achieve them.  I am beyond excited to take on the Chicago Marathon.