Sunday, 3/6

Felt recovered enough from Friday to push out this 13 mile run today.  Woke up and putzed around a bit, trying to prehydrate some and just mentally prepare.  Went out around 10:00am.  Beautiful day for a run.

I'm trying to be deliberate about not pushing top hard and was at least somewhat successful in that regard today.  First mile was 8:33 (slow for what I've been doing normally) and every mile from there earned a split of somewhere between 9:38 and 10:04.  

Consistency!

That's probably still a bit faster than I want to be training, but it is what it is I suppose.

In mile 6 I suddenly felt sharp pain in my calf.  I pulled up, paused my clock and proceded to stretch and rub it out for 5-10 mins.  Once I decided I'd done all I could, I crossed my fingers and gave it a go.  It was tight, but seemed to loosen enough that I could continue.

I was listening to some Radiolab podcasts which helped keep my mind active.  It was also a beautiful day, so it felt good to be outside in the breeze.  Everything was going great until around mile 10 when I started feeling weak and dehydrated.  My shoulders started to slump, my pace slowed a bit, and I started getting some slight chills.  The misery soon followed.  I was able to push through, but those last few miles seemed to take FOREVER.

I also had realized how much battery I was draining without putting my phone on sleep, so I was unsure if I was going to have enough power to make it all the way through with music and distance tracking.  Sure enough, as I went to check my phone near the end of the run (thinking it might have not announced my distance) it died.  When I checked later it turns out it died at exactly 13, miles likely BECAUSE it used the last bit of power to try to tell me.  So... I missed the last tenth of a mile for a true half marathon.  

Oh well.

When I stopped, I stumbled to a bench and just tried to relax for a minute.  When I stood back up the thirst and the pain were palpable.  So stiff.  Walking the two tenths of the mile back to the car seemed harder than jogging the final two miles of the run.  No joke.

Super proud of finishing that run as it's by far the longest run of my life.  That said.... this was half of what I'm training for and THE STRUGGLE WAS REAL.  Doubt is once again creeping in.  Can't stop/won't stop.

After I finished my water in two chugs I drove into Oakdale for some Gatorade.  Getting out of the car and walking into the store made me feel like an 80 year old man.  So stiff, so sore...  Once I got home I showered and then took some time to just sit and relax.  After awhile I was able to rally and take the boys up to the playground, which was a really good choice.  Forcing myself to continue to move seemed to help.

I definitely need an off day tommorow, so it looks like I'm going to treat my soccer game on Tuesday as my first run this week.

13 miles - 2:06:23 - 9:43 pace

Friday, 3/4

 Bump in the road. Jacob was sick on Tuesday… now we’re all sick.  Was feeling a bit punchy on Thursday so I didn’t run. Ended up sleeping on the couch because Liz was sick.  Woke up today at 5am and pulled an Irish double. Spent all day today sick in bed. 

Looks like I’m skipping my second 4 mile run this week. Hopeful I’m able to do the 13.1 this weekend. We’ll see. Fingers crossed!

Wednesday, 3/2

Jacob was sick today so I had to take off work. As a result I was able to pop off my medium run this week when Erin got home from school.

I misread my schedule and actually ran 8 miles instead of the 6 that was scheduled.

But it went great! Tried to be deliberately slow but ended up beating a 10 minute pace anyway. Was zigging and zagging around the district campus and having a grand old time. Felt so good that I decided in mile 7 to run back to the house and back up the hill for some extra challenge. That definitely forced me to slow down toward the end, but all in all felt really good!

13.1 this weekend!

8 miles - 1:14:04 - 9:15 pace

Monday, 2/28

 4 miles today. Was able to push a bit harder than my last fast run and got down under an 8 minute split.

Felt pretty good! Back on track, baby!

4.03 miles - 32:03 - 7:57 pace

Saturday, 2/26

10 miles today on a treadmill. Weather was pretty miserable, so here we are. 

Had to switch treadmills at 5 miles to prevent manual cooldown… felt pretty good at at 5 miles, but boy did that change. The last 3 or so miles were some of the toughest miles I remember running. Was on the struggle bus big time.

8 miles last week wasn’t too much sweat… wondering what was different about today.

That said, still finished at a sub-10min/mi pace, which I suppose I can feel good about.  Feeing pretty exhausted and have some pain in my foot right now… hoping that subsides tomorrow so I can keep trucking.

That last 3 miles today was the first time I started entertaining serious doubts about 26.2. Hopefully that subsides as well. 

Onward!

10 miles - 1:38:12 - 9:49 pace

Thursday, 2/24

Skipped a 6 mile run yesterday because I wasn't feeling ver well and there was alot going on at home.  Decided to do that run tonight at James' practice and forego the 4 mile casual run this week.

Put in 6 miles on the treadmill but ended up having to push a bit harder than I wanted to in order to get all 6 miles in before the end of practice.  Resulted in some soreness and tiredness in mile s 4-5, but felt really good in mile 6.... even picked up the pace a bit at the end to finish strong.

Foot pain is lingering, but not much of an issue when I run.  I'm wondering if the impact of the running is causing the issue to persist... 

On a side note, I bought some bodyglide, some foot powder, and some sweat wicking socks to go along with the running shorts I picked up last weekend.  Looking to do whatever I can to get ahead of any potential negative symptoms of all of this running.  

Disappointed to miss a run this week, but excited/nervous for a 10 mile run this weekend.  I don't know that I've EVER run 10 miles in one session, so this will be a nice little milestone to hopefully be able to cross.

Slow and steady, baby.

6 miles - 52:38 - 8:46 pace

Monday, 2/21

Got my foot checked today.  The pain was more frequent over the weekend (again, not when running, but mostly when not wearing shoes around the house).  Went to Robinson Physical Therapy where Chris checked me out and wasn't able to definitively call it either way.  Still possible I have a stress fracture, but could be more likely it's just a carryover issue from kicking someone's foot at soccer.

Basically I have 3 options:

1. Shut it down for a bit and see if time heals all wounds.  (That one's for you, Liz 😏)

2. Get an x-ray or some clarity, though even if it is a stress fracture, it may be too early to show up.

3. Keep training and hope it doesn't get worse. 

Well... option 1 is never gonna happen.  I only have 12 weeks to train which is already irresponsibly short and I'm certainly not interested in taking time off from soccer, especially since I really don't get any pain when running/playing.

Option 2 doesn't sound like me either... why invite bad news?

So... option 3 it is.

Now that I have that settled, went for a 4 mile run today.  That hill up to campus continues to be a soul crusher, resulting in some definite slower splits on mile 2 and 3.  To be honest, though, I probably could have pushed myself a bit more in miles 3 and 4, but I was being overly cautious... maybe too much so.

That said, even though today was a push day, it's better to err on the side of caution rather than go too hard too soon.

4 miles - 33:25 - 8:20 pace