Not Quite a Summer of Smiles

Well, where should I start. I suppose I will first mention that is has been a while since I've posted, but that is probably because you haven't missed much.

I have begun recording my runs here, and I think it is publicly viewable.

http://www.runningahead.com/logs/3637a16857134adea64960e5c867570c

When I last left off I was optimistic and enthusiastic about starting summer training, but everything has gone very poorly since then and I am now in quite a rut. I was between 45-50 miles per week and feeling pretty comfortable through a 5K race I did on May 14th. I finished with s dismal time of 20 flat or so, but my pacing throughout the race was very good and I finished strong so I can look at that race as a good workout and move on. I did notice on my few cool-down miles (I almost got lost in Middletown, oops...) that my right calf was a little tight/sore. This was nothing new, as it has happened quite frequently in the past so I did what I always did and iced it up and looked to the future.

The following day I did and easy 5 miles and much to my surprise my calf felt even worse. I even had to stop and stretch it out halfway through which is a rare occurrence. I remained optimistic however and iced it up as usual, excited about the run I had planned for the next day: a tempo run with former HS teammate and ex-state champion Sara Fisher. When I woke up that morning my calf was a bit sore, but it felt better than yesterday and after some stretching/using "The Stick" I decided it could probably hold up for a 4 mile tempo run: I was wrong.

The run went alright. I am reminded that I definitely no longer have 17:54 5K speed from back in December of 2010, because I could only handle 1 mile out at her 6:15 pace and then 1 mile back before cooling down. I somewhat expected that though but then the calf problems felt worse than before, and I knew I needed to take some time off to rehab it, so that I did.

Three days of icing and stretching later and I felt really good on my easy 3 mile return run, so I went on my first trail run ever. This is the one positive note that has happened since then: I had a blast.

Trail running is a lot different than running on the roads and it was a welcome change of pace. When you are running on roads or the Canal you easily "check out" and kind of let your mind wander as you legs pound out mile after mile. It's that time of wandering of the mind that I truly love sometimes, but with trail-running it is a different experience. You have to stay focused every second of every mile, plan each footstep carefully, decide if you will run to the left of that big puddle ahead, or the right... And if you don't then you will find yourself facedown in the dirt, or worse: facedown on a rock. Fortunately I only fell once and there were no rocks around.

Beyond that the experience itself it so exhilarating it is difficult to describe and the only thing I can suggest if to have you try it out yourself. There is a great sense of freedom as you run through the forrest, nature all around you. I can really begin to understand some of the things that I read in Born to Run and I am a believer more every day that we as humans are born to run. It was a great experience overall and I wouldn't trade it for anything. I will definitely be doing some more trail running this summer, that's for certain.

The following day I did some 800's which proved to be a pretty good workout also. My goal was 3:00 and my splits were

2:56
2:58
2:56
2:48

With a lot left in the tank after the last one.

Since then things have gotten pretty bad though. I have developed some time of strange persistent headache. On a scale of 1 to 10, it was initially a 3, but then about three days ago I got a brief bad fever overnight and now it is a persistent 6. Don't worry, I did go see a doctor after the fever since I was concerned it might be something serious and he says I am fine. While maybe I'm medically fine my running is not fine. All of my runs since I've come down with this are dismally small as a time when I should be getting close to 60 miler per week. On top of that today was my worst run ever. I ran about 1 mile before I developed a strong nauseating feeling and I had to slow job the rest to prevent throwing up.

I don't know what is wrong with me but I need to get it sorted out soon, or my Marathon preparation for the fall is going to be in serious jeopardy. I've got a few hypotheses. I think the main one is an abnormal schedule/diet. Here at home I don't have any of the foods I was used to eating at the Mount and as a result I am probably not getting the nutrition I need.

Despite all of this I am trying to be optimistic. This can't go on forever, right? So I'll keep getting up everyday hoping I will feel better and look forward to the day when I will be once again pounding out miles and getting ready to qualify for Boston.

Quote of the Day:

"Running is a big question mark that's there each and every day. It asks you, 'Are you going to be a wimp or are you going to be strong today?'"
- Peter Maher

Half-Marathon & Summer

When I last left off I had just started getting back into the swing of things, and my Half-Marathon was on the horizon. Well, the training has been going well. I managed 44 miles the week of the last post, 49.6 miles the following week, and 33.6 miles last week. Last week had me taking off one day early in the week to fix a sore IT band, and then I voluntarily took off the Sunday after my Half, so that week is lower with good reason...

The half went about as well as I could have hoped for. I set out with the goal of breaking 1:30. In a worst case scenario I hoped to at least PR (1:31.high) and under best case scenario I hoped to run under 1:28, maybe getting close to the theoretical 1:25 I could run based on my fitness a few months back. To go for these goals I decided I would start out pretty conservatively, (6:4x min/min) and see how I felt from there. I did just that, and my splits went as follows:

6:38

6:40

6:32

6:37

6:50

6:38

6:46

6:47

6:35

6:53

7:14

7:15

6:58

0:54 (.16mi)

1:29:15

So I definitely died a bit towards the end, and if it hadn't been for Steve Dobson coming up beside be with around 400m to go I probably would have finished 15-20 seconds slower. But I did meet my intermediate goal, and I am happy with the race. I was hardly sore at all, save the bottoms of my feet (I ran in Lunaracers).

Coming off the race I feel as strong as ever, I took Sunday off because the bottoms of my feet were too sore to run, although my legs felt fine. Yesterday I set out to do an easy 6, but I ended up feeling great so I did around 7.7. I also felt great today and so I used my lack of a final to get in an easy 11mi run.

This run was interesting because it's the first long-ish run I have done in the heat and I brought my new running water bottle along. The water bottle was alright, but it will take some getting used to. The heat was pretty bad though (73 and sunny, no shade). The next few days will be busy so I'm glad I got a lot of milage in already this week and I am looking forward to summer, so overall I am feeling good and optimistic! Steamtown Marathon here we come!

Quote of the day:

"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go." - T.S. Eliot