Best Laid Plans

A pain free back is always a challenge in my profession, and recognizing that, I had set up appointments with my chiropractor and the massage therapist (thanks folks) Thursday night after the work week and Friday afternoon to try to optimize things before today's scheduled last long run before Boston. Good in theory. Unfortunately, something freaked out in my back between the two appointments on Friday mornin and even a quick extra trip to the chiropractor and Chris's Friday evening massage left me still in sharp pain with any movement as I headed to bed Friday night. This morning it felt about 50% better when I got up, and with rain in the forecast for tomorrow, getting the long run in today if possible seemed like the best option.

Well, I laid out my GU Gel and water at Kensington at five, ten and fifteen and waited for it to warm up a bit from 26 degrees. At about 9:00 I started walking to the start and once again, POW, the searing pain in my back returned with a vengeance. Yikes! Well I decided that I was committed to at least give the thing a try and see if it was feasible at all. The first mile was really totally miserable and slow, but the pain eased to a manageable, if strength sapping dull roar and I did eke out 23 miles which I stubbornly had as my goal in my mind. Things got even slower at the end, and with no refueling the last eight miles and never being able to shed the long pants, hat and gloves, I was actually just very grateful to be able to finish the run. I wore the mouthpiece the entire time. It felt as if I was clamped down on it just about the entire run and is now significantly indented. My bite also felt altered for a couple hours after taking it out at the end.
A problem that I hadn't foreseen-- since I can't get my top and bottom front teeth together with the mouthpiece in, stripping the gel out of the foil packet every five miles ain't so easy. Oh, well.

Time now to rest, taper and heal.

Sat 23 miles 9:04 pace HR 149 28 degrees at the start 10 mph winds partly sun Kayanos

Weekly mileage 35





Blisters, but no other immediate injuries as a result, thankfully.

Last Run Before The Last Long Run

A rain pattern was about to move in according to the radar this morning, so I arrived at Kensington a bit earlier than usual in no wind, 46 degree conditions and got the run in before many drops fell. Warm enough for no long pants felt liberating. Day of rest tomorrow, then twenty to do on Saturday.

Thurs 4 Miles 8:32 pace HR 152

Under Armour Performance Mouthwear Maiden Voyage

So I got my custom fit "Under Armour Performance Mouthwear" in the mail from the lab yesterday, supposedly proven by research studies to improve athletic performance and tried it out on the morning run for the first time today. Initial impression--neutral. It felt fine, but with my mouth mostly just hanging wide open to suck in maximum oxygen as is typical, it's difficult to see how it could make any difference. My pace on the run was identical to yesterday, but my HR was lower by 6 BPM, which is a good thing, but could just be the result of another day's rest since the weekend and no wind. Still, we'll use it some more and see. Not sure about using it for the twenty miler this weekend, but..........

Wed 4 Miles 8:48 pace HR 146

Taper

Well, the taper has officially started. After a much needed day off yesterday, it was just four miles this morning with a very sore left hamstring, likely the result of the ill advised sprint at the finish of the trail race Saturday. I guess I'll say it was worth it, though, since it was the difference between second and fourth in my age group.

http://www.runmichigan.com/results/full.php/2010/03/20/no-frills-all-thrills-trail-run-6.html

Uneventful run this morning . The prediction was for possible rain and 32 degrees, so 37 and dry was an unexpected gift. The focus now is on my last 20 mile run coming up this weekend. No snowstorms in the forecast.

Tues 4 miles 8:49 pace HR 154

Hunger

When Austin would wake up and get something to eat in the middle of the night in the midst of heavy duty triathlon training I could never quite believe it. But even though I ate what felt like a fair amount yesterday, I woke up at 3 AM this morning with hunger pains and couldn't get back to sleep until I got something in the tummy. Crazy. It did, however allow dozing-in much later than usual and do the morning run well past dawn. It was a chilly, breezy 35 degrees and very light rain with just about everything sore. Better by the end, though.
Then back home to finally take down the outside Christmas lights and clean up the debris field from the shattered floodlight I hammered and spewed with the snowblower six weeks ago. MAYBE about time. Combined with the fact that Zach and Chris and I got the grapes pruned on Friday ......I think we're all ready for the season to change. Zach was actually very helpful carrying lots and lots of pruned "sticks" to the "BIG pile". The fact that there seems to be train track in the garden also failed to escape his powers of observation. Oh, boy---looks like some work to do there, maybe a good project for TAPERTIME.

Boston Marathon numbers have been assigned and after having a number in the 19,000's two years ago and the 17,ooo's last year, based on my previous qualifying times, this year I'm

15,452

which means I'll start in the fifteenth corral. That's still in the second wave starting at 10:30 but closer to the front of it. I still might decide to start a corral or two further back, just to help resist going out faster than I should, but at least the number indicates slightly more respectability.

Sun 5 miles 8:48 pace forgot the HR monitor just as well Kayanos

Weekly Mileage 36

Trail Running

With one more week to go before the final really long training run before Boston, this weekend's long run involved mostly not allowing the niggly stuff to evolve into a full blown injury.. The past two years, training for Boston, about this time in the training is when I've taken on foot pain that has caused me to have to cut back the mileage the final month and do just enough to let me run Boston with a good chance of finishing.

The left foot has a bit of plantar fasciitis at the moment, probably from running in the Newton shoes three of the past few days with less heel on the shoe and a different contact/lift off angle changing stresses. Anyway, I split the 14 mile run today again. This morning's run at Kensington was a 9 mile counter-clockwise loop in order to go as easy as possible on the left foot tendonitis. The direction makes a difference because since the path slopes towards the lake for drainage, it gives me more left foot arch support running in that direction which seems to help the ankle. The run itself was respectable, other than the unscheduled toilet pit stop after 5 miles which cost my time 2 minutes. Thank goodness for the facilities, however. After downing a quick Muscle Milk and a ten minute drive to Huron Meadows Metro Park, I did another 5 miles in a trail race................. coming in second in my age group, finishing four seconds in front of the number 3 and number 4 age group finishers. Starting slowly, then passing people all the way to the finish was great fun.

After a nice taste of spring the past few days, it turned cloudy, colder and windy today but the rain held off until after the runs, thankfully.

My training pace seems to be about twenty seconds slower than past winters at this time, but getting through uninjured would absolutely be worth the tradeoff.

Went to Scott's this afternoon and changed the oil in his generator and with Chris, the furnace filter. All around, a good day.


Thurs 5 miles 8:48 HR 150 46 degrees wearing the Newtons
Fri 3 miles 8:44 HR 146 45 degrees wearing the Newtons
Sat 9 miles 8:38 HR 152 36 degrees 11 mph wind back to the Asiics Kayano 16's
5 miles 8:27 HR 154 trail race some slightly muddy

last day of WINTER! Can opening the Georgian Bay cottage be far off?

St Paddy's Day Wow weather

With a meeting that would keep me up late after dinner last night, I decided on Sunday to switch the usual Monday off day to Wednesday to allow me extra sleep this morning instead. That decision resulted in a very sluggish Monday jog and an even slower Tuesday slog just trying to get the miles in.

The weather, on the other hand, has turned absolutely fabulous, resulting in a Spring Fever epidemic and a gorgeous St Patrick's day today with temps in the mid sixties and bright sunshine. And with a couple three more like this to come, the weather people say. Oh, yeah.

Maybe I'll try the Newton Sir Isaac shoes tomorrow and see if that perks things up. ......or maybe it's just been the after effects of the cold I had and the race on Saturday. Anyway, four more days until the calender says Spring!

Monday 4 miles 9:33 pace HR 139
Tuesday 5 miles 9:15 pace HR 146

Nice taste of Spring.

Warm temperatures early in the week gradually, relentlessly led to a nearly snowfree landscape around here, and the rain of the past few days have finished off any remaining snowplow piles. The dirt roads are washboard muddiness, and the trail around Kensington is 100% clear for the first time in months. YAY!

A sore throat from ten days ago evolved into a full blown head cold by Monday and training has been tough as a result, but all scheduled runs have been accomplished. Yesterday, rather than the usual continuous long run, I elected to split it up by doing the complete Kensington loop in light drizzle, then drive to Flushing for their Shillelagh 4 miler race. It was only light rain at the start of the race, but soon became a more serious steadiness, but it was great to feel the competitive juices for the first time in quite a while, albeit with rather fatigued legs. I finished only sixth in my age group, but at least three of the guys that beat me are also going to Boston. MY rainful experience paled in comparison to the downpour Annie and Brian ran through in DC in a four mile race there yesterday. Gutsy run, guys!

Cross"training" on Friday's day off involved stairmaster climbing with Zach and dealing with a "critter call" from Sandy Davies. It all started out when she called during dinner in some distress with the dogs going crazy out by the fence when she let them out. Without a husband, she was attempting to resolve a Stuck Animal issue. Chris, Liz and I headed over with headlamps (running accessories can crosstrain too), gloves and shovels to save the day. Picture Chris in her "reading in dark" glasses with the sideframe mounted reading lights and Sandy with her hefty flashlight and we were quite the vision of a team of animal control patrol. Hi Beams of the Equinox were also used to turn night into day out by their back fence by the gazebo. Well, it turned out that what we decided must be a cute muskrat, in his/her haste to escape the dogs, most probably, had nearly, but tragically NOT Quite Completely, made it's way through their chain link fence. It was now very well stuck with dual citizenship of the bordering territories, his rear legs, ass end and long, skinny tail residing in Daviesland, its head and front legs in Frontierland. There was some collective feeling that the very apparent needle teeth on the neighboring property were to be respected. Increased concern was voiced in this regard as Chris bravely applied some manual pressure to the pooper end of the beast as his head twisted around trying to bite her. I made a second try at forward movement by goosing him with the shovel, but this also failed to "gain traction" as they say. Applying a half an animal's worth of vaseline so close to those needle teeth was quickly discarded as an option, leading me to decide that since "extraction" was supposed to be part of my skill set, that it was just time to go for it.
So with my gloves firmly gripping the tail and with significant tugging at various angles.........out pops the little goober and in a beautiful fluid arching trajectory one relatively whole and totally traumatized muskrat landed plop on the other side of the fence. Mission accomplished! Regrettably, no pictures for posting.

As is so often the case, you just never know what life's going to bring.

Weekly running summary

Mon 4 miles 10:00 pace HR 140
Tues 6 miles 8:38 pace forgot the monitor
Wed 5 miles 8:49 pace HR 150
Thurs 5 miles 8:48 pace HR 148
Sat 9 miles 8:31 pace HR 156 caffeinated
1 mile untimed
4 miles 7:40 pace HR 157 caffeinated
Sun 6 miles 8:51 pace no monitor caffeinated

Bill Rodgers to run Boston

According to his website, Bill Rodgers plans to run Boston again this year. It would be great fun to pace along in his vicinity for a while in Boston like I did at the Melbourne race, but I have no idea what time or corral they might have him start in.

The training week went reasonably well and now we have some welcome nicer weather. Yesterday's long run was significantly easier than three weeks ago, but part of that was being able to ditch the long pants and a vest after the first ten miles and do the last eleven in just shorts and two long sleeved shirts. What FREEDOM. Prior to the run, after planting my water bottle and gels at the 5/15 mile mark, driving back to the start, I saw a woman ahead of me go down hard on the side of the road, and was able to give her a ride back to her car to clean up her bloodied knee and hand. She seemed mostly annoyed that she had only gotten in 3 miles before the spill but grateful that snow was still abundant for icing while she waited for her husband to get back from his run. Recover quickly, Karen.

Tues 6 miles 8:41 pace In my new Newton "Sir Isaacs" felt good and FAST
Wed 5 miles 8:58 pace 150 HR with the new HR monitor trying to hold it below 150
Thurs 5 miles 9:09 pace 145 HR
Fri 4 miles 8:55 pace 150 HR
Sat 21 miles 9:02 pace 148 HR (caffeinated)

weekly mileage 41

Like A Dear In The Headlight

Few new things happening on the morning runs these days, but this
AM proved you never know.

I had just set off down the path at Kensington, 5:30,a bit late for me and on a Friday, for the first time this training cycle. Sixteen degrees, no wind, nice moon, very quiet. As I'm nearing the first quarter mile marker, a dark form looms in the distance and is quickly discernible as a car, parked in the moonlight in the middle of the path with lights extinguished and the motor running. Homeless sleeping, drug running, or...................no time to think, barely enough run to squeeze by the car with snow banks on both sides of the path when in the illumination of my bright headlamp up pops a lovely female form clad in.....well...... nothing. No sign of her cowboy.......oh well maybe she was just changing her cloths. Red retinas in the headlamp. Me streaking on by. Very WELL clad, myself. Interuptus maybe, a man, but relief on their end, I suspect, that I'm not THE MAN.

On my way back on the trail, off clicks my headlamp in the more than adequate moonlight , I return a half hour later to the same spot and to.................... a guy taking an early morning walk. "Good Morning", "Good Morning". Not nearly as exciting.

Footprints

Snowy Windy City Week

Every February for the past thirty years or so has meant an annual pilgrimage to Chicago for a big four day trade show and educational deal. A fun diversion, but a challenge to marathon training the past three years. It usually makes for a whirlwind week and this year was no exception.

Last Monday morning, knowing that it might be difficult to get in all the miles on the schedule for the week, I decided to go for a run on my usual rest day. A snowstorm was in the forecast, but hey, let's start the week with a challenge. Photo above. What I hadn't figured real well was the length of time it would take me just to drive to the park and back given the conditions and ended up only having time for about amile of running in the tree inches of snow that had arrived at that point. Still, always great fun to place the first footprints in the freshly falling stuff. Tuesday and Wednesday the roads were clear and the park path mostly, allowing nice typical early morning jaunts.

Wednesday night I caught Amtrak in Ann Arbor and arrived in Chicago a bit after midnight to snow falling and at least a sane cab driver who managed not to slide over and get hung up on a median barrier on Wacker Dr like one taxi we saw.

My classes began at 9 on two days and at ten on Friday, so I decided that would be my day for the long run with a thirteen miler north on the Lakeshore bikepath into a howling frigid wind going and a real tailwind coming back. Quite a few runners given the conditions. Six miles the other days were fun. Saturday night at 6:30 as I was walking back to the hotel it was obvious people were setting up cameras on tripods for something at Michigan Avenue and the river. Just as I started to ask someone what was up --fireworks lit up the sky and continued for about ten minutes. What fun.

The train trip gave me time to make it through most of the book BORN TO RUN that Austin gave me for Christmas and I'm loving it. I'm totally sold on his compelling argument for barefoot running and how cushy shoes have screwed us up. Now how to transition is the question. To be continued. Nice to be back home.

mileage for the week 40

All in all