August 31, 2004
I had planned to do a tempo run yesterday, the same one I did last Wednesday, but my knee was a little sore from the run on Saturday (it was a hilly route, all on pavement, and I'm still getting used to the pounding) so I decided not to push it. Instead I did six easy miles on my favorite dirt trail in the morning, and in the afternoon went to the gym for 30 minutes on the elliptical and 30 minutes of lifting. I had a great run-it was one of those days where everything just clicks, and I felt like I was gliding rather than running. It put me in a good mood for the whole rest of the day.
I had an ok run this morning. I didn't want to make up the tempo from yesterday since I have a gym and a track workout tomorrow, but I did make an effort to push the pace. I didn't know my pace exactly-I just ran a little harder than was comfortable-but I'd guess about 7:15. I slowed down at the end-my legs were tired from lifting yesterday, and I was really thirsty. I was actually a little bit glad that my limit for the day (so I don't go over 40 this week) was 8 miles so I didn't have to go any further. My office is having a happy hour tonight to welcome some new employees (one of whom is very cute and single!) so I'm going to be bad and have a beer instead of a second workout.
Posted by jessie at 12:50 PM | Comments (0)
August 29, 2004
Whoo hoo!
Saturday I did my longest run since February-16 miles! It was a really hilly route, and one of the hottest days we've had all summer, but I felt surprisingly good-I'm really happy with how it went. I had only planned to do 14, but the route my club ran was too complicated to cut short, and I didn't want to just turn around and run back by myself. I kind of had a feeling that once I got out there I would stay out...
I need to say it again--patience! As much as I feel out of shape, I'm getting a taste of it again, and it's really hard to hold myself back. I've built up to 40 miles/week pretty quickly, and every Saturday has been "my longest run since..." I can't just keep increasing, though--I need to settle for a few weeks, adjust, and then take it up again. I've worked out a decent training plan--I'm only going to hit 54 miles/week, with 2 18s, one 20, and a 22, but I'm supplementing with a lot of x-training (I have "real" miles and "fake" miles in my log) and that should be plenty to finish NYC without embarrassing myself. Conservative is the name of the game right now.
Posted by jessie at 09:24 PM | Comments (1)
Patience, patience...
It’s frustrating to be slow. Last Wednesday I did an 8 mile run, with 4 miles at tempo pace-7:20, 7:30, 7:10, and 7:12 (there’s a slight incline on the bike path I used, making the way home a little easier). A year ago my marathon pace was 7:19--I ran 3:11 in Chicago 2003. Now, 4 miles at that pace is hard. Patience, I keep telling myself, better to be patient than hurt. I have had more than enough of being hurt: that tempo run was only my second “workout” in 6 months, and I’ve only really been running again for 6 weeks.
In January I was training for Boston when I developed a neuroma (a painful nerve inflammation) in my left foot. I got a cortisone shot, bought shoes with a bigger toebox, and kept running, certain that the pain would go away. Big surprise--it didn’t. In fact, it got worse, to the point that I was running on the side of my foot, sometimes literally hopping from the pain. Surprise #2--I developed another pain on the top of my foot. My podiatrist said it was just tendonitis, and suggested I take more Advil and lace my shoes differently. I ran (barely) through this second pain for about a month--even gutting it out through a 20 miler--until March 4, 2004. That was the day my heel started to hurt, and I walked 4 miles home in tears because I could not stand to run another step. I went to see a physical therapist who had helped me with some hip pain the previous year, hoping she would have a better solution than shoelaces and painkillers. Her solution was a bone scan, which confirmed what I had known but couldn't admit--I had not one, but two, stress fractures in the same foot. The one on top, in my first metatarsal, was about to become a full fracture, and the calcaneal (heel) fracture wasn't far behind. I cried a little more, cancelled my plane tickets to Boston, borrowed some crutches from a friend, and bought an aqua-jogging vest.
Four months later I was finally able to start running again, and I’m finally starting to feel like I will, someday, be in shape again. When I gave up on Boston, I signed up for New York (my Chicago time guaranteed me an entry), and although my recovery has taken much longer than I expected, I’m still planning to run. It won’t be fast, but after this spring I’m going to consider making it to the starting line an accomplishment. Of course, I’d also like to make it to the finish. I feel stronger every day--Central Park, here I come.
A note on the title of this blog--it is not a reference to injury! I have, thank goodness, finally learned that there is pain you shouldn’t run through. Instead, the title refers to the kind of pain you should run through--the pain at the end of a race or a tough workout, the kind that makes you think about quitting but you know that you won’t, because you’re tougher than the voice that says I can’t. It might not be the most uplifting mantra, but repeating It’s supposed to hurt to myself always gives me what I need to push through the last mile or the last interval.
Posted by jessie at 08:23 PM | Comments (0)