I need your help

[Mike Clarke]

Okay so I have not been the most diligent in filling out my log.  I went back and filled in a lot of my miles if anyone would like to look.  Here is the deal.  I've been building all spring and summer toward my goal of getting up to 70mpw.  I've been running 6 days a week and not missing any runs until a week and half ago.  I had gotten up to 55mpw and feeling great and then on a 13 mile run two weeks ago I pulled something in my calf in the last mile and was sidelined for my rest day and two more days.  I went to my massage therapist and got worked out then back to the road for 6.25, 10, 10, and 14 that same week.  The 1st 13 of my 14 mile run was great but then I got egged on by a friend to race the last 3/4mile.  I didn't feel that great at that point in the run as I was still recovering from the previous week, "I know not bright" but turned on the juice and raced him in.  Long story short I've been on the shelf all week, I plan on getting back out there tomorrow as I've been swimming all week and the legs feel like they have recovered.

Here is my conondrum.  I've got the NYC Marathon in 18 weeks and I have everyone in my running group telling me that this little experiment of mine was lunacy trying to get to 70mpw.  Everybody has their opinion about where I should go from here.  What do y'all think?  Do I back off for awhile and then start to build again.  Do I wait until after NY which I don't want to miss.  I tried not to add more than 2-3miles a week in my buildup.  I was feeling so good and then wamo on the sideline.  I'd appreciate your advice.  Please let me know if you need more info.

Here is my blog if anyone has interest:
http://runningtotallyfree.wordpress.com/

[Sasha Pachev]

Mike:

I looked at your blog in graph view mode, both my month and by week. I believe the cause of the injury is trying to increase the mileage too fast. In all honesty, a runner in your situation should not be running marathons or "training" for one for a year. If your body is used to consistent 20 miles a week, you can probably get up to 40 pretty quick and then you need to keep it there for two months, then 45 keep it there two months, 50 keep it there two months. My opinion is that if somebody is running 20 miles a week or less in January, he should be thinking of a marathon in the fall of next year, not the current one. Sure he can jog it, and he might even be lucky to avoid injury, but he puts himself into a perpetual cycle of starting unfit, then "training" (really overtraining not through volume, but through the lack of balance) for the marathon - punch one, actually running the marathon - punch two, by the time he is ready to run again his fitness is back to where it was before he started "training".

To break that cycle you need to forget marathons and just train to be fit. Race marathons when you are ready. Until then focus on shorter distances. Goal number one for you would be to run 21:00 in a 5 K. You do not need speed work for that - base gets you there. Just keep doing modest base once you are able to run again, probably 40 miles a week at a slow pace (no faster than 9:00, but do not let it drop to slower than 10:00),  Once you can do that, see if you can run 42:00 10 K. Then work on 1:30 half. Do not worry about marathons until your half is at least 1:30. With this approach your next marathon will be a much more pleasant experience and you will easily run a Boston Qualifier.

[Mike Clarke]

Okay so I built the mileage to fast I thought I was following your earlier presciption for me but I can see how I didn't fully understand your thoughts.  As far as this NYC Marathon there is really no way around it.  I am doing it as a fundraiser for injured soldiers, as I know from reading your posts you don't agree with using a race to raise money but that is neither here nor there.  I don't plan on burning it up that is for sure,  I turn 40 4 days before the race and that was my gift to myself.  I have all kinds of people working to make this happen.  People have donated airfare and housing for my wife and I because they are supporting this cause.

Anyway what your saying I believe would be to go back to 40 mpw, stay there for two months, then add a couple of miles, stay there for a few months etc.  You suggested working on my speed until I could do a 10K in 42:00 minutes and a half in 1:30.  Obviously by planning to run my 2nd Full in 17 weeks that would be screwing things up.  I'm fine with not running a full again after this one until after I get to those marks but I can't get out of this one.  In regards to my current training I thought I was to just keep building slowly, obviously slower than I was going until I got to 70mpw, running the occasional 5 or 10 K once a month or so, now your saying that I'm to slash my mileage until I can run the half in 1:30?  So how do I get to a 1:30 half?  What type of speed work am I to do?

Sorry about all the questions but I'm confused. 

[Jon Allen]

Mike- Sasha is recommending a conservative build up that assumes you have a certain amount of speed (i.e. 1:30 half).  However, it looks like that is 30 min faster than your current half PR, which is a long ways.  But, Sasha also encourages people to not do a marathon until they can "race" it, not just finish it.  That may not match your personal goal, which is really what matters.

I understand how you want to run NYC marathon, and you certainly can.  Get yourself better, then simply run the most miles you can conservatively do, while avoiding injury.  If you were at 55 mpw and have 18 weeks till your marathon, you have plenty of time to get better and then establish your base and even up your mileage some.  Be patient, cross train right now while you heal, then keep slowly building base miles.  You should be fine.

[Mike Clarke]

He Jon it does seem like a long way to go as my best half is 1:48 and my best 5K is 22:32.  I guess I'll try to recover to the point to get back on track for NY and then build slowly again post race.  Thanks for the encouragement.

[dave rockness]

Mike,  my first marathon (age 38) was completed in May of 2008 with a time of 4:12 (my 5k at the time was about a 7:40 pace).  By mid-July of the same year had worked my mileage from 45 to 70 mile weeks (lost 30lbs in the process by shifting my diet to a more healthy one) and ran a 3:10 marathon in October.  My marathon time hasn't improved much since then, yet I've been pr'-ing all shorter distances over the past 2 years and am waiting patiently for a breakout marathon- when my health and good weather conditions all come together at the same time.  You seem to have plenty of time for late October/early November- just eat healthy, be cautious with the increased mileage (use soft surfaces when you're sore- TM, trails, quality track), and listen to your body (take day off, keep slow days slow, give yourself a lower mileage week occasionally).  I'm by no means am an expert, but your goals seem very attainable within the next year or so. 

[Mike Clarke]

Dave thanks for sharing your experiences and your encouragement.  I've been praying constantly for God to reveal to me how to get this thing right.  I have such a passion for running for running's sake.  I do like the idea of accomplishing a goal like becoming a BQ but the thing that I'm finding out about myself sitting on the sidelines right now is that I just love the running.  At one time in my life is was playing golf now it would be running the golf course.  I do want to do better in my 5k, 10K, half and a full times but not necessarily at the expense of injury.  So when I do get out there again this time I'll have a new perspective.  Now I'm thinking about maybe looking into Trail running and Ultramarathon distances.  I just like being on the road doing my thing and the idea of really long distances sounds like a lot of fun.  I really can't wait to get back out there and experience the joy of a nice pain free long run with my friends.

[Jeff Linger]

Mike, I'm going to take somewhat of a middle ground here between Sasha and Dave. Dave went from 45 mpw to 70 mpw in about 11-12 weeks. This is a bit speedy, but not completely crazy. If you work by the 10% every 3 weeks suggestion (I believe this is Daniel's who suggests this formula -- and many others suggest something fairly close to it) then the build up from a starting point of 45 mpw to 70 mpw would look something like this.

Weeks 1-3: 49 miles; Weeks 4-6: 54 miles; Weeks 7-9: 59 miles; Weeks 10-12: 65 miles; Week 13+: 70 miles

It was my experience when I built my mileage up the right way I needed to change the 10% every 3 weeks rule. The new rule was 10%  every 3 weeks up to 50 miles per week and 10% every 4 weeks after that. Also I found that the first 2 of every set of 4 weeks it was important not to do much of any speed oriented work.

Each person is different and you'll need to find what works for you. The key is to listen to a couple of things. Do not fixate on the mileage to the extent that your saying to yourself I know I'm tired, but I'm going to get this run in! If you're tired at the beginning of the run then you're probably running too much. If at some point you feel you're losing motivation, you should probably back off your mileage. Motivation is sometimes an internal gage. It's your body trying to let you know what it already knows is going on and that if you continue to press you'll get injured. If you finish a run, take a shower, and rest a bit, you shouldn't have any doubt at that point that you can go out again and do it tomorrow. If you get up and are not looking forward to your run later in the day, or you find that you're planning ways to put your run off until later than you had planned the run to be the day before, you again are probably running more than your body can currently handle. If you get a good night sleep (at least 7 hours) and in the morning feel like you're staked to the bed and are crawling to get out, you're probably running too many miles.

[dave rockness]

Insightful comments Jeff, and Mike, looks like you have your head screwed on straight- good luck!

[Mike Clarke]

I appreciate all of the good insights.  I am praying for this calf of mine to heal up so I can get back out there and try to build the miles more conservatively than I have.  I daydream about running again...