Advice on next steps

[Lucia]

Hi there! Well, despite still having some shin pain, I'm pretty proud to have managed almost a month of consistent running, pretty much 6 days a week. I am a very impatient person, so my biggest problem is to know when to taper down.
My plan to be ready for the Philly marathon on November 23rd is to continue to increase my daily mileage. I've been running 5-6 miles a day for 6 days a week and that feels pretty good, so maybe during the month of June I will try and run 7-8 miles a day and do long runs of 13-15-18-13 miles during the weekends. Then in July, if I'm still alive, increase to 9 miles a day, keep the long runs about the same. August, September and October do solid 10-mile a day runs and longer long runs, and start tapering down in November.
Should I include a few weeks in between when I don't run as much, or should I keep increasing the mileage gradually? I'm not sure what's the best way to get faster...
I am also considering, if I find a number, running the Marine Corps marathon (October 26) as a supported training run... That is 4 weeks before my "Target" marathon to qualify for Boston. Is that too little time to recover in between?
Your advice is very much appreciated!
Lucia (argentinerocket)

[Jon Allen]

Lucia

It is not a bad idea to have one easier week per month (i.e. 10-20% lower miles) rather than continually increasing miles.  Also, as you start reaching 8+ miles/day, I would recommend starting to alternate easier and harder days- i.e. do 10 miles on Monday with some tempo/hill work as a harder day, then run 6 slow miles the next day as a recovery day.  Breaking up the monotony is good, plus the hard days will help you get ready for the race while the easy days are necessary for recovery (and mental breaks).  It is much harder physically and mentally to run 60-70 mpw than 30-40 mpw, so you will need the breaks/recovery days and weeks.

As for the Marine Corps marathon- you could do that if you wanted, but it probably won't help you much for Philly.  4 weeks is generally the bare minimum between marathons, plus running the full 26 miles rather than a 20-mile training run takes A LOT more out of your body and can hamper your training for the next week or two.  If you do it at a real easy pace and are willing to drop out if things don't feel great, then you could do it.  It may be more beneficial to do a half marathon race with 5-7 miles afterwards instead, though.  Your call.  Let's see what other people say about this.

[Josse]

Jon-where did you get so smart?   I agree with Jonny boy, I always take a recovery week evey 3-4 weeks just so I can continue to run the high mileage month after month.  If you run the 2 marathons back to back just take the 1st one easy.  Good luck and it will be fun to see what you can do.

[Jon Allen]

Josse- I "got so smart" by not being smart and messing up.  Hopefully, though, I learned from my mistakes and from other's mistakes.  Just like all of us... 

[Sasha Pachev]

If you've never run a marathon, it is usually not a good idea to run one as a training run. Instead make the race marathon a training run to familiarize yourself with the distance. Find out what your marathon potential is by racing a half marathon about a month away from the marathon (we can help you figure that out if you post your time and your splits). Then pace yourself for the first 20 miles a bit slower than the calculated potential, and if you are feeling good at 20 try to run a bit faster.

Instead of hard workouts I would recommend just racing in local 5 Ks and 10 Ks of trusted length (USATF certified) once in a while to satisfy your drive to run fast. And occasionally picking up the pace for a mile when bored. Pick it up pretty hard so that after about 6-7 minutes you are sufficiently tired to not want to hold that pace to the end. Do not pick it up if the shins are fussy, keep the horses in the barn, let them out on race day.

[Josse]

Josse- I "got so smart" by not being smart and messing up.  Hopefully, though, I learned from my mistakes and from other's mistakes.  Just like all of us... 

The best way to get smart.  That is where I got lots of my smarts.

[adam]

What do you think is causing your shin pains? You've had it for a couple of weeks now right?

[Lucia]

Thank you all for your comments, this is very helpful!

Sasha, I ran the Marine Corps in 2006, in 4:08 and change. After reading this advice though, I'm thinking it may not be a good idea to run the full marathon 4 weeks before my race target date.

Adam, I've had shin pain since December - took time off, got some Superfeet insoles, have been RICEing, running slower, running less, tried pretty much everything - I'm going to get some new shoes soon to see if that helps. It isn't too bad lately, the pain seems to be getting better, but I'm not sure what causes it. I just picked up the latest Runner's world magazine, a suggestion from a fellow blogger, that has some shin splints advice - I'll let you know if it says something good.

Josse and Jon, thank you, you are both smart

[Lybi]

Lucia, sounds like you have a great plan.  The only thing I am concerned about is your shins.  Is there any way you can go see Josse and have her scrape you?  A big mileage build-up like what you are planning can easily take a slight injury to a debilitating level.   Test it for stress fracture.  If you press on the bone all the way down with your fingers, can you pinpoint a sharp pain ON the bone?  If not, it is more likely of a muscle/soft tissue thing and scraping will help a lot. 

[Josse]

Lucia, sounds like you have a great plan.  The only thing I am concerned about is your shins.  Is there any way you can go see Josse and have her scrape you?  A big mileage build-up like what you are planning can easily take a slight injury to a debilitating level.   Test it for stress fracture.  If you press on the bone all the way down with your fingers, can you pinpoint a sharp pain ON the bone?  If not, it is more likely of a muscle/soft tissue thing and scraping will help a lot. 

She lives pretty far from me.  Although I would help if she lived close.  I suggested some stuff on her blog already.  I don't think it is a stress fracture if she can still run and the pain is getting less.

[Jon Allen]

What, you're not willing to fly to DC just to help out a fellow blogger?!?

[Josse]

What, you're not willing to fly to DC just to help out a fellow blogger?!?

Sure I would if she wants to pay for it.

[Lucia]

Lybi, thanks for your comment. I need to find a good massage therapist around here - I'm sure it won't be as good as Josse, but it'll have to work for now! I don't think it's a stress fracture either, since like Josse said, it seems to be getting better with icing and stretching. Hopefully the massaging will help.
I do miss Utah a lot (I went to college at SUU) so who knows, I may pay you guys a visit soon!
Thank you!

[Sasha Pachev]

Lucia:

What made you come to SUU?

[Lucia]

Sasha,
SUU had a great program for Management Information Systems, very similar to the one I had already started at the University of Buenos Aires, and they were willing to give me credit for my UBA classes. They are a small, inexpensive university in a beautiful area in a small town, with lots of great areas to hike and camp nearby: pretty much everything I was looking for. Going to SUU was one of the best decisions I've ever made. One of my professors there recommended me for an internship working for the Senate here in DC, and that's how I ended up here.  I do miss Utah lots, it was such a nice coincidence when I found your blog that you all are from there!