Emily's training blog

I'm running a little bit easier of  a week this week.  I really want to run well this weekend in Indianapolis.  I ran an easy 8 miles this morning, but was feeling Saturday a bit.  I guess I ran a little harder than I thought.  It shouldn't take too long to get feeling good, though. 

The race director from the Des Moines Marathon has offered travel assistance, 2 nights lodging, and a comp entry.  So, I guess that once I've purchased my plane ticket, I'm all set.  It makes me nervous!   I'm not exactly where I wanted to be in terms of mileage, or even the buildup through the whole year.  The stress reaction, and ongoing achilles problems have made me more cautious in my training than I would normally be.  But, since I've never run a marathon, I'm forging ahead.  I know that I have enough natural speed to run an OTQ.  I guess the question will be if 60-70 mpw is enough to base my endurance on.  I plan on hitting a couple of 75-80's after this week, but I hope it's not too little too late.  Like Teren says, after I run the marathon, then I will actually be ready to train for a marathon.  I'm sure next fall will be more successful running wise, but since it is an Olympic year, I've got to give it a shot now.    I am excited, but definitely nervous since it is all unknown to me.

I met Emily Bates at Murray High for a track workout.  It took us a little while to find each other, since we parked on different sides of the building.  We warmed up 2 miles on the track, and even got our lifting in, because we had to move benches, and fences out of lane 1.  The goal for the workout was 6 x 1000 with 400 recovery in between.  In a couple of weeks I want to be doing 10-12 of these, but since I have a race Saturday, I cut it in half. 

Our splits were a little all over the place as we took turns leading.  It took a couple to get into a groove.  We got about 2:30 recovery in between. 

1. 3:24.46

2. 3:30 ( I missed starting my watch on this one, and was running along nice and comfortably. I had to pick up the pace the last 400 to hit 3:30.)

3. 3:23.38

4. 3:25.96

5. 3:26.76

6. 3:24 11

I felt nice and strong during this workout, and definitely could run a few more . . . especially if I really hit 3:30 instead of 3:25. 

We cooled down 3 miles on a nice jog through Murray Park.

Now it's time to recover!

I felt a little pounded in the hips and hamstrings this morning, but by the end of the run felt much better.  Devra met me nice and early for our run.  We ran out 2200W  over to 3800S, to 2700W, into a wonderful head wind up to 5400S, and back through the neighborhood to my house.  I may jog a few miles at the cross country meet this afternoon, but my biggest focus is making sure I'm nice and fresh for the half on Saturday.  I leave tomorrow!

It was nice and cool outside this morning, but very dark.  I wanted to get my run in early since I will be on a plane most of today.  I've decided that short runs are nice, but my body needs a couple of more miles to really get going. I ran a mile and a half warm-up, followed by 10 x 1 minute on, 1 minute off.  Then, I cooled down another mile and a half.  When I was done with my fartleks, I felt ready to start a workout.  My legs feel good, except for my omnipresent sore calves.  Of course, that might mostly be from the ecentric exercises I did last night.   Well, off to Indianapolis!

I arrived in Indianapolis to find that they are having record high temperatures, hovering around 100 degrees.  With the humidity, the heat index is over 107.  I woke up and went for a run around race time, trying to feel out what the temperature would feel like.  It was about 75 degrees at 7 in the morning.  It was definitely warm while I ran, but seemed manageable.  I jogged through downtown Indianapolis until I found the canal road.  I ran back and forth on the canal road for half an hour, and then jogged back to my hotel. 

Later in the day I met the other athletes.  We went for a course tour.  The course is flat and shaded, which is nice.  There is about a 4 mile section of straight running with no turns, and then back a block over, which will mentally be a little tough.  After the course tour,  the race held a dinner and fashion show of running apparel.   I concentrated on hydrating well through the day.

So, today was a disaster.  I knew that the heat and humidity was going to be a factor, so I wanted to forget about trying to hit a goal time, and run conservatively.  Everyone's finishing times were about 4-5 minutes off their personal bests, so the weather definitely played a role. 

I warmed up 15 minutes easy, and then headed over to the starting line.  I did some strides, and then we were off.  I tucked in at 6 minute mile pace for the first three miles.  The next three miles I had dropped to 6:20 pace, but seemed to be holding steady.  We were all getting spread out at this point.   At mile 4, my achilles started hurting, but I kept pressing on.  Over the next four miles, I started experiencing shooting pains up my right hamstring.  I couldn't tell if it was cramping, or if it was a referred pain based on how I was landing on my achilles.  It started getting worse in miles 8-9.  At this point I knew the race was not happening for me anymore.  I limp-jogged my way to the medical tent at mile 10, where they offered me a packet of mustard . . . not helpful!  I realized that I wasn't going to get much help, or a ride to the finish, so I decided to jog easy to the end.  It didn't matter how slow I went, the shooting pains continued.  That was the longest three miles ever.  I went to the medical tent at the finish line, where they iced my achilles, which was throbbing pretty good at this point.  Later in the evening, the shooting pains came back, running from my hamstring up into my hip.

So, the heat may have been a factor, but what I ultimately realized was that if my achilles can't make it through a half marathon, then the marathon is starting to seem out of the question.  Part of me wants to forge on through, but I feel like I'm setting myself up for disaster.  The injury is always in my mind, and I keep having to back off my training in order not to aggravate it . . . which means I'm not where I want to be fitness-wise . . . which leads to no confidence when it comes to races. 

My initial instinct is to finally take the time to heal up, and start the re-building process.  That means Olympic Trials in the marathon are not likely to happen.  This is obviously a huge disappointment, but I've been so miserable through this whole process, that it's almost a relief to hit this point.  More than my physical limitations, I am not in the right mindset to tackle the marathon.  I've put so much importance on qualifying, that I'm not enjoying running . . . especially on an injury.  It may be time to get all healed up.