Getting back to Boston

Pretty much took it easy most of Saturday and today after the 18-miler, helped in large part by the fact it rained a lot. Went to the grocery around 4, then after that decided to get my run in before Pam and Tyler got home from Camden. Only then did I discover that the abs, or the iliopsoas or whatever the heck is hurting, are back with a vengenance. Hurt during the run, hurt a lot more after it.

It was still raining, or misting, as I ran, which succeeded only in washing skin oil down into my eyes, so I was basically running blind. Not a comfortable run by any means, between the abs and the eyes. Kept it to a 10:00 pace. Then got home, iced the abs, which helped for a while, did some core strengthening (which probably made it worse), watched a little Olympic swimming, then went to bed. Around 2, the muscles had stiffened again, so I got up to take something and decided to update the blog. I'll ice some more at work, I think, but may h ave to put off the 10-miler I'm supposed to do Monday night.

After ice and some core work last night, the abs felt better today, both at work and on the treadmill. Took it a little bit easy on the run, in that I extended the warmup period to get up to MP+20%, then kinda cut short the MP+10 period -- but that last one was because I decided to do my strides on the treadmill instead of going outside. So for the last five laps I'd stride 100 meters, jog 100, stride 100, etc. Worked well except the speed control didn't want to slow down from stride a couple of times (seems to happen when my sweat's been flying for 75 minutes or so).

Overall, a good 10-mile run, and the abs were a minimal issue, hardly noticeable at all, especially when I started having to concentrate on maintaining the pace of my legs. I still have to become more willing to slow down on my runs; my tendency to run too fast, which can get me in trouble on race day, also can get me hurt in training. Pat is a good influence in that way, but he won't be with me in Memphis and in a few Saturday runs before then.

Routine five-miler on the TM. Still some residual soreness in the rectus (recti?), but that's mainly an issue when I sneeze, not when I run. For now, anyway. Just kinda cruised the five at 9:22 pace; took about three miles to really get warmed up, then the legs felt stronger the last five miles. I'm really trying to take advantage of the TM to work on my cadence, pick it up instead of loping, which is my tendency. If I really focus on cadence, I'm in the mid-170s at a slow pace, better at a faster pace. Even got over 180 last week for about four minutes. I know it's not supposed to be that way, your cadence is supposed to be the same at any speed, but it's not for me, at least not on the TM.

I could pretend that the acceleration in today's run was because my legs felt so great. That would be a load of bull. I cranked up the TM because I wanted to finish and get the heck off of there. Period. I was supposed to go get an errand done this afternoon and thus left work an hour early. Couldn't do the errand, and knew it beforehand, but left anyway (I'd seen all my patients), and thus got to start the run an hour early. Not entirely good (it was the warmest in the fitness room I've ever seen), but got it over with and finished before Pam even got home from work (although she DID stay a little late).

Having said that I just wanted to get that run over with, the legs did feel a little better once I got to about MP+5%. Feet didn't feel that great though; wouldn't say they hurt, they just felt weird, almost like I was running barefoot. Abs were mildly bothersome, but again I forgot about them as the run went on and other physical issues intervened.

This puts me at, what, 29 miles for the week, with another 22 or so to go, so on track for a 50-mile week. I remember a year ago, looking at training plans that topped out at maybe 47 mpw and saying to myself  "I can't possibly run 47 miles in a week, nor do I want to." Well, here I am -- 48 last week, looks like 51 this week, on my way to 61 in a month or so. 

Had dinner with Mom and Dad, so debated waiting until Friday morning to put in this five-miler. As usual, my dislike of the alarm clock won out, and I ran tonight. Went fine, except that I triggered the shutoff switch on the TM somewhere around 0.20 miles (thus this mileage figure is an estimate). Since I wasn't sure exactly how far I'd gone before the TM shut down, I just ran the whole 5.0 once I restarted. Easy pace, went well.

Sitting here watching Michael Phelps go for/win gold medal #6 as I type. I'll never be in the Olympics, or the Trials, may never even attend an Olympics (ATL may have been my last best chance), but I have my own gold medal dangling in front of me. It's called Boston. And I think if I cross the line in Memphis in, say, 3:30:05, I'll have the same feelings of accomplishment and goal-reached as Phelps or hopefully Tyson Gay, Deena Kastor, Amy Yoder Begley or any of my other fellow Razorbacks in Beijing.

Only 70 degrees this morning, but man, there was zero evaporation. I kept hoping that those clouds would start dropping some rain, but never saw a drop. Saw three screaming sirens though; apparently something happened at or near Big Dam Bridge when I was crossing it on the way back to Allsopp Park, and the sirens soon followed up Rebsamen Park Road. Did somebody jump off? Maybe.

I don't know if the humidity or the state of my hip flexors was the bigger problem (and they may well have been connected). They never loosened up. Since the stretching study ended, I haven't been as diligent about my stretching, but I wasn't doing any stretches of the hip flexors anyway, so I'm not clear as to the connection. I guess I definitely need to identify and do some focused stretching in that area, though; it is becoming a recurring issue.

As tight as the HFs were, though, I got my 17 miles (roughly) done in less than three hours. Not great, but could have been worse. Probably went out a little too fast; I felt comfortable at about 9:00 pace for the first six miles, but that along with the humidity may have caught up with me.

Now nap time, then take my son shopping for school stuff and new New Balances, then watch the women's marathon tonight. Go Deena!!!! Sooieee!!!!