Stormy Weather

So as I wrote previous, my knee had been giving me some trouble after my long runs and I decided to give it some time off, and see what it would do with some rest. Last weekends post long run knee pain was pretty bad, so I basically took the entire week as unscheduled rest, with the exception of Wednesday, which I ran just 3 miles. I figured at this point that if I took a week off and the knee was ok, I could pick back up my MP run yesterday and my 19 miler today and not really have it effect my Chicago marathon training. But if it was still problematic at that point, chances are that I would not be able to recover in time to run the Chicago Marathon anyways. At least not run in the way that I want to.





Thursday brought crazy weather to Colorado, with temps in the 50's and low 60's for the weekend and a constant barrage of rain. I don't normally mind rain, but as cold as it was made for a real pain in the ass day at work and just general miserable conditions. As I left work on Thursday night, this was the scene from under a gas station awning.

I had dinner in Old Town on Friday night in advance of my run on Saturday, then actually slept in and waited to do the run after I was fully awake and aware. It was still raining pretty good, but I knew I couldn't wait any longer, nor could I skip the run. I told myself that after almost 5 full days off that I was going to set my MP for the run around 7:15, instead of the normal 7:00 that I usually do. I took off and was able to hold the pace pretty good for about the first 5 miles. I felt my knee start to ache a little and so I slowed, not wanting to push it. Within the next mile though, I had to stop and walk, feeling as much pain, if not more from it than I did the previous 2 weeks. Also, both times before, it didn't hurt till after the run was over, this one hurt while I was running. I alternated walking and painful jogging the rest of the way home...

The only decision that I have made right now is that I will not be running the Chicago Marathon. I refuse to do it just to do it, and with the amount of time off that I will probably have to take to get healthy, there is no way that I can run the BQ that I want.

Part of me is thinking about a month off, then re starting the 18 week program, and trying R&R AZ again in January. Another part of me is thinking maybe Colorado again in May, after some signifigant recovery time. Not just from the knee, but also from the fact that I was trying to run a third marathon this year before this happened, and that might be a little much for me. From a dicipline standpoint as well as a health one. I'm just not sure right now. I still fully intend to make the trip to Chicago in Oct. It just looks like for the 2nd year in a row, I'll do it as a spectator.

And when I stopped at one place, this was the scene I saw...

Where do we go from here?

Where to start...A recap from last weekend had me with a bum knee that hurt after my LR. I took Monday off, skipping a short 3 mile recovery run, then tried to hit my 6x800 intervals the next day. I got through 2 before the skies opened up and the lightning started, when I tried to return to the run, I got through one more before I started to tighten up. I ran only 2 on Wednesday, did my tempo run on Thursday, which went fine, and took Friday off. I ran the Fort Collins Human Race on Saturday in Old Town. This is where things begin to turn for me. I ran a 44:45 for the 10k. My knee and leg started to ache after about 3 miles or so. I was on pace for a PR, then just had to cruise in, hoping not to push the leg too much. I went out for my LR this morning and started to feel it around my 6, but same as last weekend, I finished fine, but about 30-45 minutes after the run, I could hardly walk on it. I could barely shift the clutch in my pickup after Jaz and I left breakfast this morning. It feels better after some time has passed and a trip to the hot tub, but I know if I pick things back up tomorrow, I'll be right back in the same boat next weekend, and next weekend is the hardest stretch of my training cycle. 9 @ MP on Saturday, followed by an 18 miler that comes on Sunday. I really have only missed one or two workouts for this training plan, but at this point I am planning on taking Monday and Tuesday off. I will be missing a recovery run tomorrow, but on Tuesday I have hill intervals scheduled, and I hate to miss the speedwork, especially after not getting all my miles in last Tuesday because of the same problem.

So now I am faced with a tough week ahead. Bottom line is that if I only miss a couple days, even into Wednesday, I can pick up my tempo run on Thursday, take Friday off and hit my workouts over the weekend. If my leg is ok, then I probably don't miss a beat and am still on schedule for Chicago. BUT, if I don't bounce back on Wednesday and wind up being out of action for any significant length of time, what do I do? I know that if I took a week or two off because of this, that I could pick up my plan, go to Chicago and run. I could do the 26.2 miles tomorrow if healthy, the problem is, how fast could I do them? Could I BQ...Probably not. Could I run a 3:30 marathon or so. Most likely. So, do I go and hope that maybe I catch lightning in a bottle, that the drop in altitude, the crowds, and the people I know who will be there to cheer me on, thinking that they might give me the 15 minutes I need to run the 3:15:59. Or do I close up shop, let myself get healthy and once again look at Phoenix. That would give me almost a month to heal and then resume from square one.

I've been sick to my stomach all day long with this turn of events. To think that I may not be able to see this through, that I may go run Chicago just to say I've run it. It fucking sucks. I'll know more in the next couple days...

Return to Racing

It's Friday, which is a SRD for me every day going into Chicago except for the Friday before the race. It's my toughest day of the week though. It's hard for me not to want to run, bike, swim, anything athletic that helps take the edge off. Amd with my two hardest workouts being Saturday and Sunday every week, I can't spend the day eating poorly or drinking beer or anything like that. Without work to kill the time today, I get to do laundry, play with the dog, and just try and keep myself busy.

So, the hamstring issue from last week turned out to be cramps it looks like. My body has responded ok to returning to running. It's been a goofy week though. I skipped Mondays 3 miles because of the hamstring pain I had. Tueday was interval day, and I tried to do them in the evening after work and wound up getting dumped on by the rain. That's ok, except for it started to lightning so I had to stop after 2 of the 6 to let the weather pass, and when I tried to restart again, I could feel tightness in my hamstring, so I bagged it. Wednesday I cut the run short in the morning because I took Jaz to City Park so she could run with me on the grass. So I was nervous about yesterdays 40 minute tempo run, feeling like I hadn't really run good forever, but it turned out fine, and the leg is ok. :-)

I was scheduled for 9 at MP tomorrow morning, but have decided to run the Fort Collins Human Race 10k tomorrow in Old Town. I commited earlier on in the month that I would run a sub 42 10k, and this is my first attempt. It's also a good way for me to gauge how my Chicago training is coming. I usually don't race on Saturdays because of work, but made arrangments for this one. I like that it's right off a day off for me, plus I get a cut back LR this weekend of 12 miles on Sunday. This will be my first race in about a month and a half, so we shall see.

I also changed shoes finally this week. I went to the Nike Dart VI. No frills, nothing too special. More neutral than stability shoe. Probably not something I plan to stay in long term, but the Triaxs that I've worn for about a year now are really heavy and thought I might try something different to see if I can get out of having to wear one specific shoe. If it doesn't work out, I can always dive into the closet for another set of Triax 10's. But we shall see on that too.

Time to change the laundry...have a great weekend everyone. Race report to come this weekend.

Trouble...Maybe

So I've been writing a little about how my workouts for my Chicago training have been getting better and better. So as the weekend arrived, I knew I had some longer workouts, but nothing that would be too taxing from a speed standpoint. After just 4 on Wednesday at about 8:15 per mile, I had just 3 @ MP on Thursday morning. After work I went to Tony's with a couple guys and had a couple beers, but wound up leaving and going with Jaz to the Trailhead for another and just sitting on the deck and letting people pet her while I relaxed a little. I got up and nailed my Thursday workout, then took Friday as my SRD. Saturdays run was 8, but at MP +90 seconds, which put me at around 8:30 per mile. I did that and then off to work, after work, I had dinner. I got to bed late, but felt good getting up for yesterdays run. I ran the mile to the park where the bike trail begins up near my house and then another 7.5 down and the 8.5 back. I stuck the 8:30 pace that I wanted to pretty much the whole way. I finished the run feeling good and took a shower and headed out to breakfast. Jaz and I usually go to Gibs NY Bagels here in town on my days off to grab something to eat on the 2 days a week that I don't work. I eat a bagel sandwich and have coffee there on my days off from work. Fridays are usually pretty easy because it's my rest day, but Sundays we go after my Long Run and chill out. After my 17 though, I decided to head downtown to a little place here on Mountain Ave, right up from where I work and the Trailhead and all and actually sit and have breakfast. They have a dog-friendly patio out back and the food is pretty good. So I climbed out of the truck to go let Jaz out and make my way to their patio, and my left hamstring felt a little funny, plus I was limping a little. I had remembered looking at my Garmin when I finished the run, and it had said that I had burned 2300 calories on my work out, so I figured I had a free pass within reason for breakfast. Steak, eggs, hashbrowns, toast, and a huge ass pancake, with SF syrup, lol. I drove Jaz down to the river and let her swim for a while, and during the walk, my leg actually felt worse. After I got back to the house, I tried to relax it and it just hurt worse and worse as the day went on. After I sat down over dinner last night, I decided to take the day off today from running, (it was just 3 recovery miles) and we'll see how it looks tomorrow. I was just talking on Saturday about replacing my shoes, since I've been in them for a long time. Hopefully I didn't wait a day too long.

I have a speed workout tomorrow, and we'll see how it reacts in the morning, but I guess I'll just have to wait and see...