Roar. I'm feeling scared and negative.
Please bear with my venting...
DH and I are trying to do the Galloway plan but I'm in a play right now which is completely messing up our schedule. We are able to run Monday, Fridays and the weekends. We've been trying to do our short runs on Monday and Friday after work and our long run over the weekend. My show is over at the end of the month, so we'll be able to train on the recommended days in November and December but I'm afraid we're missing out much needed training now. We still go out 3 times a week but I just feel like we're not getting what we need out of it. We mostly walk. We did the 6 mile run for week 4 on Monday after work and averaged a 17:45/mile pace.
We've been trying to work in more running with our walks but we're having a very difficult time. DH is getting quite a lot of pain in his shins whenever we run. He's fine walking, but after we add in 30+ seconds of slow running he starts to hurt. He bought one of those
roller things and seems to like it quite bit. He also got an icepack but doesn't always use it. We try to stretch before and after our runs. Everyone says to go to a running store and get good shoes but he doesn't want to. A few years ago we went to Marathon Sports in Boston to get him shoes. The staff watched him walk and were very helpful. He must have tried on 100 different pairs. He finally bought a pair but he says they don't fit right. (Too be honest, I think he bought them out of guilt because he took so much time with the staff and didn't want to leave empty handed.) He got some sport insoles last week, but his left foot still feels weird. He has a very hard time fitting shoes (this is why he loves
Crocs so much!) - His left foot is half a size bigger than his right or something. I think he won't go to the shoe store because he thinks it won't help due to this prior experience. Those shoes he bought were expensive.
I am having some trouble too. My cardiovascular system is not the best. I might or might not have exercise asthma. (Isn't that just a nice way of saying someone is out of shape?) I haven't needed my inhaler at all, but I can't even jog for more than 60 seconds without being completely out of breath. Like Jason, I can walk - even power walk - with no trouble. I really want to work on my running to get past this but we can't run enough with Jason's shins for me to improve.
Finally, I'm really sweating our pre-race fueling. I really enjoyed reading on here about what people are planning to eat before the race but I'm not sure what we should do. We try to be gluten-free and low-carb. (We both have weight issues.) Jason is also a type 1 diabetic. I thought we could have a banana with peanut butter before our race. How does that sound? When should we start experimenting with pre-run food? What should we eat the night before the race if we can't eat pasta? What are considered easily digestible foods?
Well, I think that's it. Thanks for reading. I'm super nervous that we're not training hard enough and we're going to be swept on race day.
This is my 2nd attempt at the Donald. In 2010 my sister and I signed up. Our whole family came down to cheer us on. I walked off the course at mile 5. I couldn't breathe and my inhaler wasn't helping. My sister finished on her own. Although I am happy for her, I'm still jealous and feel terrible about myself for not finishing. Almost 4 years later and I'm still obsessing over this. All I can think is "I failed." I embarrassed myself in front of my family and I can't seem to get over it. I MUST finish this race in 2014. I MUST!
OK, that's it. Thanks again for reading. I'm going to go fret now and read about gluten-free runners.
[hmmm.... I wonder if my obsession with the 2010 race is making me more scared and negative then I need to be...?]
First, you are heaping way too much pressure on your shoulders at this point in time. It’s way to early to be in full panic mode. I don’t know if the pressure is coming from 2010 or the schedule you mention, but take a deep breath and release the tension.
Starting with schedule. Honestly, Jeff’s plans are long run centric. If you are making long run distances you are well on your way to the finish line. Training Monday, Friday and a weekend day is not prime but is substantially better than skipping runs. Hang in there. Once you are able to spread out the runs, add a little speed play to the Tuesday runs.
Shin splints are a function of several possible issues. Of primary concern are old shoes, improper shoes, adding too many miles too quickly and over-striding. You mention a shoe store trip that was several years back. I am hoping that the shoes your DH is running in are not those shoes. If they are, get him into a new ride quickly. Likewise, if you have no idea how many miles are on the shoes and they are more than a few months old, you may need a new pair. I still suggest a trip to a running store. Tell the store you are on a budget. Most every kind of shoe (stability, motion control, neutral) in a specific brand has a cheap cousin. If one’s feet are different sizes, you may need two pair of shoes.
Look at your log of runs over the last few weeks. If your DH missed a run or the total number of miles jumped up quickly, or if you added the run segments on a long run and had not used them before, that could trigger a splint issue. Have your DH walk the next long run and see if the shins feel better.
Finally with regard to the shin splints, I find the many newer runners tend to want to overstride when looking for speed. In simple terms, the result is a harder than normal heal strike which acts in a braking manner and sends additional shock waves up through the leg. Try landing on the mid foot for a few runs to see if this helps. Then to speed up, one needs to work on a quicker turnover or increasing the number of steps per minute.
I cannot speak to your maybe have or maybe not having exercised induced asthma, As a coach, I am thinking that you are simply running too fast. If you have asthma that will compound the feeling when pushing too hard. If you cannot talk in a near normal sentence while out training, especially on the long runs, you need to slow up. By going out too fast you are not creating the needed adaptations for an endurance event. The closer one runs to anaerobic conditions, the greater the percentage of sugar-based fuels on will consume and the quicker one will deplete the limited stores. In real simple terms, we all have about a 90-minute supply of glycogen, no more. Slow up so that the body will take create adaptations allowing for a higher percentage of fat as fuel. Yes, this sounds counterintuitive, but you cannot run the long runs in a huffy-puffy condition, if that is the way you are feeling. If you are not suffering from asthma, a few weeks down the road you will have a better capacity for your runs.
With regard to fueling, your initial ideas are not bad for a pre-run fuel. You may need to consider a portable fuel for 45-60 minutes into the run. Frankly, the meal in front of, during and within an hour post run can be almost any carb and/or protein that you can handle. Easily digestible is a function of you and your system. We are all an experiment of one and wheat works for you may not work for another.
If you are gluten free due to a health need, then practice that on long run day, otherwise, you may be following a fad and not something that is necessarily bad. One does not need or really want to ‘carb up’ the day before a long run. I know from personal experience that one can put on pounds if one tries to practice tis old wives tail practice. Carb loading is a hard, sickening and terrible feeling week long process that starts with a depleting process and one would only want to practice before a really big race. 99% of folks running a Disney race are not going to go through this process. I would work with your doctor and a dietician for a long term solution to dietary needs. A 40-30-30 ratio of CHO, PRO, FAT is an ideal ratio for most all runners.
Hang in there. There are still many weeks between now and January. Take one day at a time. Work on speed on your midweek runs and on running in a nearly conversational pace for the longer runs.
Hope this helps
[ADDED] I meant to mention that instead of worrying about carbing up the day before a long run, I would counsel thinking about hydration the day before a long run. Poor hydration ruins more runs than fueling ever has. If one starts off dehydrated they may bail on a run within a mile or so from the start. Think of sipping water all day the day prior to a long run. You want you urine to be clear with a slight color; noting that color can be created through supplementation. If you get in a practice of staying on top of liquid intake the day before then it is one less reason for a crash on race day
x
I've been running for 20 years, was a dancer, skied, played soccer, have always been active, am very fit and have exercise-induced asthma. I always use my albuterol inhaler 15-20 minutes before exercise; the times I've forgotten I was out of breath within minutes. I would try using your inhaler proactively and see if it helps. If it doesn't, please see your doctor, as you may have regular, not exercise-induced, asthma, which is handled quite differently. 
