Slow and Steady wins the race... 300 to Boston in 5 years?

[AntimonyER]

Well, this week had its ups, but mostly downs, and big ones.

Week 9 Day 6

Supposed to be an easy hour, on the hotel treadmill. Problem was, we just got back from eating pizza and beer. Running on a full stomach is no bueno, had to stop before I got sick.

Time = 24:11
Distance = 3.19mi
Pace = 7:34/mi
Avg HR = 133

Week 9 Day 7

Rest Day - even though I didn't really need it, didn't want to go too many days in a row, plus needed family time.

Week 10 Day 1

Long Run 2:30-3:30

Time = 2:56:15
Distance = 22.05mi
Pace = 7:59/mi
Avg HR = 135

Didn't eat great the previous weekend, and stomach issues dominated the first half of this run, but I finally got past that, and had a great second half.

Week 10 Day 2

Easy Run 50-60 min

Time = 59:37
Distance = 7.30mi
Pace = 8:10/mi
Avg HR = 134

First time running the day after the long run. Definitely felt it. Took it VERY easy.

Week 10 Day 3

Goal Pace Run
10 min WU, 60 min Marathon Pace, CD

Time = 1:17:18
Distance = 11.14 mi
Pace = 6:56/mi
Avg HR = 156

Splits
WU = 10min, 1.25mi, 8:00/mi
Marathon = 60min, 8.93mi, 6:43/mi
CD = 7:18, 0.96mi, 7:36/mi

1st high point of the week, a GREAT run. Back to Vo2max of 60 with this one.

Week 10 Day 4

Chase the Turkey 5K

Time: 18:52

Decided to run a local race on thanksgiving morning. Perfect weather yet again, and I killed it. Set a new 5K PR by over 40 seconds! 5th OA and 1st in my age group (only trailed 4 high school Cross country runners, and almost caught one of them at the finish).

Week 10 Day 5

Easy Run 55-65 min

Time: 47:50
Distance = 5.98mi
Pace = 8:00/mi
Avg HR = 137

Thanskgiving meal making itself known at the end of the run... Lesson learned - no big meals in the 2 days leading up to the marathon, carb loading needs to be done before that!

Week 10 Day 6

And here is the big down. Supposed to be my last hard Fast Finish Run, 6 miles at easy, 8 at marathon pace, 2 at 5k-10k. But 3 miles in, after a stop for a drink of water at the water fountain, I go to take off, and am met with sharp pain shooting up my the back of my lower right leg. I stop, try to stretch it out, start again, but no go, the pain is bad, I can't push off my right foot at all. I take the walk of shame the three miles back to my car, limping the whole way. Pain in the lower calf all the way down to the achilles area.

Rested it yesterday, but even today there is tightness in my calf area, and pain with pressure applied. I am not in a good place mentally right now, I was THERE, and now I am dropping fitness fast, and who knows how long this will take to heal.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Are you going to make a quick Dr appointment to try and get a diagnosis? Might help figure out the recovery timeline. Take solace in knowing that fitness does not diminish very quickly. So if this becomes something that's only a week or something you might still be able to race with near peak fitness. I've definitely been there so I know how you feel.

 

[AntimonyER]

Are you going to make a quick Dr appointment to try and get a diagnosis? Might help figure out the recovery timeline. Take solace in knowing that fitness does not diminish very quickly. So if this becomes something that's only a week or something you might still be able to race with near peak fitness. I've definitely been there so I know how you feel.

Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a quick Dr appt for me, My dr is near my house, which is an hour from my work. (Meaning I lose half a day for them to tell me to rest, ice, stretch, and let pain be my guide) It is most likely a calf strain, so like you said, just have to hope it is mild enough to get back into it quickly.

 

[garneska]

I feel for you. I have been there is as well. I am sending positive vibes but i get it. Actually right now my knee is bothering me more than it has been. I did have a tough week running (ie a lot of miles). Today is my off day so hoping it is all good by tomorrow.

 

[AntimonyER]

Well, the good news is my calf is feeling much better today. No tenderness, and only a hint of tightness with mild stretching, and that is with no ibuprofen. With the speed at which it is healing, and the penalty for a relapse, I am not going to run until that tightness is gone (hopefully another day or two). I might use the exercise bike tonight though if it doesn't get sore as the day goes on.

 

[AntimonyER]

Did 25 minutes on the bike, 25 minutes on the elliptical, some plyometric exercises (hopping) along with a 1 and 2.5 mile walk. All with no pain during the actual exercise, however later last night some soreness developed and is still there to a lesser degree this morning. I'll rest it today, and if tomorrow feels good again (like yesterday), I will go for a light jog I think.

 

[KSellers88]

Glad to hear the calf is improving! I finally signed up for the half next weekend so I hope to see you there!

 

[AntimonyER]

Glad to hear the calf is improving! I finally signed up for the half next weekend so I hope to see you there!

Awesome! I hope to do the same!

So today the tightness is the least it has been. I took another rest day yesterday, only a 1 mile walk in the morning, along with a lot of stretching and strength exercises throughout the day. I want to run today so bad... but I can still feel that little twinge.

 

[AntimonyER]

Ended up doing the right thing, and not running yesterday. Walked 3.2 miles at a fast pace, and was a bit sore afterwards (importantly, not DURING), but some ibuprofen fixed that. Then did an hour on the elliptical last night. This morning, I felt even better than yesterday, so today it is.

Time: 38:56
Distance: 3.89 miles
Pace: 10:00/mi
Avg HR 115

I did a 0.5 mile walking warm up and cool down. The running portion was 2.89 miles, at an avg pace of 7:36/mi. I DID NOT mean to go that fast, but fresh legs fooled me into thinking i was going slower than I was I guess. Calf did great, and it wasn't even a twinge that caused me to shut it down, just more of a weak feeling. (I was SUPER paranoid the whole time).

Needless to say, I am on a huge high right now. I am not out of the woods, but at least now I am on the path.

 

[AntimonyER]

Saturday took the day off, as we had to drive to Charlotte and back for a soccer game (8.5 hours of driving for a 1.5 hour soccer game, at least they won 8-4). Didn't stop me from tweaking my calf when I stepped off a curb, ugh. Definitely going to have to be careful this last week...

Or not:

Time: 0:42:20
Distance: 6.01 mi
Pace: 7:03/mi
Avg HR: 148

Again, started off by feel and ended up way too fast. But just went with it. Calf started to get tight around mile 5, but I wanted to see how it would progress, in case the same happens on saturday, so went another mile, and it didn't really progress fast. That being said, it was quite sore afterwards, but ibuprofen took care of it.

So starting to get into the reliable period for weather prediction, and can't say I am super pleased. 55 at race start, with 100% humidity and 50% chance of rain, warming to lower 60s by race end. I prefer upper 40s and low humidity. Only bright side is winds are 15-20mph all week, but drop off to 7-10 for saturday, and its cloudy vs. sun. Hoping the weather moves through faster than predicted.

 

[AntimonyER]

So went for an easy run at lunch, plan was to do an hour.

5 miles was a full loop, I planned to stop and get some water, and then stretch a little before finishing up with another 20 minutes or so.

Felt pretty good, although my achilles started to ache a bit at the end... (I think the compression sleeves I am wearing are contributing to that). But when I stopped, drank and stretched, all hell broke loose. Achilles all of a sudden went from a 1 or 2 to a 7 or 8 in pain, and the back of my hip had a SHARP pain that would radiate around to my groin, to the point that I couldn't put any weight on it.

Shut it down of course, and managed to get my shower and back to my desk, but the hip was only getting worse. And then, about 30 minutes later, when I couldn't take it anymore and couldn't put any weight on my right leg, it just disappeared, and my achilles settled down to almost nothing... And now I feel the same as I did yesterday after my run. I am kind of at a loss for what happened there. I thought I was done for sure for this weekend.

Definitely taking a day off again tomorrow, and probably staying away from the calf sleeves ( I have a pair of compression socks that don't cause my achilles any trouble, which is what I was wearing for my first run last friday).

Anyways, here is my run stats:

Time: 0:38:53
Distance: 5.12 miles
Pace: 7:35/mi
Avg HR: 139

 

[DopeyBadger]

It's certainly hard to say. But it's not uncommon at this point in the marathon taper phase to start to go through taper madness where things just suddenly start cropping up and disappearing. I can't say that's the case here.

 

[garneska]

I was going to echo @DopeyBadger not saying you did not feel it but it could be taper madness, especially knowing that it did hurt enough to stop before. I am not even tapering yet but I get the same way is everything ok, that step was weird. No worries its gone now. Am sneezing more, what is going on with this phlegm. Add in some extra travel time in the car and you get some serious taper madness.

I am hoping it is taper madness and everything is great for your race on saturday.

 

[AntimonyER]

I wish it were taper madness. But it returned last night, and is still there this morning, but more as a soreness than a sharp pain. At this point I am not going to run until Saturday, to give myself time to heal as much as possible, and hope its enough.

 

[garneska]

That is a bummer @AntimonyER i am hoping it heals up for you and you still have a good race on Saturday. Good vibes going your way.

 

[AntimonyER]

Well, I'm here. Whatever was up with my hip, is back to normal, thankfully. The calf is still tight tho, so that along with the last two weeks of hit and miss training has me very uncertain about tomorrow. But I have my plan, and am following it until I have to change it.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Well, I'm here. Whatever was up with my hip, is back to normal, thankfully. The calf is still tight tho, so that along with the last two weeks of hit and miss training has me very uncertain about tomorrow. But I have my plan, and am following it until I have to change it.

You've got this!

 

[KSellers88]

Well, I'm here. Whatever was up with my hip, is back to normal, thankfully. The calf is still tight tho, so that along with the last two weeks of hit and miss training has me very uncertain about tomorrow. But I have my plan, and am following it until I have to change it.

best of luck!!

 

[garneska]

Good luck!

 

[AntimonyER]

Well, I finished. But no BQ. Calf only held up to the halfway point, but I gutted it out slowly to the finish. I'll post a full recap later