Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Mitts Longest Run

So, yesterday, with lower humidity for the first time in a few weeks I took Mitts with me on a recovery ish run. She has done 6 or so recovery runs with me all either 4 or 5 miles long and on each of these runs about halfway through she is usually in step with me and with a mile left she is about done. However, yesterday we did 6.5 miles and she was still charging up hills and pulling a little.

Mitts
The pulling is of course not ideal; but, I'm happy that the run was easier for her. Although, she did enjoy laying down in the brook when the run was over.

On another note, my injured Quad is tight but I don't think I stressed it on the run. Being a recovery run I tried to keep a slowish even pace. I think it ended up being a little quicker than what the range says it should be, but pacing is still a huge weakness. It seems I run a fair number of runs a little faster than I need to in order to hit the marathon pace I want. This is tempered by the reality that with the string of injuries I have not been able to do much tempo running (2 miles total!). I do play soccer 1 or 2 times per week though, so hopefully that is helping on that end. The soccer is certainly hurting my long runs though as I have had to not do a few because of game nights the night before a long run.

Going to try for 12 miles tonight.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Frustration of Injuries

So, as I continue to try and juggle my running goals with playing soccer, I am experiencing a set of injuries that are quite frustrating. Like most, I would imagine, I don't like to sit out and take it easy. Instead, I tend to try to get going while adjusting somewhat. The latest injury challenge is my quadriceps, that I have now "tweaked" twice in the past 2 weeks. I reinjured it on soccer on Friday night so skipped my 18-miler on Saturday to rest it. I can still feel it but seems to be some better. I will go for a run this afternoon and test it out!

On the bright side, I have started running with my 1.5 year old dog. So far so good. The longest we've done together is 5 miles on my recovery days so that I can work her into it. Being black-haired and it is summer I don't want to push it with her, but I do like being able to take her out for a run with me.

Friday, July 23, 2010

Getting On-track

I really do have huge gaps in my postings. I am going to try and improve that, obviously, with 0 followers it is more about self motivation than providing something for others to read or follow.

I completed my first marathon on May 9th in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada at the wait Fredericton Marathon. This is a very flat course that runs mainly of trails in the city that were built where the old train tracks were. Quite a comfortable run. My twin sister and I ran the first 16 miles together and while I felt surprisingly fresh she did not. She finished with a Boston Qualifying time and will likely run her 3rd Boston Marathon in 2011. I finished below my expected time but above my best case time; however, I was really pleased and as it was my first I, of course, achieved a Personal Best!

My two biggest obstacles were 1) not going too fast too soon and staying with my sister for 16 miles helped with that 2) my hamstring started to cramp with about 2 or 3 miles left (I didn't fuel properly after I left my sister) fortunately, I was able to stretch it out quickly, increase my liquid intact, and finish.

I felt great after the run and the next fews days were also excellent -- no pains, etc. However, I then decided to go for a run on the Thursday following the Sunday race and ran about 5 miles and probably a little too quick a pace. The result being a soreness in my left calf, which I ran through in the following days (although not much as I tried to take it easy). It didn't get better and eventually went to physio and they confirmed or at least agreed with what I suspected which was an injury to my soleus muscle. Regardless, I seem to have been fighting injuries ever since -- right Achilles, left knee, right quad, blah blah blah.

The biggest drag is that I am in the midst of training for marathon #2 in October and to date have done one poor attempt at a tempo run, no hills (although, there are tons of hills where I am so I hit hills every run), and aborted a number of long runs. Soccer games haven't helped the situation. Hopefully, I'm on the other side of the injuries and I will be able to manage the running and the soccer for 2 more months.

Time will tell!