The last week of running has been difficult. We ran a fantastic–almost refreshing–15 miles last Saturday. The midweek runs were distances of 4, 8, and 4. I chose not to run the second 4-miler due to intense calf pain in my left leg. Stretch, massage, ice, heat, snake venom…nothing worked to loosen it up.
I was determined to try the 16 today.
I set my alarm for 5:00 a.m. to stretch, hydrate, and pray. The air was heavy with humidity and a tad of chill. I grabbed a long-sleeved teeshirt and my running gloves to start. I strapped on my ipod under the long-sleeved shirt knowing I’d shed it down the road. But then I couldn’t get it started. In my contortions to get it out and start the counter, I must have looked like Tim Conway trying to unfold a deck chair while being swarmed by mosquitoes.
I faded behind Kent early–between miles 3 and 4–and never really regained even pacing. He kindly flipped two u-turns along the route to stick with me, but to no avail. Despite Gatorade Endurance Formula and PowerBar gels, I never really gained a stride close to last week.
I cut through two shortcuts trying to catch back up with Kent knowing that I was shortening my distance for the day. But when he caught up with me, I couldn’t last more than a dozen strides with him.
After we crossed the half-marathon point, we divided again and I made a wrong turn on our new route. I made up the mileage I had dropped earlier, but ran through a new neighborhood with narrow streets, lots of matching homes, and lots of homes for sale.
Kent and I invite you to sign a petition for “Down with Downs Boulevard.” What a horrible avenue for anything other than minivans and SUVs headed to soccer games.
Good News: I remained sub-11 minutes per mile on average despite the fade. At this point training for the Country Music Marathon, I wasn’t there yet. About one month out from the CMM, I ran 17 at a 13:09 pace. I’m very happy!
Bad News: At the half-marathon point, I was at 2:20:52 compared to last week’s 2:16:13.
Question: See the counter to the left. At this point, we’re at 49 days and counting.
Will I be able to tear down and recover in such a way that I avoid injury, even out my stride, and speed up enough to string 26 10:18 miles together for a 4:30:00 marathon?
Perspective: 10% improvement over my CMM time would result in a 5:18:00 time. 20% would time out to 4:43:00. Maybe I’m being too hard on myself.
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