Source

On Sunday, I am running the Pittsburgh Half-Marathon. It looks like its going to be another rainy one, just like last year. Fun.

After Sunday, I’m taking a break from long distances, including the half. I’ve decided not to run the NYC Marathon this year either. My knee really hasn’t gotten better, even though I’ve taken most of winter off from running like the doctor suggested. Since I’ve been training again, I will get random knee pains here and there. I’ve been training very conservatively and haven’t trained as well as I should have. So conservative, I’m afraid this is going to be my slowest race ever. I wish I could tell you this is not going to bother me, but it is.

In order to get a little faster and have a goal, my plan is to run a 5k each month of summer and run the Great Race again in September. I figure this will be a more reasonable goal, especially since I’ve started school again. Only two more summers to go! With school, I really don’t have the time to train for distance. Others may be able to do it, but I cannot balance it.

With a shorter distance to focus on, I’m hoping to get back into weight training more and attend a yoga class or two each week. I’ve never really worked on speed since I’ve been running long distances. I’ve only ran one 5k in the dozen or so races I’ve participated in. Fingers crossed that my knee issues don’t flare up and that foam rolling, icing and stretching keep it under control.

What are your summer training plans?

The past two weekends were kinda tough to be spending on the sidelines of a marathon in DC and NYC. I wanted to jump in and RUN. Thanks to the knee, that was out. But, I still had fun, maybe even more fun since I didn’t have to worry about being super rested and taking it easy. I could walk all over the place and drink my sorrows away. Instead, I spectated and drank hard. And made signs. Drinking and witty signs are key for recovery. Fortunately, I only have pictures of the cheering and not the drinking to share.

I had three runners to cheer on for in DC, all with different paces. It was a logistical nightmare and I only saw one during the race. Opps, will try for better planning next time. I cheered on two of my training partners and a new friend. I felt like a proud mom at the end.They all did so well! All are now registered for the NYC lottery for next year, so fingers crossed it happens for them.

Marine Corps Runners!

Finishing is your only option! Don’t mind the crazy hair.

My marathon friends!

The excitement over the marathon in New York was contagious. Thank goodness I canceled my entry before going to New York because I would have attempted to run the damn thing. We cheered the runners at mile 14ish in Queens. And yes, there were signs again. Recycled from MCM. I don’t have a picture of the “Single and Supportive” sign, but that one got a lot of laughs. I cannot wait to run this next year and finish strong!

Next year, I’ll be running under this sign!

I could not believe how many runners there were in NYC!

More signage to show support!

So that’s the end of my fall marathon journey. Time to focus on next fall.

Sigh. This is a hard post to write. I’ve decided to defer the NYC Marathon this year.

I saw the orthopedic specialist this morning and I didn’t even get to see the cute doctor. I mean, if I am going to get bad news, I want the eye candy. Instead, I got the old guy who didn’t seem to have the most positive outlook on running.

The doctor diagnosed me with tendonitis in my knee, which means the iliotibial band and other knee muscles are inflamed and irritated. The cure is rest, plain and simple. Everyday we get tiny microscopic tears in our muscles and while we sleep, the muscles repair themselves. Mine are just taking a little longer to get there.

I can take all the Advil and ice it all I want, but that is only a temporary solution. I don’t need to go to physical therapy, which the doctor didn’t think would be that helpful. Thank goodness, I don’t have the time or money to go to physical therapy every week.

I could run the marathon, but he said he wouldn’t recommend it and the end result would not be pretty if I was not completely healed. Since I can’t run without pain now and am missing those precious last few runs before it is taper time, deferral it is.

I’ve gone thru the five stages of injury acceptance:

1. Denial - I’ve run through the pain. It did not exist.
2. Anger – I’ve blamed myself, my training, lack of cross-training and not enough stepback weeks.
3. Bargaining – I’ve told myself, a couple of rest days will cure me. I’ll take it easy if I can do a 20-miler (newsflash: I can’t).
4. Depression – I’ve been reading Chicago and other marathon recaps and it makes me sad to think I won’t experience the post-marathon high. I cried in the car after the appointment.
5. Acceptance – Realized it not going to do me any good to run a marathon when I’m not where I want to be physically and mentally. I ran my first marathon under trained and I don’t want to go there again. I’d be in the same situation with not getting the final long runs in.

I don’t want to end up in worse shape than I started, so NYC Marathon 2011 here I come! The good news is I’m still going to NYC and I could not be more excited about seeing NYC in the fall. Being in the same city as the marathon may be upsetting, but I will have to tell myself that will be me next year.

In the meantime, I’m excited to focus on other activities than running for a few weeks. If you’ve been injured, how did you handle the setback?

I have a problem. My knee hurts. I’m 30 days out from the marathon. Its not like a oww-I-can’t-walk kinda hurt, its the oww-it-hurts-to-run-fast and oww-going-up-and-down-steps kinda hurt. It started hurting when I ran on a treadmill the day after the Great Race. I’ve iced it every day since then. I ran a half marathon last weekend and while I didn’t die, it wasn’t comfortable and I could feel it the whole time.

The pain is somewhat hard to describe, its mostly on the outside of the knee and walking does not hurt, but steps do. Dr. Google tells me it could be runner’s knee or iliotibial band syndrome. I haven’t run or cross-trained much these past two weeks because I am so afraid of pushing it.

I’m seeing an orthopaedic specialist on Tuesday. I’m so torn if I should defer from the marathon. I guess I’ll wait and see what the doctor says first. I want to run at my best and not have a single regret. I want this to be my last marathon and I want to cross the finish line knowing I gave it everything I have. Right now I feel like a big failure and mentally making a list of all the should have’s…should have crossed-trained more, should have stretched more, should have run more, should have…

I’m going to attempt my 20-miler on Sunday (bad idea?) and hope for the best. Please cross your fingers for me!

Another week of marathon training in the books. This week’s marathon training went like this:

Sunday: At home strength training
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 4 miles
Wednesday: 7 miles
Thursday: 2 mile warm-up and speed session
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 12 miles

Saturday’s run was not so great. I’ve ran half marathons faster than than I completed my 12 miler. I’m having a hard time coming to terms with that I’m not really getting faster. There are a few reasons why – I didn’t take my training seriously enough early on, for one. A tiny part of me is hoping that it’ll just gradually come back. I’ll peak in time for the race, I hope. But, I know I’ve got to get this mentally sorted out or I am going to have a nervous breakdown at mile 18 on race day.

The 12 miler was brutal. At more than one point during the run, I asked myself, how can this be uphill – I just ran this part uphill? I did an out and back and I never really noticed how hilly my trail was. But seriously, it was uphill both ways. Maybe I was imagining things at that point and just wanted the run to be over.

I ran with my fuel belt for the first time in ages since I needed more hydration and it was somewhat annoying. Not having the typical run shotbloks, I substituted a Lara bar, which I wasn’t used to. All the little things were just not working for me that morning.

When I took my socks off, I noticed I rubbed all the nail polish off my toes, which has never happened to me before and I got blisters at the top of some of my toes around the nails. Not painful, just annoying.

I was looking thru my e-mail and came across an e-mail from my old running group and it reminded me that if you have a bad run, its JUST a bad run. Nothing more, nothing less. I’m not going to internalize or dwell on it and I’m looking forward to the 14 miler next weekend.

What’s your strategy for recovering from a bad workout?

One semester of school down, eight more to go. Its been amazing to have my evenings free for the past week. I am going to be so sad when I have to give this up in a month!

I kinda got derailed from the marathon train during the crunch time for school. Luckily, I’ve kept up my long runs so its not going to be too hard to get back on track. I’ve been running with three girls that I graduated with from high school – they are running the Marine Corps Marathon the week before mine, which I’m planning to go to DC and support them at and one of them will be coming to NYC to support me. Its so nice to get up early on the weekends knowing a group is waiting for you to run (with bagels too!).

I’m running in two races before the big one – my first 10k at the Great Race on September 26 and the Hershey Half Marathon on October 3.

My training game plan for this week is:

• Monday – rest day
• Tuesday – 3 mile run
• Wednesday – speed workout
• Thursday – 4 mile run
• Friday – rest day
• Saturday – 8 mile long run
• Sunday – rest day

Its not perfect, but I’m still tweaking my plan and I have some commitments that are making me move things around. I have been slacking on the mid-week runs, so I’m keeping the milage light for now. One of the rest days will most likely be a cross training day. My goal is to just finish and enjoy the marathon right now. Once I get further in my training I’ll be able to decide on a time goal depending on how things are going.

Polly’s Yoga For Runners has been a lifesaver for me and if you haven’t done it you really should. I am awful at stretching before and after a run, so I’m trying really hard to make more of an effort to do so. If anyone has any good resources or tips for stretching, I’d love to see them!

Well, yesterday and the day before were quite exciting! On Tuesday night I noticed I had a pending charge from NYRR, the folks that put on the New York City Marathon. The results of the lottery weren’t being announced until Wednesday, but word on the street was if you had something on your charge card, you were in. Well, I didn’t want to believe it until it was offical and I saw it with my own eyes on the marathon Web site. At 12:30 on the dot yesterday I logged in to check my status and saw that my status said, accepted aka IN! Pencil in Nov. 7, 2010 in the calendar.

After a minor freakout, I’m excited! I had a gut feeling this was going to happen even though there is a one in six chance of getting selected via lotto. Mentally, I was planning to run it next year since I get automatic entry from entering the lotto in 2008, 2009 and 2010. There’s no reason why I can’t run it this year, so that’s the plan.

I like the planning involved with training for marathons and I know training will go so much better this time around because of several personal circumstances. Plus, my old marathon group kicked off fall marathon training in May, which may seem long for some, but a five month training plan works for me and I know I need it to get back in top running form. I felt so lost last summer/fall because I opted out of a fall race due to moving and the like and I am so glad to be getting back into it.

Once I get through the half next month, I’ll figure out my training and the like. Two of my friends are running the Marine Corps Marathon the weekend before, so I’m glad I won’t have to do all my long runs alone.

April is shaping up to be a BIG month in so many ways.

And some housekeeping, I brought a new domain and I’m going to give this blog a new look. I may try to do it this weekend, so keep an eye out!

Today was the last day to enter the NYC Marathon lottery, so guess what I did?

Yes, of course. I’ve entered the lottery twice already and have not gotten picked. I really would prefer to run it next year since you get automatic entry in the fourth year if you have entered the lottery three times. For some reason I feel like I’m going to get picked this year, so we’ll see. I find out in April.

To top it all off, my ankle is bothering me. I think it was a combination of not replacing my shoes sooner and the potholes. Lots of RICE on my end and going to break out the brace tomorrow. HOT! Taking a break from running too – just as I was starting to get into my groove.