One year ago

Yesterday I finished my long run for the week. It was 11 miles. This is not an overly challenging distance for me. I was running 11 mile long runs prior to even starting official marathon training. In some ways, it makes me feel like I'm stuck in limbo; like I'm not actually progressing towards my goal of finishing a 26.2 mile race. And then I think of where I was a year ago.

One year ago, I had experienced the first twinging in my knee. One year ago, I was running distances of 10 miles multiple days in a row. One year ago, I finished a long run of 18.7 miles on a knee that started hurting 4 miles in. One year ago, I set myself to be hurt to the point that my knee needed surgery and I wouldn't be able to run at all for many months.

A few weeks ago, I started getting nervous about the emphasis that my training schedule was placing on long runs. As a rule of thumb, most coaches would advise that the long run consists of 40% or less of your total weekly mileage. Mine was pushing 50%. So I switched to a plan that was heavy on mid-week distances and quality runs, and more conservative on the long-run distances.

I honestly don't know how it will pan out in the end, but I can tell you that although my knee is still a little twingey, it feels strong. I've made it a little bit closer to my marathon date without an injury. Maybe there's a lesson to be learned in all of this. Instead of relying on my efforts alone to get me to my goal, I have to have faith in the plan and the preparations.

Regardless of my performance on October 30th or the outcome of the race, I'm looking forward to at least getting to the starting line. That's a heck of a lot farther than I made it last year!

No Excuses

Marathon training was going along just fine, and then I just stopped wanting to run. Obviously, this is a problem I've dealt with in the past, but it's kind of critical if I'm going to successfully complete a marathon in three months that I not let that happen. So what do I do? Two things.

1 - I switched to a different training plan. This plan still builds weekly mileage, but puts less emphasis on the weekly long runs. It also mixes up the types of runs a little more each week, which means that I get to tour different parts of my neighborhood depending on whether I'm going to do track work or hills or fartleks or what not.

2 - I implemented "no excuses" week. No matter what, I will complete my work outs and eat well this week. Period. No excuses are acceptable. I just need a solid week or two to stick to my plan without waivering, and hopefully that will get me back on track.

So far I got my run in this morning (on a track, no less, which is a huge victory for me!). I'll let you know how the rest of the week goes!