Training log - week ending 11/25/12

This week was 37 miles of “real running” plus 11.5 running equivalents on the arc-trainer (call it 48.5 miles total), and then  9 “miles” pool running and 4000 yards of swimming breathing drills -- training log is here.  

Recovering and ramping back up.  Knock on wood, the plantar fasciitis at the rear of my left heel  is clearing nicely (that was the PF that caused me to skip my marathon).  

But, at the same time, I’m now dealing with some slight PF and also some tendonitis in both feet, near the arch and big toe, as well as on the outside of the foot.  This is normal, BTW – a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation that I always seem to face.  Any time I substantially cut back my running, I end up with slight to moderate PF and/or tendonitis in both feet when I come back.  It's like I lose the resiliency in those soft tissues if I don't work them.   (It's also pretty annoying/frustrating)

So just like always, I have to come back very slowly, combining running with cross training, as I work my way through the "rebuilding niggles."  I like combo runs, where I do the first miles outside, then finish up on the arc-trainer or in the pool, gradually increasing the time running and decreasing the cross-training.  I did several of those combo runs this week, and that's the plan for the next few.

Keeping my fingers crossed that everything continues to progress.

Dailies

Monday:   In the morning, 6 miles easy (8:07 pace) followed by a PT appointment for dry needling.

Tuesday:  In the morning, 2000 yards of swimming breathing drills, and also upper body strengthwork and injury prevention exercises.  Floor barre and foam rolling at night. 

Wednesday:   In the morning, 6 miles easy (8:09 pace) followed by an hour on the arc-trainer (call it equal to 7.5 miles.  Also a PT appointment (ART for the foot). 

Thursday:   8.5 miles very easy (8:32 pace) and then yoga.  Foam-rolling at night (post Thanksgiving dinner at Ruth’s Chris – we don’t need no stinking turkey).

Friday:  In the morning, 2000 yards of swimming breathing drills, followed by 40 minutes of easy pool-running (“4 miles”).  Yoga in the afternoon, plus foam rolling.

Saturday:   In the morning, 6 miles very easy (8:48 pace) followed by 30 minutes pool-running (“3 miles”) .  Upper body strengthwork and injury prevention exercises in the afternoon, plus foam rolling.

Sunday:   In the morning, a combined long run of 10.5 miles aerobic (7:45 pace) followed by 30 minutes on the arc-trainer for “3.5 miles.”   Yoga and foam rolling in the afternoon.

"And all that could have been"

If you ever want to know how I'm doing, just check out my iPod.  My musical choices are often pretty good indication of my mindset.  I may deny that I'm worried or upset (and I'll think I'm fine) but the iPod tells all.

Thus, despite my determinedly, doggedly positive attitude a few weeks back, my choice of Nine Inch Nails' Broken for listening during my arc-trainer session was a pretty strong indicator that I was worried.

"Covered in hope and vaseline /  

still cannot fix this broken machine."
- nine inch nails, "gave up"

And what is a marathon training cycle, if not a confounding blend of hope and vaseline?

I convinced myself I had no reason to be worried.  I had made it through the training cycle, right?  It was at the very end of a workout during my taper, done in the blustery remnants of Hurricane Sandy, that I first felt the burning pull in my left heel.  I knew what it was right away -- about 2 years ago I had a case of plantar fasciitis in that same foot that I forced until it that was bad enough to leave me hobbling.

So I did the right thing.  I stopped running.  Immediately.  Went straight back to my car, went home, stayed off of it for the rest of the day.  Swapped to the arc-trainer the next day, complete with broken audio backdrop, and then got a massage that evening focused on foot and calf.  I had weeks, right?  Plenty of time to clear this up. 

Dry needling.  Has a
pretty good track record for
plantar.  A bit ouchy, though.

But long story short, it wasn't enough time.

I don't go down without a fight, and so I threw everything I know at it.  Strasbourg sock, golf ball self-massage, dry-needling/ART, lo-dye taping, cross-training.   Discussed with others whether to just not run at all for the next three weeks, but it was agreed that I needed to run some on it -- PF is one of those things that full rest just makes worse.  So I taped, ran carefully, treated. 

And it improved.  I know what I'm doing.  And I did the right things.  But it didn't improve quick enough.  With 10 days to go, I stepped onto the track for a careful and easy 5K tempo.  The foot felt good during the warm-up.  But after that careful workout, it was sore and swollen.   Game over.

***

It wasn't that I couldn't run my race, but that I couldn't run my race.  Months of hard training have resulted in a cardio engine that feels like a marvel of German precision engineering.  But...flat tire.  It's not just the pain (which wasn't too bad), but also the fact that I just can't push off the way I want on that foot.  Protecting and shielding, hobbling and shuffling, is not how I race.

And I've also been down this plantar fascitis road before, and I know where it leads.  Months of rehab and missed races, if I don't fix it now.

So, I pulled the plug.  (coach in full agreement).


And it hurt.  More than the foot did.

***

It's not that I feel like I've wasted my fall.  Training compounds, and so the gains I've earned here will help me in future races.

Additionally, I loved the training itself.  Marathon training was very rarely a slog, and so often a joy.  If you had told me that I had my choice of a) doing the training cycle, but not running the race, or b) not doing the training cycle, I would have absolutely chosen option a.  Long runs are my favorite workouts, and the steady meditation of marathon pace on the towpath was a gift.  No regrets.

Freytag's Narrative Structure Pyramid. 
In case it's not obvious, one of
my college majors was English.

But I feel unfulfilled.  I love stories, and the tale of my training cycle jumped straight from rise to denouement, bypassing the climax.

Whimper, when I wanted bang.

***

Of course, over the week and weekend, I kept getting reminders.  Race confirmation email, google calendar notice, etc.  Heck, the local DC news covered the Philly Marathon, taking special care to note that it was "perfect running weather."  (you just can't make this stuff up).   And as I drove to yoga on my marathon morning, NIN blasted on, observing: 

"Just a glimpse / Just a little reminder 

Of all the what abouts
And all the might have / Could have beens..."

- nine inch nails - "the wretched"

And that's just it.  Hard training doesn't guarantee a good race - it's not a would have been, but a might have been.  Had my foot not busted, I might have lined up that morning, and then had a truly horrendous struggle of a race.  It happens.  My sadness is not that I missed out on the certainty of a good race, but that I missed out on my chance.  I really wanted to know how the story would end.

***

Sometimes, there's a small part of me that worries - 40 approaches.  I want to run fast before I get old, and I fear sometimes that I just don't have that many training cycles, that many chances, left.  Time may be a Pink Floyd song and a cliche, but it does exact its price.  And the irony is, the more you focus on the limits of time, the more they, ummm, limit you.

On the other hand... I've just written a lengthy, analytical, and self-centered blog post while quoting angsty rock band lyrics and alluding to T.S. Elliot.  Heck, I threw in some lit-crit and morbid references to time for good measure.

So maybe I'm still a teenager, and in that case, I have all the time in the world, plus a naive inability to appreciate such.

Either way, there's only one option.  Rest and recover, and then rebuild and register.  All as a prelude to kicking some massive race ass.

The way out is always through.

Training log - Week ending 11/18/12

This week was 14 miles of “real running” plus 17.5 running equivalents on the arc-trainer (call it 31.5 miles total), and then  20 “miles” pool running and 2250 yards of swimming breathing drills -- training log is here.  

What was to be my final week of taper instead ended up being my first week of recovery.   Really pretty unstructured, with the focus being on a) doing whatever the heck I felt like doing, and b) doing a limited amount of running to encourage the foot to heal – the theory is that staying off of it totally will just make it worse – it needs to be kept active to preserve the range of motion and stimulate blood flow.  Additionally, other stuff like swimming, pool-running, etc, will also promote circulation - essential for a part of the body that doesn't get much blood flow.

So, short easy runs most mornings.  Plus lots of PT.  And tons of yoga.  I don’t do as much yoga as I would like while in heavy running training, just because I think full rest is needed more.  But while I’m in time-off/injury recovery mode, yoga really hits the spot for strengthening and injury prevention.  And it’s also fun.

As of Sunday, the foot felt pretty good.  As good as it did before my ill-fated tempo last week (where the foot swelled up and got sore after).  So yeah, not doing that again.   Another week or two of running carefully, and then hopefully I’m out of the woods.

Onward.

Dailies

Monday:   In the morning, 60 minutes of easy pool-running for “6 miles,” and some upper body strengthwork and injury prevention work.  Yoga and foam rolling at night.

Tuesday:  In the morning, 2 miles outside very easy (8:55 pace) and then an hour on the elliptical (~7.5 miles).  Physical therapy in mid morning (dry needling – ouch). 

Wednesday:   In the morning, 65 minutes of easy pool-running for “6.5 miles”, plus 1750 yards of swimming breathing drills.  Yoga at night, plus foam rolling.

Thursday:   In the morning, 3 miles easy (8:06 pace), followed by 45 minutes on the arc-trainer for “5 miles” and then PT.  Yoga and foam-rolling at night.

Friday:  In the morning, 4 miles easy (8:14 pace), followed by upper body strengthwork and injury prevention exercises.  Pilates at night, plus foam rolling.

Saturday:   In the morning, 75 minutes of easy pool-running and 1500 yards of swimming breathing drills.  Foam-rolling, injury prevention work, and yoga in the afternoon.

Sunday:   In the morning, 5 miles easy outside (7:55 pace) followed by 45 minutes on the arc-trainer for “5 miles” and then yoga.  Foam rolling at night.

Training log - Week ending 11/11/12

This week was 25 miles of “real running” plus 10 running equivalents on the arc-trainer (call it 35 miles total), plus 16.5 “miles” pool running and 2500 yards of swimming breathing drills -- training log is here. 

And…we’ll go straight to the breaking news.  I’m a DNS for the Philly Marathon (confirmed after speaking with my coach Sunday morning).  I’ll do a lengthy overanalytical brain droppings post soon, I’m sure, but the shortened version is that the plantar fasciitis in my foot flared up pretty badly after my tempo workout this Friday, despite running the workout short and slow.  As of Sunday, 7 days out, it’s still sore.  I could line up in Philly next Sunday, but I won’t be 100%.  And I don’t want to run a marathon just for the sake of running it, hobble across the finish line in some random time, and then spend an absurdly long time rehabbing a major injury.  I don’t run races just to finish, and I don’t see anything admirable in self-destruction for the sake of a medal.

Plan for now is to go straight into recovery mode.  My full focus now is on getting healthy again, and also using this opportunity to take a rest break – I’ve been training pretty hard since August.  Once I’m 100%, then we’ll start planning next races, and whether to take another crack at a marathon.    But again, that all comes after I’m healthy.

The good thing about running is that, though there are down times, a down time just means the next high point is ahead.

Dailies

Monday:   In the morning, 50 minutes of easy pool-running, 500 yards of swimming breathing drills, and some upper body strengthwork and injury prevention work.  Foam rolling at night.

Tuesday:  In the morning, 10 miles outside, including 4 miles at MP (7:00, so too fast).  Physical therapy in mid morning.  Foam rolling at night.

Wednesday:   In the morning, 60 minutes of easy pool-running for 6 miles, plus 1000 yards of swimming breathing drills.  Yoga at night, plus foam rolling.

Thursday:   In the morning, 8 miles easy (7:52 pace), followed by injury prevention work and upper body strengthwork, and then physical therapy.  Foam rolling in the afternoon.

Friday:  In the morning, 7 miles on the track, including a cautious 5K tempo in 20:24 (6:34 pace, splits of 6:38, 6:30, 6:29, 0:47).  Pilates at night, plus foam rolling.

Saturday:   In the morning, 60 minutes of easy pool-running and 1000 yards of swimming breathing drills, followed by a massage.  Upper body weights in the afternoon.

Sunday:   In the morning, 80 minutes on the Arc-trainer at easy run effort for “10 miles”.  Yoga and foam rolling at night.

Training log - Week ending 11/4/12

This week was  44.5 miles of “real running” plus 24 running equivalents on the arc-trainer (call it 68.5 miles total), plus 8 “miles” pool running and 500 yards of swimming breathing drills -- training log is here.  

First week of taper, modified by some distractions and workoutus interuptus.  Monday ended up being a no-running day – hurricane Sandy was imminent, and though I could have run outside on Monday morning, I opted not to for a pretty individual reason – I was afraid of losing my ability to shower at any time due to the worsening weather conditions, and I didn’t want to risk running, then being unable to shower, and riding out the rest of the hurricane like that.

Fortunately, Sandy blew over pretty quickly for those of us in the DC area, and I was able to double on Tuesday, with an easy run in the morning and intervals in the mid-afternoon.  But then the underside of my left heel became sore during my cool-down jog – a bit of plantar fasciitis.  I stopped my cool-down immediately, and swapped to cross-training (the arc-trainer) the next day to be careful.  Three weeks out from my marathon, I’m not risking anything.   And I’ve established before that the arc-trainer substitutes very well for most runs.

The rest of the week was spent getting massages and keeping my workouts careful and restrained, and also substituting the arc-trainer or other cross-training after massages.  Fortunately, this tweak happened at exactly the right time – all the work is done, and I have enough time to get rid of it before my race.   The good news is that the foot feels better each day, and I could run my marathon on it right now if I needed to.  The trick is just to make sure I don’t aggravate it, or give myself a compensatory injury.

Some would say that I should just stay off of it completely for the next two weeks, however I’ve learned from past bouts of plantar that resting it completely is just about the worst thing I can do – I just end up with tons of scar tissue and inflammation.  Easy and careful running, combined with massage and sleep, is the best way to get rid of it (and to that point, it feels the best it has so far today, which is the day after running 15 miles).  Luckily I’ve got two weeks of easy and careful running combined with sleep planned.  Score! 

(programming note: this week also noted the two year anniversary of my darn broken foot, which was the impetus for this blog.  It's a funny thing to track, but I do anyway.  In the depths of that injury, I promised myself again and again that I'd come back stronger, better, and smarter.  And I like to think I've done just that.  With some help from friends and teammates and coach, of course.)

Dailies

Monday:   In the morning, upper body strengthwork and injury prevention work.  Foam rolling at night.

Tuesday:  In the morning, 4.5 miles easy (8:17 pace); another 8.5 in the afternoon including a track workout of 8x800 in 2:57, 3:01, 2:56, 2:54, 2:55, 2:55, 2:54, 2:53.  Foam rolling at night.

Wednesday:   In the morning, 90 minutes on the arc-trainer at easy run effort – we’ll call it 11.25 miles, followed by injury prevention work.  Another 35 minutes on the arc-trainer later (call it 4.25 miles), followed by a massage focused on the heel (he REALLY dug in good).  

Thursday:   In the morning, 30 minutes of easy pool-running for “3 miles” and 500 yards of swimming breathing drills, followed by injury prevention work.    5 miles easy (7:55 pace) in the afternoon,  followed by foam rolling.

Friday:  In the morning, 10.5 miles on the track, including a cautious 8K tempo in 32:40 (6:35 pace, splits of 6:32, 6:36, 6:31, 6:35, 6:26), followed by injury prevention work and 20 minutes of shake out pool-running.  Pilates at night, plus another massage focused on calves/feet.

Saturday:   In the morning, 70 minutes on the arc-trainer at easy run effort (call it 8.5 miles).   Weights in the afternoon, plus a 1 mile test jog to test the foot (and my use of the low-dye taping method).  Also foam rolling.

Sunday:   In the morning, 15 miles at easy to aerobic pace (averaged 7:44) followed by some injury prevention work and 30 minutes of shakeout pool-running.  Gentle yoga and foam rolling at night.