Today was the first day of the new training season. In 18 weeks, I will run my first marathon since Boston 2014 (April). Not that I didn't have a marathon planned since then (only one), but my body didn't make it to the marathon. I spent the majority of 2014 injured, starting with that fateful day back in February, 3 days after having a kick-ass half marathon. The day when, after 3 days of having a nagging feeling that I should be doing some light exercise to loosen up my muscles, I instead paddled out into the freezing ocean on my surfboard and proceeded to tear my hamstring. One popular question when discussing the incident has been "Are you a short boarder?" No. I am not. I was merely standing up.
Bygones.
My physical therapist and doctor nursed me back to health so I could run Boston. I think they were more excited about it than I was. But after running Boston, I decided I must be fully healed and able to tackle the next one, after all, I had just run a marathon. That didn't work so well.
So my number one goal this season is to not get injured. You might think this is an easy task. Just don't do too much too soon, and don't do anything stupid (like surf in cold water when your muscles are stiff from a race).
But injuries can strike at any moment. Runners (and other athletes) feel twinges of "something" fairly often, and have to decide whether it's a passing thing, or something to pay attention to. I have personally become both paranoid and in denial about every single thing I feel. To the point that I will most likely not know when something is about to be an injury.
I had my feet and gait analyzed during a recent Road Runner Sports trip. A couple years ago I switched to neutral shoes on a whim. And my life improved dramatically (so did my running). However, there is also this little nerve issue on the bottom of my left foot. My doctor said to wear stability shoes. I tried switching back and got terrible IT Band inflammation and nearly broken ligaments in my foot.
At Road Runner Sports, they look at how your weight is distributed on your feet when you stand, and then record you running barefoot on the treadmill. I have really high arches, that are also very flexible. In my personal opinion, this is the perfect type of foot to run with. They make for great shock absorbers as they collapse down and spring back up. My achilles tendon stays in perfect alignment, demonstrating strong ankle ligaments and tendons.
My foot structure and running gait call for a neutral shoe. I knew I wasn't being a retard about this. Neutral shoes just feel right on me. But in order to minimize some of the arch movement, they recommended a very expensive custom molded arch support. Why does everyone insist on trying to control the natural movement of my foot?
I gave them a try for a couple runs. My left foot would not tolerate it. I put them in my gym shoes. My feet do not like to be controlled. They are very strong willed.
Anyway, moral of the story: I'm hoping my current shoe selection is the right one.
I've been very conservative about increasing my mileage. To the point of embarrassment. I don't like to tell my running friends my current mileage because no self-respecting marathon runner has such a low mileage. Anyway, it'll get up there eventually. I've never been a high mileage runner. My peak this season will be around 40 miles a week, with most of the season being in the 30's range. Any attempt to be high mileage runner has been met with great resistance by several parts of my body (and soul). But then again, I never did so great on high yardage as a swimmer either.
So, I've put together a training plan I feel pretty confident with, adapted from Jack Daniels (the running coach, not the drink). On today's schedule was what is called a threshold run. These are the runs I believe in the most, as far as getting faster at distance running. Threshold runs help teach your body to clear blood lactate from your system faster, improve your endurance, and improve the speed you can maintain for a relatively long time. They are basically run between 88 and 90% of your max heart rate. So think effort. Any time I see effort above 75%, I just cringe. There's a reason why I'm better at distance.
My goal pace for threshold runs is currently 7:25 per mile, which is a hard pace for me, but certainly not a sprint. Over the course of this 18 week training cycle, that goal pace will increase to 7:17, and then 7:09 in the last 6 weeks. That is slightly terrifying, but also very exciting.
Today I did two easy miles, then two miles aiming for that threshold pace, and then one more mile easy. My first threshold mile was 7:21, so I aimed to do the next one slightly more relaxed, but about the same effort, hoping to slow it down slightly but not too much. My second one was 7:08. Oops. That didn't slow down at all.
Two miles is a little short for a threshold run, but I'm trying not to stress my body too much too soon. Those will increase over the next few weeks and I'll be able to settle the pace a bit.
I'll be running in the USA Invitational Half Marathon in San Diego in late November, and my goal for that race will be a 1:36, which is 7:20 per mile. Just a few weeks later I'll be running the California International Marathon where my goal is 3:21, a 7:40 pace.
It's exciting to be back into a serious training program, as it's been awhile. School starts back up again in 16 days, so I'll be back into a routine by then.... and of course might have to adjust things to handle the work load.
This is my year!
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