Marathon Training: Week Three

A very hesitant and crestfallen start to the week has turned into hopeful renewal.

Mon 2mi run + 10min cross- I took the day off and Iced my ankle as often as I could before work. It feels much better tonight. I can sleep comfortably. I ran a few steps up and down hill and it still felt uncomfortable, but not sharp pain. Don't want to injure further so I guess I'll take biking tomorrow lightly and not elliptical until Friday

Tue 30min bike + strength- 10min of seated stationary bike and then 20min of the up right stationary bike. I did push the cadence and resistance a bit more than usual in order to make up for a small amount of lost ground yesterday. I just did two circuits of leg extensions, back extensions with light weight, and sit ups .

Wed 1.5mi run + 15min cross- I split my time evenly between the upright and seated stationary bikes. I increased my resistance once or twice again today. I feel pretty good. I feel like my left achillies is compensating a bit for the right ankle weakness.

Fri 40min run + 15min bike- I ran a fair amount at work today while doing a team edition showing a group of folks around the USNWC to various activities. The ankle is a little swollen still but it feels ok. This is my first day ellypticaling again after rolling ankle. Ellipticaling went well with no pain or post exercise swelling.

Sat 2mi run + 30min cross- Again my work schedule interfered with being able to attend the 9am-1pm gym hours today so, I walked and ran around the neighborhood. I walked for 22min, ran 2miles, and then walked 8 min back home.

Sun- meant to take an ice bath and foam roll but....life gets busy, I guess. I just iced my ankle with a small ice pack. It is more sore and swollen today. I'll try to be god to it.

The week went much better than I'd hoped. I don't think I'll have to further re-evaluate or adjust my training plan as I thought I might have to. Good news! Just reminding my self to go slow and be patient.

Marathon Training: Week Two

This week is feeling better. I'm glad to be in a routine again. My pace is slowly picking up steam and it feels so good to be running, for real, on the ground again.

Mon 1.75mi run + 12.5min cross- I went straight from the gym to work. It doesn't matter so much, in
these hot summer months, if I show up to work sweaty because I'm gunna sweat more at work than I will in the air conditioned gym, I did 12.5min easy on the bike and then hopped on  the elliptical for the rest.

Tue 30 min bike + strength- I'm still having to make myself go slow and easy in order to build time on my legs and avoid overtraining while I'm still six months out from the marathon. I also did two circuits of weights with about 10lbs more weight than last week.

Wed 1.5mi run + 15min cross- Today I went to the gym an then took shower before work but still had to take one again after work because I get all sweaty and sunscreen-y. I tried to slow the pace to be a recovery day.

Fri 35min run + 15min cross- Biked easy at the gym for 15min, than stretched and got some water, and then did 35min on the elliptical.

Sat 1.75mi run + 27.5min cross- Took my gps watch out for a test run. I walked 13:45 to warm up and then ran 1.75mi and finally finished with another 13:45 walking cool down. I had planned on stretching after the warm up but I was too excited to actually run that it slipped my mind till I was half way through. The run was fairly easy effort and felt much shorter than I'd expected. still haven't figured out the watch segments. Maybe I need to pre plan/program workouts?

Sun roll + ice- I'd planned to foam roll and take an ice bath after work but my day ended up being much longer than originally planned. I just wanted to relax after work by sitting and doing nothing for a bit. Sadly I rolled/strained my other (right) ankle today while at work I stepped on a large rock an over it my ankle rolled. I just keep telling myself, everything happens for reason right? Is this just a message to go slow and learn to be kinder to my body?

I want my body to heal well from this ankle injury. I can't afford to prolong it by training too much through the injury. I have to adjust my training a bit again in order to still meet my training goals of running a half marathon in two to four months and the full one in six.

Marathon Training: Week one

So I've had to adjust my original training plan for the half marathon at the end of September and instead push the focus of my training further away toward the full marathon in January. I'll still be running the Sept Wild Vine race since I need a proof of time for the Disney marathon. According to my training I will not be "ready" for the half marathon distance by then, but it'll give me a slightly better chorale start at Disney race than if I didn't submit a prior race time at all. If I do run a slow race time it'll hopefully keep me from going out too fast at the marathon and give me folks to pass in the later parts of the race.

Mon 1.5mi run+ 15min cross- My achillies are still quite sore and it still makes me nervous to do actual running on the ground. So, I went to the gym and biked for 15min and then ellipticaled to mimic running. I'm trying to exercise as slowly and gently as possible.  I remember my high school coach talk about getting "Time on your legs". Just getting your legs used to moving for a length of time has a training benefit without stressing the musculo-skeletal system too much. Going slow and steady makes my legs feel different than expected- used but not the usual worked or exercised that I'm used to.

Tue 30min bike+ strength- Again I'm just gaining "time on my legs" focusing on breathing, staying relaxed, keeping my leg motions tracking straight. I also did two light weight circuits.

Wed 1.5mi run+15min cross- The timing with my work schedule was not good today and I didn't make it to the gym. I need to find a way to work this training in especially when I start doing longer mileage again. If I'm actually running on my feet I don't have to worry about gym hours, but I may still be doing a fair amount of cross training all the way up to the full marathon race.

Thr off- Went to the gym today and did yesterdays training. 15min bike easy and then 15min on the elliptical. I need to hydrate better. I could feel my muscles moving against each other roughly because I'm dehydrated and they're not well lubricated..

Fri 30min run+ 15min cross- I biked really easy first as a warm up and then ellypticaled for 30min. I was surprised to be able to hold such a steady pace. I've had to force myself to slow for the first 5-10min and then gradually work up to speed with a dew small decelerations in middle when I feel discomfort. I try to stay focused on breathing and foot strike. I ran a few steps in the parking lot afterward, which felt pretty good and pain free.

Sat 1.5mi run+15min cross- I ran a mile and a half on the ground today! I forgot the gym closes at 1pm on Sat so, when I pulled into the parking lot after work and it was closed, I decide to run around the park instead. I then also walked a mile and a half as my cross training for the day. Walking for fitness feels very strange to me since I walk so much in my daily job. I took my run at an easy pace, slightly forcing my foot strike under my body. My left knee was a little sore after the run as well as my heels. I'm not sure if this means I'm heal striking more in the thick sole of my Asics shoes or, if my Brooks shoes are allowing my heels to feel more impact when I wear tem to walk around during the day at work.

Sun roll+bath- Used the foam roller and took a 10min cold water bath. Our tap water isn't very cold so, I'm not so sure the bath did much. I'll be sure to use ice when I'm doing longer mileage. I wonder if it may be better to do foam rolling an ice bath right after Saturday's run instead of a day later?

This was a much better week than last two. Feels sogoodto do real running. being inside on machnines gets boring and manotinous. Still trying to figureout how toslowlywork into real running effectively to build back intotrainging.

Half Marathon: Week Five

I confess and apologize to my readers, my motivation ad confidence is waning. I started on this blog journey because, Knowing that someone reads about my training progress keeps me true to my intentions to reach my goals. Running and training, however, cease to be fun when it hurts to take just a few running steps.

Thanks for your support. I will try to work back into a regular Tuesday weekly posting schedule again.

After realizing I was training too much too fast, last week, I took this one pretty easy. I didn't run on the ground at all but, went inside to the gym to bike and elliptical all week.

Mon 30min cross- Went to the gym and split my time with 15min on the elliptical and then biked easy for 15min.

Tue 4mi pace- My tendons are feeling really sore and tight today so I didn't do a workout.

Wed 30min swim- Instead of the RiverJam Swim I opted to go to the gym and try to do 40min on the elliptical but I split my time and did the last 20 min on the bike because my tendons and legs are still sore.

The gym was closed the rest of the week for the 4th of July holiday. It's probably for the best. It's clear now that I will have to pause and re-evaluate my current training plan in order to recover from this injury set back so that I can still run the Marathon in January.

My new favorite hot weather snack is frozen grapes! Thanks to a silly shopper who returned their cart to the parking lot drop off and left a giant box of red Sam's Club grapes in the kid's seat.