I know full well what week of training I'm in -- it's marked on my schedule. But for some reason, I feel like I'm officially starting the second half of training. The way our training schedule is written, it spreads over 4 pages. For someone doing NY, it is 6 weeks on each of the 4 pages. My first two pages are 6 weeks each also, but my next page (for MTCM people (and St. George, Wineglass, etc.)) is 4 weeks, and my final page (again, for MTCM) is 3 weeks (the taper schedule). Those of us doing MTCM or something else early skip to the taper earlier than someone doing NY, which is the latest marathon on our schedule. So technically the full plan for a NY person is 24 weeks (a bit on the long side), but for someone like me, it's only 19 weeks (still a week longer than some other plans). And now I'm in week 13 (into the second half), but since i've turned page 2 and I'm finally starting page 3, I feel like I'm finally moving into the second half. Woo-hoo! The final approach feeling is also b/c speedwork is coming. I see it there, starting next week Thurs with a couple miles during our run at half pace. Wow!! It's getting close.
I volunteered this wknd for packet-pick-up for a race (Hottest Half, wouldn't it be crazy to do a race with such a name?!) and my hours overlapped a bit with an older woman who is uber-fast and has been on our local team for years (I think she's raced for about 30 years b/c I think she ran before she had her son, who is now about 25). We chatted, she asked how things were going for me and I told her about my plantar's issues. She said she ran 2 marathons with plantar's and guessed I'm looking at 6 months recovery, regardless of whether I keep running or whether I take a complete break. She echoed what my doc said -- if it doesn't bother it to run, running won't make it worse. She later emailed me her set of tips and I think I need to get pretty serious about following them. Stretches, icing/heat regimen, orthotics, never being barefoot, etc. That last tip will be tough for me. We don't usually wear shoes in the house, but I tried this morning and it seemed less painful to stand in the kitchen preppring breakfast and lunch. This morning I also tried her "before you set a single foot out of bed" stretches and I think that helped as well. She said she still wears orthotics in all her shoes including her house shoes/slippers because she's so paranoid about getting it again.
Based on her comments (and some other discussions about shots and how much they hurt), I think I'm less inclined to get the cortisone shot when I go back for my follow-up appointment. My doc said he could give me the shot a few weeks out from the race to minimize the pain, but it sounds like no fun -- the shot hurts a lot apparently and this is going to be around for a long time.
Anyway, tough run on Sunday. Quite warm. 93 heat index at the 5:30 a.m. start apparently. 16 miles, decent pace though I don't think I really did race pace for 6 miles -- so many people decided not to do race pace b/c of the heat. I kind of halfway did it. Anyway, I was fading out toward the end (and my cadence twin wasn't there), but I ran miles 12-14 with a guy I'd never talked to, and then ran into a weekday buddy at the 14 water stop. The 3 of us left the stop together, walking up the hill talking about who was going to start running first, so I finally did. My weekday bud came along, the other guy fell back a bit. We talked the whole time and the final stretch is about a mile up this street that seems endless (you can't see the top/turn from where you start, which is mentally tough) and it seemed to flash by. A couple blocks from the finish I told him that it was so great running with him b/c that street had never gone so quickly. He credited me with his finish too, said he surely would have walked some if we hadn't been together. I told him how Adam is training alone this year and he said he trained alone for his first couple years and now could never go back to it. But I finished my 16 at the very front of my group, though that's not saying much. My best friend in our group dropped out very early, she wasn't feeling it. Lots of people had very elevated heart rates very early. I thought the heat was going to break last night or today, but the forecast is 80 for the low all week and 100 or more for the high each day, but maybe some relief on Sat -- funny how it's always the last day of the forecast that looks cooler, but when that day gets here, it's never any cooler. They've been saying this for about 3 weeks now, cooler weather coming in one week, but it never shows. Ugh. We have our second 20 this Sunday, so I'm going to really hope it breaks before then. 20 in the 90s would be insanely miserable. 20 in the 80s will also suck. So I'm going to hope for 20 in the mid-70s with 0 humidity. A girl can dream...
I refrained from my caramel brownie yesterday and instead ate a HUGE chunk of birthday cake, but at least it's gone for good now. Well, until next week I guess! Hopefully...
The rest of my wknd was lovely, largely b/c I forgot my to-do list at work! I didn't get most of what I'd planned done, but all the critical things happened, including having our neighbor over for dinner, and going to dinner at a friend's house last night.
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