Dodged a bullet

I've just realized that it's been awhile since I've written anything. A lot of stuff has been going on, so I figured I'd better bring everyone up-to-date.

Last time I talked about the groin injury I was suffering with. I was pretty cranky about the whole thing, especially since I had just registered for the race the day before the injury. While I was moping about the house, Andrea gave me a fresh perspective.

"Ok, so you can't run the full marathon. So what? There's nothing that says you can't walk part of that 26 miles. I'll still be very proud of you."

While I admit that the thought of not being able to run the whole race was certainly going to be a disappointment, the furthest distance I had ever covered was a mere 13 km during a forced march (with full pack!) during my basic training days. The ability to run/walk/crawl 26 miles was still going to be a significant accomplishment. I started to feel a little better.

I ended up taking the rest of the week off from running.

My normal training routine is to do the long run on Sundays, take Monday and Friday off, run a short distance on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, and run a medium distance on Wednesday. Since I wasn't feeling 100% by the time the next Sunday rolled around (scheduled for 12 miles), I had to rework my regimen. It's very important that I get the long distances in before the race, so I absolutely did not want to drop any. So, instead of running the long distance at the beginning of the week, I decided to run them at the end of the week (Saturdays instead of Sundays). By running the 4 and 5 mile distances at a 5.5mph during the week, that gave me a little extra time to recover from the injury.

So, Saturday the 19th rolls around. This was going to be the day that would likely dictate my future as a marathon runner. If I managed to complete the run with no problems, I figured everything would be good to go for the rest of my training schedule. If there were any problems, I was going to have to take several weeks off, leaving me destined for either the half-marathon (which was probably the most likely) or running and walking the full (less likely, especially because of the time limit).

I actually felt pretty good during the run - good enough that I did 13 miles instead of 12. That last mile was absolutely brutal, but that was because I probably wasn't properly fueled before the run (one bowl of oatmeal in the morning was not enough). I did manage to complete the distance in 2:35, but it was far from my desired pace.

Just to be sure, I took two days off after the run, leaving me with only 4 runs during the week instead of the usual 5. I felt really good all week.

This weekend, I went for the regularly scheduled 14-mile run and I had no problems at all (if you don't count a 20 km/h headwind as a problem!). I finished in 2:40, which was only 6 minutes off of my 5.5 mph pace. I was pretty happy about that. I suspect that the carb overloading I did the day before and in the morning (2 bowls of oatmeal) went a long way to helping me through.

I'd like to think that things are back on track. I'm very careful about my stretching, and I try to stretch out my groin area frequently. So far it appears to be working. Provided that nothing else happens during the remaining 8 weeks of training (I can't believe I'm halfway through!), I feel like I'll be able to make through the full race.

Keep those fingers crossed!

- Mike

My worst fears realized

So I've been doing this running thing for a few months now, steadily making progress with my 16-week training plan. For the most part, I've been running indoors, mostly because I hate running in the cold. However, the weather has been pretty decent lately, so I've been running outside as much as I can.

On March 6th, I went for my first long outdoor run - 11 miles. It was great to be outdoors, but let me tell you - running outdoors is a lot harder than running indoors. Not only do you have to deal with headwinds (of which there were plenty), there are hills, uneven terrain, and the effect the cold has on your breathing. The first 8 miles were pretty good, I must say, but I struggled through the last 3. It was very hard, but I made it, and in 2:05, which was only 5 minutes behind my desired 5.5 mph pace.

*fast forward to March 9th*

When I go for the long runs, I try to maintain the 5.5 mph pace. When I do the shorter 3-5 mile runs, I like to try to up the pace to 6 mph, just because of the extra effort it requires.

I did a 4-mile run on the 8th (after one day of rest from the 11-mile run), at 6 mph and had no problems whatsoever. The 9th was also a 4-mile day and I continued with the 6 mph pace. Somewhere around the 2.5-mile mark, though, something wasn't right. Thinking it just a sore muscle, I finished up the run. I did think about dropping my speed down to 5.5, but decided against it. It would prove to be my undoing.

After hobbling back to the locker, I realized that I pulled a groin muscle. It wasn't the worst thing to ever happen to me, but I was limping around quite badly. I walked around some more and did some stretching to try to help it along, but nothing seemed to help.

"No problem," I thought. "I'll sleep on it tonight, take the day off tomorrow, and everything should be fine. I'll only lose one day, but that won't impact my training."

I was particularly worried about this, since I had finally registered for the race the night before.

*8 hours of sleep later*

I can barely get out of bed. I know now that perhaps something serious is happening here. My hopes of running the race are dwindling at a rapid rate. At this point, there's nothing I can do but wait and see if the problem corrects itself before I have to throw the whole thing out the window.

And so I wait...