Warranty Repairs

This was one of the more interesting weeks I've had in a while.  It started off terrible and had me extremely concerned, but ended on a high note.  Going into Monday, I had taken a total of 8 straight days off, and did not run 10 of the last 11 days.  I needed a few days for sure, but probably not that much.  I had also lost a little bit of weight from being sick, which threw a curve ball into everything.  Loss of weight is really, really bad for me being that I barely crack 140 lbs as it is.

Monday: 7 miles.  I felt pretty bad for the first few miles, but by the end, hit a bit of a groove.  Within a few hours though, my quads were PAINFULLY sore.  It was as if I hadn't run in years.  By Tuesday, my quads were in so much pain I could barely walk.

Tuesday: Rest

Wednesday: 7 miles, easy.  My quads still hurt pretty bad, but I decided to run anyway.  Went with the usual Wednesday night crew and felt somewhat better as the run went on, though my legs were having nothing of the downhills.

Thursday: 7 miles, easy.  My quads were still bad going into this run and got much worse as it went on.  By mile 5, I seriously considered walking from being in so much pain, but I finished.

Friday: Rest.  I woke up and could barely get out of bed, my left quad feeling as if it were strained.  Thursday/Friday of last week, I kind of felt it strain pretty badly (from doing nothing because that makes sense) and thought it was ok going into this week.  Apparently I was wrong.

A good deal of ibuprofen and as I discovered through trial and error, heat on my lower back eventually cleared it up.

Saturday: 6 miles total with 1 mile somewhere around 4:55 pace.  This was an interesting day.  I was part of the timing crew for a half marathon Back on My Feet put on.  As part of the day, the organizing group set up a 14x 1 mile (with 1 runner going 0.1 miles) relay to try and beat the overall winner.  I was the second leg, brought us from 3rd to 1st with a 10 second cushion, but it didn't last as our relay ended up 22nd overall in 1:36.

Regardless, I was worried going into this event that it would be a mistake and originally planned to just jog it.  After warming up though, I felt really good and just went for it.  By the time the day was done, my legs for the first time, didn't feel as if they had been stabbed by sharp objects.

So at the last minute, I joined the TWSS crew for an early Sunday morning long run...

Sunday:  ~13 miles total.  The Cherry Blossom 10 Miler, a rather big and fast race was being held today.  A bunch of us met up at the College Park metro station (old stomping grounds) and ran from CP to Washington DC to cheer on some of our teammates.  It was an early start, 6:20AM, but worth it.  We took the metro back afterwards.

It was cool to be back in College Park for the first time in a while (I went to UMD), and to run on some of the trails where I did my first long runs in preparation for my first marathon...National in 2008, where I ran a 3:49.  Oh those were interesting days...

Equally importantly, despite running in the cold and standing in the cold cheering for people (in minimal clothing), my legs felt pretty good.  I did a couple of pick ups while we were running around the course, and although those runs didn't feel stellar, on the whole, the soreness was nearly non existent.

I'm certainly moving in the right direction, especially considering Boston is a mere 2 weeks away.  I'm pretty resigned to the fact that I have to revise my goals slightly, but it almost feels as if a giant burden has been lifted from my shoulders.  I'm honestly not even going to announce a goal going into the race.  I'll keep it to myself, and make sure I run such a pace that I'll be able to run from start to finish and take in the experience.

Total: 40 miles

For next week, I'll try 50, and maybe a relatively easy workout just so I remember how to pick it up a bit.  There is no need to taper down I think, I'll just kind of get my mileage back to what it would have been had I been tapering from higher numbers.