I’m a morning person (usually). I’m not a scary movie person (no exceptions). These traits often come into conflict on my morning runs. I love being out in the world before anyone else is awake and functioning to appreciate the stillness and get some quality me-time. I hate coming across those impenetrable patches of darkness that are clearly providing cover for the Texas Chainsaw Massacre-er. There is one spot along my regular route that I always gives my heart rate a small spike every time I come across it, and it feels like I’m sprinting from one small pool of porch light to the next small pool of streetlight, talking myself out of seeing people in the shadows. Wild things have happened on my mornings runs (owl attacks, naked people, the last revelers from a frat party), and fortunately none of them have yet involved the Texas Chainsaw Massacre-er. I still haven’t found a fail-safe strategy for getting through that patch of darkness without 180% effort, though, even though experience has shown me again and again he’s not actually hiding in the bushes. Early mornings are also good for letting your imagination get the best of you.
Goal mileage:
- Short run: 7 miles
- Short run: 7 miles
- Short run: 7 miles
- Long, slow, distance: 13 miles
Actual mileage:
- Short run: 2 miles
- Short run: 7 miles
- Short run: 7 miles
- Long, slow, distance: 13 miles
Injury report: Went to a new PT this week for a second opinion and got some new diagnoses. Ish. The knee thing is most likely a cartilage thing, didn’t go into too much on that end because he said it is runnable for the near future (6-8 weeks). The hip thing is probably a chronic issue. I mentioned in a previous post that I’ve been dealing with a tight right hip off and on for the past 5 years. Well, it’s kind of a chicken and egg thing, but that seems to have contributed to (or been caused by?) a bunch of secondary things. Instead of stabilizing my hips and using my glutes, I’ve compensated for that by using the muscles that connect my hip to my spine. Which kind of explains why that side of my back tends to be the one that hurts after over-exertion (or extended sitting). And it kind of explains my “tender to the touch for days” side stitches from earlier in the training season – overuse of muscles that weren’t really made for the job of long training runs. I have some new exercises to work on, which will hopefully help retrain my muscles on the right side to fire from the glute instead of pulling from the back.
Long run report: Cutback week this week, love those! I seem to be putting forth just enough effort to get through the run and not much more, which is not my preferred running style. I prefer to get through long runs with enough energy left to know I can go at least another mile. I was feeling really good for most of the run, to the point where I was planning to extend my route to at least 15 miles. Then along came mile 11, and my legs felt drained, I had some heartburn, and it was a bit of a trudge to mile 13. But it’s nice to know that at least part of the run feels so good I think about running more. It took about 4 miles for my knees to loosen up, and they gave me much less trouble for the remainder of the run. Knock on wood, I’d love for that trend to continue.
Misc: Have I mentioned I’m running a second marathon? I’m signed up for the Bellingham Bay Marathon on September 29th. And I’m also signed up for the Richmond Marathon on November 16th. Seven weeks. Seven weeks to bridge the training from BBM to RCH, to continue running high mileage, to eat Salted Caramel Stinger Waffles. My training is peaking, and will continue to peak for a looong time. At times it feels like Bellingham Bay Marathon is just en route to the Richmond Marathon, part of a broader training strategy. It’s more than a little daunting to look at my calendar and see the number of 20+ mile runs in my future (including both marathons, I have 6 runs of 20 or more miles in the next two and a half months. Doable, but it doesn’t always seem like it).
Adjustments for next week: I’ve been a lot better at pre-hydration and re-hydration this past week, so I’d definitely like to keep that up. Need some more work on my mental game with the big runs coming up. And of course, more time foam rolling and more time on PT exercises.
The Redhead 