I am working on a 4 phase plan to earn redemption from my disappointing time in Pittsburgh last month.
Phase 1: Recovery from Marathon #1. 4 weeks. Run < 25 mpw with no long runs over 10-12 miles. Emerge uninjured.
Phase 2: Base Building. 6 weeks. Increase running to 5 days per week (from 3) and get mileage to 40ish mpw regularly.
Phase 3: 18 week Marathon Plan. Exact plan TBD. Considering Pfitz 18/55 or Hal Higdon Intermediate 2. Or some made up mish mash. Whatever it is, I'd like 5 running days and more mileage than my last plan (Hal Higdon Marathon 3, peaking at 35 mpw). I'm thinking 45-50 mpw is reasonable peak mileage, but I don't want to start as slow as the HH plans do, but I am not sure I am really fit enough for Pfitz yet, so I am leaving it up in the air for the time being.
Phase 4: Kick some major ass at the Philly Marathon 11/18/12. (Kicking major ass defined loosely as simply not falling completely apart like I did in Pittsburgh. I chose Philly by googling "cold weather marathon," so I am optimistic for cool weather and fast running.)
Phase 1: Recovery is now complete!
During my 4 recovery weeks, I ran 6 miles the first week (on Day 5), 26 miles week 2, 11.5 miles week 3 (hot & lazy), and 25 week 4. I also did about 2 to 4 hours of cross training each weeks (yoga, cardio machines at a gym, and walking).
Recovery phase was a complete success. Legs feel great. I feel great. Mileage is back to reasonable. I am enjoying running. All is well.
So, recovery phase is now complete.
So, now, on to Phase 2: Base Building.
Today was Day 1 of Phase 2: Base Building.
I had today all to myself because my kids and dh are at Cedar Point riding roller coasters (which I dread, fear, and loathe) and, for the first time ever, all the kids are old enough and enthusiastic enough and tall enough to be proper roller coaster companions for my psychotic husband. Thus, I got to be home instead of at Cedar Point!
I'd planned on a regular 6-9 mile run today and I had made an extra walk date with my friend for later in the afternoon.
So, you ask, how does a 6-9 miler accidentally turn into a 15 miler?
Well, it's a long story. First of all, back story, my beloved mom is having some rather worrisome medical issues. Big problem as she lives alone 200 miles from me and across country from my brother. Anyway, I am stressing about it, and things are coming to a head. (Thanks for prayers if you are the praying kind, or for just good thoughts if you are the thinking kind.)
I had nightmares about it all night (besides, I don't sleep well away from dh and this is the 4th night in a row and that sucks), and after 4 hours of "sleep" (coming off being really exhausted from a 4 day guitar/running/YMCA vacay kind of a thing that I'd been out of town for with my son -- he was doing guitar stuff, and I was doing some guitar stuff with him, and running and cross training the rest of the time), I couldn't go back to sleep at 6:30. Crap!
After dealing with the chickens/goats/dogs/cats routines for the morning and talking to Mom for another half hour, I gave up on getting any more sleep and decided to just run first thing because it was BEAUTIFUL, and I really, really needed to clear my head.
60s, breezy, sunny, moderate humidity. Pretty much perfection compared to the hell that was a week ago (90s, humid).
So, I decided to do 10 miles as my surrogate for Tequila, cigarettes, and Xanax, which really would have been a reasonable alternative given the shit storm going on in my head. But, I'd like to live long enough to do a few more things, and so those options are off the table, but running is legal and good for me, so there you go. My self-medication was 10 miles.
But then, if I'm gonna' do 10, I should do 11 to do my fave out-n-back that has a bathroom/water spot at 5.5 miles. But, I don't like odd numbers, so 20 min later, I'd decided 12 was good. At that point, I grabbed a gel, as >10 miles is my cut off for planning some fueling.
Off my dear Dog and I went for 12 miles. Awesome. Smooth, strong, perfect.
Around mile 9, I began sobbing. (This thing with my mom is brutal.) It was cathartic. It is a quiet trail, and noone was in sight. I just let it go. Very good for the soul, which was what I was hoping for. Within a few minutes, the tears had slowed, but the legs just kept rolling, and I was hitting my mile 9-10 groove. That was when I started thinking of ways to extend the run past 12. I started counting time in my head to figure out how much more I could squeeze into my time frame before my walking date at 1 across town.
I decided that it was stupid to rush back to the house to shower just to get to my walking date in time, so I figured I'd take that spare 35 min to run 3 more miles instead. 15 is not an even number, but it is a nice round number, so I am OK with that. LOL, I am really OCD, if you haven't already guessed. (Not diagnosed OCD, but close enough for horseshoes.)
Anyway, miles 9-12 I tried (really hard) to just go Zen runner and not look at my watch. Curiously enough, those miles were as quick or quicker than the rest of the run. (Avg 11:11 pace entire run.) I cheated a couple times, but managed to go about 2 miles w/o looking and then just looked once or twice a mile. Made for more uneven splits, but still averaged around the same or a touch quicker. Then I passed my car, did another 1.5 to turn around for the extra 3, and then zoomed across town to my walking date.
(My goal for this run and for nearly all my runs this phase is to run easy and comfortable. No speed goal.)
So, that's how I had my accidental 15 miler.
I then drove across town and walked 4 miles (about 75 min) with my friend and her adult son, and my legs feel great. Tired, but no pain. No advil or ice on board yet, but I might go there tonight if anything starts hurting.
I am happy to have a good long run distance back. That's the longest run (by 5 miles) since the marathon, and it felt awesome.
To be totally honest, at the risk of proving once and for all that I really am scary, I am 99% sure that I would have done 20 if I hadn't had my walk date to get to, and if I hadn't been in desperate need to talk to my friend. I was actually very tempted around mile 10-11 to get out the phone and call and cancel the date, but I didn't mostly because I needed to talk to her. Besides, I was out of Gatorade. I love her, and I never cancel our walks, but I would have done it if I hadn't needed to talk to her. I know it would have been stupid, but I still would have done it. I don't know if I would have made 26.2, but I was considering that, too. If I'd decided to do that, I'd have just had to retrace my original route, to re-water, which I could have done since I had a spare gatorade packet. (I always carry a spare of everything: blok, gel, gatorade powder, gatorade liquid.)
One nice thing: this accidental 15 miler finally made use of my "spare" gatorade bottle. I always stash 10-20 oz spare gatorade in the dog's pack more than I expect to reasonably need, just in case. Today I finally used it for those last 2 miles! It pays to be prepared.
Happy running, everyone.
ps. If you've still got her, hug your mom today.
No comments:
Post a Comment