Stress....

So, it has been 15 days since my first half marathon and I am now in an "injured timeout" phase. When I got home from the half, my left foot hurt really bad and I couldn't stand to walk on it. It took 2 days before I could walk on it so I went to my PCP for some x-rays and they showed nothing so I was told to "rest". Well I did that and felt fine that weekend so I tried to run 2-3 miles at a gentile pace while running along side my son as he rode his bike. That was all it took for me to figure out that my foot was still not right. So I made an appointment to see a Podiatrist and met with him this past Friday. Within 30 seconds of looking at my x-rays and then another set to be positive I was diagnosed as having a stress fracture in my left foot. No running or impact training for the next 3-4 weeks but I am not really upset because if it had been a soft tissue or tendon problem it could have dragged on for 8-12 weeks.

So, no running for me until November and I will be spending some time in pool. The good news is I will be well rested for the start of my Marathon training on December 15th....

Tim

Peak Performance Maine Half Marathon

On a beautiful fall Sunday morning in October I lined up with 1611 other runners to run the Peak Performance Maine Half Marathon along with about 900 runners for the full marathon. This was my first half marathon and training was a little scattered. I didn’t follow the training plan I original chose because of the calf injury but I was able to get my long runs in and I felt comfortable that I could finish the run but I wasn’t positive I could get the sub-two hour time I was looking for.

I was able to meet a guy named Doug McCrae online via the Extra Mile Podcast and we had similar goals so we hooked up and ran the race together. It works out that it was good that Doug was planning on running with me because when he had car issues I was able to drive him to the race. So after picking up Doug and his friend John (he was running the full marathon) we headed off to the gym at the University near the start line to hang out in a warm room. My only complaint for the pre-race was the limited number of restrooms but other then that everything was fine.

The weather was great, it was about 45 degrees so I started with shorts and a long sleeve shirt over my race short with the plans of tossing that later on. The race started on time at 7:45 and the 2500 plus runners made their way down Baxter Boulevard and overall the crowd moved well considering there was no corrals for the runners. Doug and I made our way and easily settled into a 9:15 pace, in we were to get under 2 hours we knew we needed to average under 9:09. The race went well and the course was pretty flat through the first 5 miles then there was so rolling hills. We stayed at about a 9’15 pace so we were on target.

At mile 9 I started to loose steam and get a side cramp. I am not sure if it was because I didn’t fuel up correctly the night before (loaded pizza) or a lack of electrolytes but regardless I started to fade. So I let Doug go ahead and I struggled through the last few miles. I finished in 2:04:18 and I gave it all I had, Doug finished in 1:58:20 (he followed my strategy and he had the fuel to pull it off). It wasn’t a bad race, I had fun I just learned a lot:

1.) I need to focus more on running my long runs at race pace, how can you maintain a pace that you are not use to running.
2.) I need to stick to a training plan and log the miles and maintain quality runs.
3.) I need to loose more weight, running Boston with 25 pounds less on me is a big benefits.

Cheers,

Tim