18 in the books!

If it wasn't for Dana-Farber and the Marathon Challenge, I'm not sure I would have gotten this far. With my struggles in the past 4-6 weeks, I've had plenty of opportunities to say, "I don't think I should keep going."
But since October, as you know, I haven't just been training, I've also been trying to raise money for cancer research at Dana-Farber. So when I hit a training dead end -- usually because of my left foot -- I've simply looked for another path to the start (and finish) line.

My new formula of weekend long runs and weekday cardio work on arc trainers and bikes paid off today. 18.6 miles at a solid 9 minute pace with a new pair of Brooks running shoes, custom fit at my fave running store, Rhode Runner. They've got some new software that records you as you run on the treadmill. So I tried on a couple different brands -- and compared my running stride in my current New Balances side by side with my stride in a pair of Sauconys; and then did the same with the Brooks. And not only did the Brooks feel better; they also helped keep my stride straight. It's the first time I've ever run in Brooks but the proof was on this morning's run. My left foot had only the slightest issue now and again, but for the most part, it was a non issue. With seven weeks left, I'm feeling confident that my it will hold out.

One thing I discovered watching the tape of my stride is that I have a little glitch in my right foot where the points out and heel turns in for a second, just before it straightens out and lands.

The net result is that I occasionally kick the inside of my left ankle, which over 18 miles makes for a nice imitation of Curt Schilling's bloody sock. It's a little cut and not quite a stitched together tendon, but there you have it.

Happy running!

The Way 10 Oughta Feel

Maybe it was that I was wearing my Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge running shirt. Maybe it was the fact that it was in the mid twenties with only a light wind. Maybe it was the fact that the Boston Marathon is only two months away. But Saturday's 10 miler was the way a 10-miler should feel this far into my run. Not bad considering my last run was on Tuesday. The reason for the gap? Once again, my left foot. I had a good 16 miler last Sunday -- right on target at about 2:20 (even if the last 1.5-2.0 were definitely slow) but my left foot started acting up toward the end. Then, on a decent 6-mile run, same problem. 

So I spent much of the second half of the week wondering how to deal with it? It's a fine line, as I've said before, between pushing through an ache, and pushing an ache into a run-stopping injury. Do I push through with my regular schedule? Do I cut back on the long runs? Hit the gym for the arc trainer? The only answer I knew for sure is that I wasn't going to throw in the towel. I decided, in the end, to adopt a schedule where I make sure I do my weekend long run, and then use the weekdays for whatever cardio work my foot can deal with -- even if that's primarily arc trainers. With this plan, I'll still get an 18 miler, and two 20-milers in before Marathon Day. Will it work? We'll see on April 19th. 

So, some observations from the last week.

10. There's a reason why they call it hitting the wall. When you hit it, it's like hitting a, um, well, a wall. And it showed up at mile 14.5 as I turned into the wind for my last 1.5.

9.  How strong was my 10-miler today? Somewhere around mile 8, I said to my running partner, "I feel like we're running downhill."

8.  Let's see, left foot has two bad toenails, two large blisters, and one nagging aching tendon. My right foot? fine, thank you.

7.  Got an email from the Boston Marathon suggesting I consult my physician before beginning on a training program. A little late for that, don't you think?

6.  Got a different email which discussed pace and time goals. Based on the numbers, assuming I can run a 5k at 8:00/mile, and a 10k at 8:30/mile -- both well within my limits -- then I should be able to run the marathon at about 9:15 - 9:20 pace, which should keep it within 4 and 4:15. Interesting theory.

5. At this point, I'm pretty convinced that it's not a question of whether my foot will hurt during the marathon; it's a question of when it starts and how bad it is.

4. That makes for an important 18-miler this Sunday. Think positive thoughts for me and here's hoping that keeping the pounding to a minimum makes for a strong foot this weekend.

3. Between that inspiration and Just over the $4,500 mark for fundraising. Thanks to all those who've supported me so far! Two months and more than $5k left to go.

2. I'm a far, far, FAR cry from an Olympian, but it is inspiring to see the athletes push themselves through injuries.

1.  Slowly, but surely, the temperatures are creeping up. I'm hoping the 10 degree days are gone, but also hoping that the 60 and 70 degree days stay away until after April 19th.

Happy running all.

Sleep, eat, run

I got a scary email from the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge Team earlier this week. It said: 10+ weeks to Marathon Day. Um, that's pretty damn soon. Luckily, it was a good week, but it didn't start this way. I struggled through 8 miles on a Sunday run that should have been a 14 or 16 miler, had a six miler on Tuesday that felt like I was running in sand. But then kicked it the second half of the week as my body got used to running again, with a fast 7 miler and a good speed work. Now I'm ready to tackle the big run on Super Bowl Sunday. 15 or 16's on the docket and I'm up for it.

Some quick thoughts from the week.

5. Food matters. Part of the problem with the run on Tuesday was a poor breakfast (without a particularly big dinner the night before). I was light headed when I started and that went away around mile 2 but I never felt a great groove.

4. Sleep matters. Part of the problem with the run on Sunday (and on Tuesday) was not enough sleep. Less than 7 hours makes for a tired run the next morning.

3. Food + Sleep = good run. Lots of carbs on Wednesday night, nearly 8 hours of sleep, and good breakfast (protein and carbs, and of course, COFFEE) on Thursday am made for a 7 mile run at 8:30/mile. Sure beats my 8:59 pace on Tuesday.

2. Did my first speed run. 8 440s between 1:36 and 1:39 per, with one at 1:35 and one at 1:40. I was really looking forward to the run and it was good to mix it up. I'm going to try to work that in weekly now, instead of my easy 4-miler.

1. Just when I thought my left foot had seen everything, a nice new blister appears out of the blue. This is manageable. Nothing a band-aid can't fix. And the rest of the foot feels fine. I'll take that.

That's it. Only top five this week. Let's hope for a good 16 this Sunday somewhere around the 2:20 mark.
Happy running.

"It feels like zero degrees"

Finally back out on the road to the Boston Marathon. My training for the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge resumed this week, after a week and a half of no running (but lots of exercise bike workouts) only to be greeted by a stomach bug and sub-zero wind chills. When my weather app on my phone told me that it "feels like 0 degrees," I thought, "Oh, that's not bad. Let's go." That's just not right.

Top ten thoughts from the road this week.

10.  If you think you're running too fast, you are  running too fast. I couldn't figure why my 5 miler seemed so tough until I realized I was running at a pace that was 30 seconds faster than I typically run.

9.  I think running is an addiction. When I'm in full training mode, I can't wait to get back out there (usually) and if two days go by, I'm missing it. . .  bad. But in the nearly two weeks that I didn't run at all, I missed it terribly at first but then found it tough to get back out there, as if I'd forgotten how much I loved the running/ Now I'm addicted again. Looking forward to 6 am on the Charles tomorrow.

8.  Then again, there are a lot worse things to be addicted to.

7.  I was going to use this week's blog post to just run through an injury checklist; I think I could take up all ten items on the list. But then, that would be as much fun as when people start telling all the gory details of their latest visit to the doctor. So let's leave it at this: my toes, feet, knees? Just fine, thank you.

6.  Anybody have any ideas of how to keep water in your fuel belt from freezing? 

5.  There's a huge difference between running a marathon and being a marathon runner, at least in my mind. For the record, I'm running a marathon and not a marathon runner.

4.  I caved. There, I admit it. Friday morning, six miles on the schedule, temperature in the low, low teens. Wind whipping at about 20-25 mph. Treadmill.

3. 20 miles, my last long run in February seemed almost insurmountable until I thought, I ran 14. I know I can do that, and so I know I can do 16. And if I know I can do 16, I'm sure I can do two more miles. So 18 is doable. And if 18 is doable, I'll somehow make it through 20.

2. Don't talk to me about the other 6.2 miles quite yet.

1. It's amazing, people's generosity. Even as people were opening up their hearts and wallets to help devastated Haiti, they still donated to my run. Thank you everyone.

Happy Running.

Back in Business

I'm happy to report that my training for the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge is back on!  Well, it was never really off, but for the last 10 days, I haven't run, which when you're training for a marathon, is a bit of a hindrance. It's been 10 days (well, actually 9 as I took a day off) of stationary bike riding.

But today, after an early visit to my orthopedic/sports medicine physician's assistant, he confirmed what I hoped he would confirm: the problem with my left foot was most likely not a stress fracture. Could be a variety of minor issues (key word "minor") and with regular ice, stretching, I can get back to the road, and with 86 days left to Marathon Day, that's a huge relief.  So here's what I've learned from a week off the road.

10. It only took me about 2 or 3 sessions on the bike to realize why I'm running a marathon and not riding in the Pan Mass Challenge. Bike riders will say that it's a lot harder to run 26.2 miles than it is to ride 190 miles in two days. I'm not sure about that. I can't even imagine riding 90-100 miles a day, for two days back to back.

9. Then again, I didn't think I could ride a bike for nearly two hours straight, but I did. Not saying it was fun but I did it.

8. One thing the stationary bike has over a treadmill? You can tweet from your iPhone on a stationary bike. Who knew?

7. 15 minutes, 1.7 miles on the treadmill. Best run ever? Maybe not, but after nine days of not running, tonight's tentative tiptoe on the treadmill sure felt like my best run. Ever since I left the doctor's office this morning, I had been looking forward to the treadmill tonight.

6. So the plan is 50% running this week leading up to an 8-miler next Sunday and if no problems, I'm back full tilt the following week, which means 16-18 miles two weeks from now. Bring it on.

5. Figures it's been relatively mild out this past week. Oh well, if it stays above 10 and the road's passable, I'll be out there.

4. The bike may be easy on the feet and knees, but it's a pain in the butt. Literally.

3. The running went on hiatus for a week, but the fundraising kept going. I officially went over the $4k mark this last week - 3 months to train, $6k left to raise.

2.  I always knew that running was a part of me, but this week proved that to me. The toughest thing about not running for the last week and a half wasn't doing the bike, or taking the week plus off running, it was the thought of possibly not running for 6-8 weeks.

1. My many thanks to everyone for their well wishes as I moped through this last week and a half. All those crossed fingers must've worked.

Happy running everyone.

My Toughest Week

As my training for the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge continues, this week the focus of my Sunday ramblings is, well, my left foot. I haven't run since Tuesday, a very comfortable 6+ mile run at about an 8:30/8:35 pace and that afternoon, my left foot starting hurting a bit. By the end of the evening, it was hurting a bit more and by Wednesday morning, I knew I wasn't going to be running for a little bit.

At this point, I'm still not sure whether it's a stress fracture or just a sprain but judging how well it's responded to rest (as in no running) and ibuprofen (by Thursday, I barely remembered that my foot was hurt), I'm hoping that it's just a sprain. A stress fracture would have me off the road until the end of February, which would still give me 7-8 weeks to get ready. If it's just a sprain, I'm hoping to be running in another week. Not ideal, but either way, with bike and elliptical work, I'll  just do my best to keep progressing until I can run again. We'll see an orthopedist on Friday and see where to go from there.

Needless to say, it's been a tough week. Some thoughts.

10.  I'm constantly reminded at how simultaneously fragile and resilient the body is; it didn't take much to shut me down, but then again, it didn't take long for my body to bounce back.

9. Let's here it for Vitamin I, as in ibuprofen. (Thanks Chris, I stole that from you.)

8.  Man, it's boring riding a stationary bike.

7. Thank you NPR for entertainment -- Car Talk and Wait Wait back to back cuts the boredom. . .  a little

6.  The trickiest part about riding the bike is trying to find out what the equivalent workout is. I have no idea how to translate xx miles at xx pace into minutes and levels on a bike. If anyone has a clue, let me know.

5.  Go donors! Officially over the $4k mark now, almost half way to the fundraising goal. That was an important milestone to pass this week. Thank you to everyone who contributed. Definitely brought it into perspective about why I'm doing this. Not to be too cliche here, but there are cancer patients out there who'd be thrilled to be able to ride a bike. If I can't run for six weeks, I'll figure it out.

4.  And then there's Haiti. Talk about perspective.

3.  One benefit about riding a bike? It's a lot easier to eat Gu on a stationary bike than it is when you're running.

2.  Even still, I'll take running -- on the streets, on a track, on a treadmill -- over a stationary bike ANY DAY.

1.  Think positive thoughts for next Friday. Here's hoping the orthopedist says, "Nah, not a stress fracture. Go ahead and run."

Happy Running!
-michael

Now we wait. It seems like i have a possible stress fracture or sprain of my left foot. If it's a stress fracture, then it's no running for six weeks. Not much I can do about that except hit the bike hard and get back out there when the foot heals.
I'll take it as a positive sign from the universe that both my nurse practioner and rad tech were marathon runners. I'm not going to let this setback stop me!