But it didn't work.
I am 8 days out from the Capitol Mile and I am tired, beaten down and sore. For the last 4 weeks I have haphazardly modified my schedule to accomodate more rest and travel. Unfortunately that has left me with nothing more than residual soreness and disappointment that I am not on track. My HR is high and my paces are slow. I have to force myself to get out there AND to finish my runs. I do not have the fire in my belly or speed in the legs that I require for a good mile race.
Time to switch things up.
The good news is that I feel very fit and strong. I am just tired and on the verge of injury. Or if not injury, a sub-par mile race. During my speed workouts I am just hoping to get through it - not feeling strong and fast. But I feel I still have time to salvage my race. My workouts have been decent. Now I need to get some snap back into these old legs.
Here's the plan:
- For the next 10 days I am going to completely forget I am training for a fall marathon. Completely. Erased.
- I am going to ease up big time on the mileage. Call it a taper if you will.
- I am going to do my legs pilates at least 5-6 times between now and next Sunday to stretch these tight hammies out.
- I am going to catch up on some sleep.
- Next week, I am going to go very light, but hit some speed to get sharp and ready.
- I am going to kick ass at the Capitol Mile on Sunday.
I don't think any of this will hurt my marathon training either. As mentioned above, I feel fit and strong. Now I just need to shake this and regroup. What am I going to do with my marathon schedule? See #1 above. I will think about that in 10 days. But it will obviously have to be modified.
I'll keep you posted on how it works out.
3 comments:
Hi Mindi! Just some thoughts...
Sometimes tapering off mileage does the reverse of what you want it to do. Maybe instead of completely dropping the mileage what about doing 2 4's instead of an 8. Or you can get rid of the feedback and just run what feels comfortable. That can help too. I've found with the butt soreness it really is week to week in the middle of the training season. Sometimes it's best after a long hard run! Sometimes it's best after three easy runs in a row. Sometimes it just hurts. I don't know. All I know is that it doesn't magically resolve when I decrease mileage--after Columbus I had a really really tight left upper hammie/glute. It didn't really resolve until AFTER I had peanut--after lots of off time and many weeks of 20-30 very slow miles it was still tight months later!
But that's me, of course! Pete Magill had something really good on his blog about injuries. http://petemagill.blogspot.com/2009/06/morning-read-embrace-injury-you-know.html I thought it was enlightening.
Ok. Sorry if this is incoherent (or preachy and irritating :) No time to edit. Peanut calls!
Hope you figure out a good plan that will help you recover and do well!
It seems like marathon training and mile training at the same time are at odds with one another for a peak time in the mile race. It would be interesting to see one summer how well you do in the mile when you aren't in the middle of marathon training too! Bet you would smoke it!
Thanks ladies!
Salty - I hear you on the taper thing. But now it isn't just the piriformis issue. My legs consistently feel like logs and my feet feel like bricks. I know some rest will do me good. Even if my butt hurts a little I can run a hard race. But if I have log legs, all bets are off. I have been winging it for the last couple weeks and it is just all off. I feel like I need to regroup and rest. Stretching has been GREAT. And I don't plan to do nothing - just go lighter, with quality. Fingers crossed!
Cindi - yeah, I often contemplate taking a season to do the fast stuff - but it hasn't culminated for me yet. One day.... :) This is the first year they seem really tough to coincide. But my miler training has been harder (IMO) than past years.
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