It's been a while since I put up anything new... I have no real excuse other than I like to have something interesting to talk about, I guess my life and training hasn't been all that interesting. :)
I CAN say that my plantar fasciitis is completely healed, it took about 4 weeks before I was back at 100%. After the initial injury I took a full week off, then I slowly added in miles, one at a time until I was back on my training plan and some slower paces. I wasn't pain free but I was at least back into my plan, a few weeks later I finally had a pain free run. I've heard horror stories of people taking months to get back into their training, or longer, so I consider myself lucky that I was able to get back into things so soon.
I ran a half marathon a few weeks ago, deciding a week before to run it as a warm-up to the marathon and just try to hit GMP. Sigh. I am sad to report that I did not make it. I BARELY beat my previous half PR which was 1:49:18... I ran this one at 1:49:14. Ugh. The average pace was 8:21... my GMP is 8:10... not good. I went into the race feeling good but not even at the halfway point I could tell that I was struggling, even my heart rate was higher than usual. To think, I had intentions of trying to race this at a 7:50! That was quite a frustrating day for me. I went back over everything and the only thing I can think of is that I skipped breakfast and had just a GU packet before the race started. In my past I always would have oatmeal before a race, but recently I've been doing all my morning runs without breakfast, even my long runs which were up to 16 miles. I really do think it was breakfast though... and since then I make sure I have oatmeal before every long run, no matter what. I have every intention of having oatmeal the day of the marathon too. A few days after the race I went out and ran a 7 mile tempo run at a 7:45 pace and my heart rate was lower during that run than the race, so that really tells me that my body was working way too hard to maintain such a moderate pace.
Since that race I have continued to struggle to maintain any runs with GMP miles at the end. It's been difficult and frustrating, but I'm trying to stick with it. All my speed and tempo runs are right on and continue to go smooth... it's just the all important endurance with GMP miles that is killing me. Today though, I'm happy to say I ran my first 20 miler of this training cycle, and it went pretty well. I treated it as a progression run, started with a 9:30 pace and continued to increase speed through the end, with which I was able to maintain 8:05 for the last mile. I felt really good about getting some miles in around my GMP and I hope that it means I'm closer to my goals that I previously thought.
Next week it's a 24 mile easy run and then I start my taper! I can't believe it, two weeks away from my taper for my second marathon. It's so crazy and awesome!
This is such a great time of year to be in full training mode too, the fall temps here in Michigan couldn't be better. I'm loving every minute of it... even if sometimes I may complain a little, I really do love it.
Wishing you a Happy Halloween and hoping you are enjoying the fall weather as much as I am!
No comments:
Post a Comment