Plan C

It's been 4 weeks since I decided I needed to take some serious time off. Things are going well, but most likely I have another 4-6 weeks of pool running before things are back to normal.

I have been attempting to design a 15 week training schedule that takes me from August 20th to December 2nd (race day) dealing with the fact that I am starting at 10 miles per week and not 50. Although mathematically I can schedule an aggressive ramp up in mileage and training intensity it is looking quite ugly. During the 15 week plan, I'd only get 3 weeks at 50 miles and only have 4 long runs anywhere near 20 miles.

I could probably do it, and maybe run the marathon around 3:45 but I really wouldn't be prepared properly. Having run 2 marathons unprepared, I don't have much desire to do it again. Also, the risk of reinjuring myself on that sort of plan is very high - which would put be back at the beginning of pool running once again.

So I have made the decision to skip California International. I will emerge slowly from the pool like something from the primordial soup, over the next 6 weeks, and then spend 3 months rebuilding mileage and speed. That will involve some races to assess progress. By mid November I should be back where I was before injury (running 50 miles per week) and ready to jump into a solid 20 week training plan leading up to the London Marathon (April 13th).

This is the conservative, sensible plan. "Going for it" at the Sacremento race in December is almost certainly going to end badly and I really don't have the will power to deal with another round of extended pool running.

So now I get to pick out a bunch of races, starting with a 10k on September 16th, to assess progress. This will tell me how much my fitness has dwindled. I'm really hoping that I can get close to the time I was running back in May.