July Summary

July was a big mileage month for me, in fact my biggest ever by over 70 miles. The plan was to run a lot to see how my various ailments were going to respond to heavy training. If I am going to have problems I wanted to find out now instead of 4 months thru a 6 month training program. I did 4 big weeks and varied how much fast running I did from none, to 3 days/week.

July Totals
--Ran everyday (plan was to skip 7/28)
--44 runs, 13 doubles (plan was 41 30/11)
--Mileage 429 (plan was 365)
--Weeks 86,95,100,98 (Plan 85,88,87,75)
--Races: none
--Speedwork - did 2 sets of 1,200s(plan was 1,200s and 400s)
--Long runs 20,24,22,22 (plan 20, 22, 18)

August Plans
not too sure to be honest. July has shown me that I can run through my various leg issues (achilles, ankles, knees) as long as I am sensible about the routes I run. My groin/sportshernia problem is another matter. Good news is that it doesn't get bothered by high mileage, but fast stuff definitely makes it worse. The weeks where I did little/no speedwork seemed relatively easy. Those with trackwork definitely took their toll and ibuprofen proved helpful the day after.

I think I need to get some professional advice. If it is a sportshernia, I will need to get it fixed at some point. From what I have read, continued running won't make the surgery any worse, but obviously it's hard to train hard and run fast if it hurts all the time.

So I will try to find a doctor that knows something about sports hernias, and get checked out. Until then I think I'll keep going with reasonably high mileage, but relatively low intensity (ie. no track work). That will keep me fit and serve as continued base building.

Yet another big week

My "big July" continued again this week, with 97.9 miles spread over 10 runs. That makes 368 miles in the last 27 days. It's now been 47 days since I took a day off. I skipped the trackwork again this week, but did a few hills, my tempo run, and a few marathon paced miles. The rest of the miles were about 8 minutes. I feel like I am now used to this sort of mileage, but it does seem that I am always running.

M - 2 recovery runs: 7m and 6m
T - 6m tempo at 6:45 pace, 9m overall
W - 6m, skipped the PM run
T - 16m early in the morning and then 7m in the evening
F - 7m (skipped my speedwork), PM 5m
S - 12m in the morning
S - 22m at 7:50 pace w 2.5m at marathon pace

I'm going to finish out July strong so Mon-Thu are all solid days...
Mon - 2 recovery runs - 13m
Tue - 6m tempo, 9m overall
Wed - 2 easy runs, 14m
Thu - med-long AM, easy PM - 20m

That will end July somewhere around 420 miles. Then I need to assess my various ailments and make a plan. Options are......
1) Keep training hard for San Jose half , CIM and Boston
2) Take some down time to let things naturally heal
3) Cut my losses and get fixed now, and get better in time for Boston
4) Do a quick race (August/September) and then deal with everything

I'll schedule a Dr appt for early August and get checked out.

Tuesday Tempo

Ran early this morning and felt really sluggish when I left the house. Everything seemed to ache from the waist down to my toes. Schedule called for a tempo run, with 6 of the planned 9 miles at about 6:42 pace. First half mile was at 8:50 pace, so I was not feeling it.

After 3/4 mile I saw another runner, moving along at a reasonable clip (probably low 7's) and it inspired me to at least try and pick up the pace. Somehow I managed to get going reasonably well and by 1 mile (normally where I start the tempo pace) I was also doing low 7s. Decided I'd at least give it a shot. Various aches/pains worked themselves out and it was all going well by 1 1/2 miles.

Managed to do the full 6 at a good pace, and averaged 6:45 (just 3 seconds off pace). It felt great to actually run some fast miles after last week's 100 miles, all at 8:00 pace. Having said that, I'm still skipping Friday's speedwork at the track as I know that is going to cause me some achilles problems.

Another 9 days of July and then I get to assess how my body has handled the big miles and plan the rest of the year appropriately.

More Miles (and miles, and miles)

My "big July" continued this week, with 100.2 miles. That makes 268 miles in the last 20 days. Looking back, it's been 40 days since I took a day off. Last week's combination of high mileage (95), fast running (speedwork and tempo miles) and hills was hurting my achilles, so this week I dropped all the hills and most of the fast running. The result was a relatively easy, pain free week, with 100 miles, most of which were just around 8 minute pace.

M - 2 recovery runs: 7m and 6m
T - 5m - skipped the tempo running this week
W - 10m, skipped the PM run
T - 15m early in the morning and then 10m in the evening
F - 7m (skipped my speedwork), skipped the PM run
S - 12m in the morning and 5.5m in the afternoon
S - 22m at 7:52 pace

Next week should be similar, although I'll try not to backload the last 4 days so much - this week was 28m in 3 (9m/day) and then 72m in the last 4 days (18m/day). I'm planning for mid 90's. July total should come in over 400 miles, which is definitely my biggest month. Achilles, knee, feet are all OK with nothing that isn't manageable. The sports hernia/groin injury is still there, but this week was better than last, so I'm thinking that the speedwork is what is causing the problems. I'm going to see how I feel after a full month of heavy miles and decide on the plan at the the end of July.

Another Big Week

Second week of July ended today with a 23.77 mile run. Nothing fast, just easy miles at high 7's/low 8's. 8:08 average for just under 3 1/4 hours.

yesterday was an easy 14
Friday was an aborted trackworkout (did just 2x1200m repeats instead of the planned 5) but also ran 7 later in the day for 13 total.
Thursday was a nice 13 miler early in the morning before it got too hot, plus a very hilly 5 miler as the sun was setting.
Wednesday was a 5 m tempo at 6:42 (9.5 overall)
Tuesday was just 5 m easy
Monday was 12m spread over 2 easy runs.

Weekly total just under 95 miles.

I think it was a good decision to bail on the speedwork Friday. I'll probably skip it this week too, as I think it is putting a lot of stress on my achilles and groin.

Hoping for similar mileage this week and next, which should put July up there with my biggest ever months.

Weekly Summary

First official week of my training program for California International Marathon; December 7th - 23 weeks of training - trying to keep to a steady 350+ miles/month

Basic schedule is tempos Tuesday, strides Wednesday, 1200 or 400s Friday and long Sunday. Everything else is easy (8+ min/mile) with doubles M/W/F. 3 out of 4 weeks (or 4 out of 5 some months) are 80-90 with the other week being a cutback down around 55-60. Long runs (20+) most weeks.

This was my first post marathon 80+ week and it ended up at 86 and change. It was something of a shock to the system and today's 20 seemed like a long way. Friday's 5x1200m at 4:29 kicked my butt - the first 4 went OK but #5 was painful and it was a struggle to do 4:39 (with all the extra 10 seconds in the last lap). For Wednesday's strides I ran at the track and at the end tried a "fast" lap for fun - managed a 76 second 400m. That seemed real fast to me, but the online race calculators say I should be able to run a 65s (4:21/mile pace) which seems ridiculous.

Both achilles are sore, so I'm going to stay off the hills for a while and they should sort themselves out with some easy stretching at night. Biggest injury problem is a groin issue which I think is a sports hernia. This has been niggling me for about 6 months now, but seems to be getting worse - At first I thought it was just a muscle pull but it's not going away. I haven't done much research, but what I have done doesn't look good - always seems to end with surgery and time off running..... We'll see how that goes, hopefully I can nurse it thru CIM and maybe also Boston next April. Between that and the achilles it's taking me a couple miles to warmup and get the aches and pains worked out - I am feeling old.

Oh well, just 22 weeks (or 1,754 miles) to go........