12.24.2005

Christmas Eve

Observations on my marathon training:
The miles are starting to take a toll.
I did five miles this evening in 46 minutes. I used to be able to do it in 45 or less. My weekly mileage hit a personal lifetime high of 46 today which was without a 3-mile run I skipped on Wednesday. The 13 on Tuesday was challenging. The 10 on Thursday was painful.
The pain in my left ankle is on the top front side of the bone and actually runs up my shin which is an early sign of shin splints (Jon! Help!). I soak my legs in the cold outdoor pool water after I run. I give the ankle/shin an ice massage twice a day.
I borrowed a "stick" from Track Shack to work out kinks in my calves before running. It is somewhat helpful. I stretch.
I have decided to be prudent and push my Sunday/Christmas Day long run to Monday, skip Tuesday's 13 miler and pick it up again Wednesday. I feel like I need to baby my legs along here. Speeding through the marathon is not my goal. Finishing in one piece is. I have to make it to Miami in one piece too.

I am enjoying my roll as cruise director for the Miami Marathon. Brent and Rae, Noames and four runners from Orlando are on my list of passengers to corral for a night-before carbo load and day-of-race meet-up and photo op. I am checking out Rosinella’s on Lincoln Road a couple of blocks from the beach in Miami Beach - a well regarded Italian place. Mmmm.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

rest is the key. not just time off, but sleep. make sure you're getting 8+ hours a night. i always find myself worn thin at the end of a training cycle and it's the non-running things that i do that help me get through it. not long now, david!

Rae said...

I'm right there with you!! I feel like I'm in my best shape ever, yet my body is feeling a bit old and creaky! I had a very similar ephinany during my last long run - I KNOW I can do this, and I also know I'm not going to win. So why kill myself and make the experience miserable? It should be FUN and that's how I'm planning to refocus and spend the rest of my month before the big race!!

I'm so excited about the pre-race feast!! (Except right now I am SO stuffed with turkey and yummies!!)

Merry Christmas!

Jon (was) in Michigan said...

I wish I had some advice for the shins, David. You know the routine though. And obviously, my luck with it hasn't been very good.

Are you running on hard roads right now? Can you get to some soft flat trails for a while? Somewhere I read advice from a marathon runner that he runs on soft trails as much as he can to save his legs for the race.

And getting as much sleep as possible will help too.

Run for Chocolate said...

Make sure you fully taper, you want to be rested before the big day! I like to think about tapering like holding back a hungry racehorse. If you really pull back during your taper, you will be frothing at the mouth to get out there and RUN!!

Jank said...

rest, sleep, and don't blow yourself up chasing 20something future officers!