Martin Luther King, jr.: <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = \"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office\" />

If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps life moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all. And so today I still have a dream.

The Trumpet of Conscience

And so the training goes on in spite of it all.

Its been awhile since my last blog.  A lot has changed.  There have been many challenges in the past week to overcome. 

As of my last blog I was getting ready for my last marathon pace run.  I’ve been running alone for this entire training cycle and had done no races up to this point. I was talking to a good friend of mine and he suggested I suck it up and go do my marathon pace run during a real marathon to get some racing exposure and possibly some other people to run with.  At the last minute I decided to take his advice, suck it up, and drive 5 hours on a Friday night alone away from my family to <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = \"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags\" />Baltimore to do the Baltimore marathon.  I was luckly enough to get into the marathon on short notice. The organizers graciously allowed me to pick up my number the morning of the race because I could not make it to the expo for registration or number pickup on Thursday or Friday and there was no normal number pickup race day. 

I crashed at my aunts house in DC the night before the race and got only about 5 hours of sleep.  The drive up to Baltimore from DC at 5am in the morning was a cruel awakening of  what I had signed up for. 

The plan for this workout was: run 13-16 miles at target MP pace; jog in the rest of the marathon to finish out the long run for the week and remember what 26 miles feels like (this was to be done at about 7:30- 8 min pace); measure my foot strike rate for the MP portion of the run by wearing a pedometer; and lastly DO NOT GET INJURED.  I got up to Baltimore at about 6 am and went about my plan of hiding some training shoes at mile 16 under a port-o-potty.  I then went to the elite hospitality suite to pick up my number and get ready for the 8am start.

This marathon usually has a decent elite field with the winner finishing in around 2:16 and this year was no exception.  Since the course has a uphill start the first couple of miles the leaders usually goes out slow and then pick it up as they come down from about mile 4.  The pacer was supposed to go out in about 1:07 I was told which was way faster than my plan.  I wanted to go through half in about 1:10.  At least that was my plan.

The gun went off and we started out and I tucked in behind the pacer at first.  He looked back and I looked back and the rest of the elites really wanted to take it easy the first couple miles it seemed because we were already separated from them by about 10 meters.  The pacer dropped back but since I was out there for my MP workout I decided to just keep rolling.  The first mile went down in 5:19 going slightly uphill, and I just kept going all alone.  In a normal marathon I may have been more conservative on the hills.  Usually you don’t push on the up hills and try to roll going downhill.   Its more efficient that way. Since this was a training run I was just out pushing the pace hard trying to ease into a pace.  Even with the first 3 miles uphill I was still doing sub 5:20.  At mile 3 I now had a substantial lead on everyone else.  So much for running the MP run with other people.  I was all alone leading the Baltimore marathon knowing full well that I would be dropping out somewhere after mile 13. 

On the downhill section I was putting down just over 5 min pace just keeping the throttle down.  I knew I was going way to fast but figured I  had already messed up the workout the first 3 miles uphill so why not just keep going it didn’t feel so bad.  This is normally how my MP runs go.  You aren’t relaxed, you are so concerned about making your mile splits you run too hard and you don’t throttle back when you go out to fast.  Well at least you get some suffering in.

Even when I hit the flats I was running 5:15-5:17 pace per mile.  Way faster than my planned 5:20 per mile.  Taking the fast pace into account,  the fact that I was leading the marathon, and wanting not to get injured I decided to stop at mile 14 instead of 16.  That would be enough to call it a good workout and allow the real marathon leaders to pass me.

I went through half way in 1:09:01.  Way faster than planned.  Oops.  I wasn’t feeling that bad except having to go to the bathroom and could have kept going but I called it at mile 14 and hit the port-o-potty.  I feel that that effort was probably sustainable until 30k.  Too fast for marathon pace for me but in all a good effort for the day.

For this 14 miles I measured 14237 steps in 1:13:42 sec.  That is an average of 193 foot strikes per min.  A lot more than I expected and very cool to finally measure.  If I was a exercise physiology major I would do a senior project or graduate thesis on the affects of high cadence cross training and the affect on running performance.  It would be very interesting to do a study for real that has control groups as well as alternate high cadence machines used to compare to the PC.  Overall that is an exciting measurement on my strike rate.

I was feeling good, I had just had a good workout and was now just enjoying the easy easy jog into the finish.  At mile 22 my left Achilles tendon area got very sore and by mile 23 I shut it down completely and started walking for fear of really injuring myself, although I suspected I had already done some damage.  My high for the day was blown.  I just kept thinking why didn’t I just jog to the finish from mile 16 instead of finishing off the course.  It could have happened on any of my long runs anyway so no use beating myself up too bad.

The drive home was a mixture of elation and despair.  I was very happy at the effort but so very bummed at my Achilles hurting.  I just hopped it wasn’t bad.

Well it was bad.  Saturday night I could not walk up or down stairs w/o pain.  Walking around the house was painful as well.  I started hitting it with lots of Ibuprofen and ice.  I stayed off the internet reading about Achilles injuries because I knew how bad they were.  I decided I would take 3 days off running before trying to run again in hopes it would get better.  In the meantime I would hit the PC hard and maybe get out on the bike a little.  I was and still am freaked out.

This last week has been about damage control.  Early in the week I was to riding PC for 1.50-2 hours a day.  I conducted 3 interval workouts on the PC to keep the intensity up so as to not loose fitness.  I fixed my road bike up so I could go out on the roads to get my HR up higher than I can on the PC and to burn more calories for weight control.

My intervals on the PC are 20 min warm-up then 14 x 80 sec reps with enough tension to get my HR hitting 150 at the end of the rep.  I’m spinning at 125-130rpm with the hands off the bars as if I’m running to better simulate running speed work.  The other interval is a longer one, 6 x 3:30 reps with a HR of 150+.  Again I’m spinning at 125-130rpm with the hands off the bars in a running motion.  This rep is probably better since it keeps my HR over 150 for a longer period of time.

When I ride the bike I try to push it to keep my HR in the 150+range.  Its important to keep up the intensity in this injury time so I don’t loose fitness.  Its much easier to get my HR up on the bike than the PC.  Its also interesting to note that after I’ve been going hard for awhile and am coasting down a hill soft pedaling that I feel my hip flexors firing on their own pulling my legs up.  I also used to be a masher on the bike but now I really feel better spinning.  I think I’m just so used to it now that its normal to spin vs. mash.

My Achilles is has been hurting all week just walking around.  On Wednesday I tested running again and make it only 30-40 feet before I felt pain.  I sank lower into despair.  I could see all this training going down the tubes and the possibility of being at the start line of the marathon slipping away.

Thursday I conducted my intervals again on the PC in the morning and decided I would try running again to make sure it was a little aggravated for the doctors visit that afternoon.  Again I only made it 30-40 feet before the pain set in.

I went to see a orthopedic sports doctor later that day.  The frustrating thing was right before the visit I wanted to get it a little sore.  So I ran around a bit in the parking lot expecting the same results as in the morning, 40 feet.  Instead I was actually able to run a little, although slow, with out it getting much worse than being sore.  What had changed from morning to the afternoon to make such a drastic change?  The only significant thing was I changed my shoes the night before to Asics 2120’s from the Brooks Dyad’s I had been training in this whole time.  Literature indicated that Achilles tendonitis can sometimes be caused by over pronation so I went back to a more stability shoe from the neutral shoe I had been wearing.  Had just one day in a stability shoe taken enough load off the Achilles to reduce the tenderness to allow me to run a little?  I have no idea.  Maybe it was just the natural healing of the body.

The Achilles is still sore so the doctors did x-rays and a MRI but I’ve not heard back on any diagnosis or findings yet.  Probably they either found nothing or haven’t had time to look at the MRI yet.  The waiting game eats at you.  The clock is ticking and I’m running out of time.

In the hopes of getting better I’ve been only wearing the 2120’s all the time and continue to be cautious.  Today was probably my best day yet this week.  I did 50 min on the PC doing intervals, then was able to do a 13 mile run, and finished with a 13 mile bike ride.  I estimated that this simulated a 20 mile run that I would have normally have done.

I’m back running a little now.  It starts off sketchy but as the Achilles warms up it gets better.  I was able to thrown down some sub 6 min miles on my 13 miler today.  Things are looking up. If my Achilles keeps improving I may be at that start line after all.