Once upon a time this started as a running blog. As I embark on my journey training for the Marine Corps Marathon in October, I figured this might be a good time to get back to my roots...not only with my training, but also for this blog. So, I am going to commit to a weekly post about my training, so that I can look back on the up's and down's when it's all said and done.
First, why Marine Corps? Well, after running NYC last Fall, I was worried that any other race would be a huge let-down after the interesting course, amazing crowd support, and big city environment of the weekend in general that NYC provided. I will likely apply for the lottery every year for NYC to have the opportunity to run that race again...and run it right if there's a next time in terms of training properly. I applied for the lottery again this year, and big surprise, I didn't get accepted. So, I applied for the lottery to MCM after the NYC lottery results were announced (which is the first year that MCM went to lottery) and was pleasantly surprised to get in.
Now that my race was set it was time to get serious about training again - which only meant one thing for me...back to Rogue, especially since their recent move to the new location made it more accessible for me to get there. After reviewing the possible options, it was a pretty clear choice for me that I wanted to train with Bobby again. Quality workout on Wednesdays at 6:30pm and long run on Saturdays at way too early in the morning due to the summer heat.
Saturday, May 3: 5 miles (road)
First run of the program. Here we go!
I was happy to have the chance to talk to Bobby before the run that morning about my ankle issues. Damn trimalleolar fracture from January 2010. I was honest with him about feeling nervous to formally commit to training again...and hoping for the best in terms of my ankle being able to handle the rigors of it. At the same time though, my ankle had been feeling better in the past couple of months than it has since the break/surgery. I had been alternating 6 mile runs on the treadmill (this becomes important in a minute) with strength training + cardio at the gym since February without any problems whatsoever.
To my surprise, I had a great 5-mile run on Saturday. The weather was cool, my legs felt great, and holy cow I saw mile splits on my Garmin that I didn't know were possible anymore as an easy pace. But, the route was hillier than I was expecting, and my ankle started to feel sore with the hills and change in surface of running on the road again. Overall though, it was a great confidence booster to start the program!
Oh, and I should also make note that I have been focusing on getting back down to a good running weight over the past few months, and I was happy to see that my weight at the start of this program was within a few pounds of my wedding weight (when I was in good running shape training for my first 50k).
Sunday, May 4: OFF
Our running schedule wasn't posted yet. And even if it had been, it would have been unlikely that I would have done it because of other planned activities that day, and I was feeling the effects of the previous day's run - sore ankle and trashed right quad (which tends to overcompensate for my injured left side).
Monday, May 5: 4 miles (trail)
Running schedule wasn't posted until late in the day. Mondays will be a medium long run day moving forward. I tried to run on the treadmill at home in the afternoon initially, but my ankle was not having any of it. It was super painful, and my form was wonky because I was trying to get off it as quickly as possible. My fear was that I was only one run into the training program and I was already out because of injury. I decided to try running later that evening at the gravel trail near our house to see if that would be better somehow. Not initially...I almost packed it in and gave up when I couldn't even run .25 mile without pain. But, I stubbornly persisted, although I had to take a lot of breaks because my ankle couldn't tolerate too much distance at once. My ankle seemed to get better as I progressed and I think I built up to nearly a mile without stopping toward the end, which gave me some hope. But, there was definitely PAIN (not soreness) during this run.
Tuesday, May 6: Weights + 40 minutes Stairmaster at gym
Cross-training on the schedule. Relieved to give my ankle the day off.
Wednesday, May 7: 5 miles (road) + 4 strides
I emailed Bobby in the morning to update him about my ankle woes in advance of the group workout that night. I had no idea at that point whether my ankle would tolerate another road run or not. But, lo and behold, it held up okay, although the hills (up and down) continued to aggravate it. Overall, it was definitely more of soreness in the ankle joint rather than pain as it had been on Monday, so I left feeling hopeful. The other challenge was starting to acclimate to the evening heat while running. It's a hot road ahead until October.
Thursday, May 8: 3 miles (treadmill)
I continued to ice the heck out of my ankle all week. Not wanting to push my ankle with 2 back-to-back road runs yet, I opted for an easy 3 miles on the treadmill. Ankle was definitely sore, so there was some stopping and starting even with such a short run on that surface. But, more than anything, I just felt a general deadness in my legs. Ugh, already?!?
Friday, May 9: OFF
Week 1 Total: 17 miles + 1 cross-training workout
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