Week 6

After three big successful weeks in a row, this one stunk. After the 15 miles last Saturday my knee hurt, and I was tired. Also had a very emotionally draining week that made it hard to sleep so I was doubly tired. I do have to say that God provided a miracle that I desperately needed, and the emotional stress was lessened late in the week. I ran 3 times, and never made the distance I was trying for. On Saturday, the day of my long run, I ran 3 miles and my knee started hurting so I walked the 3 miles home and then rode my bike on the trail and followed Steve on his run. So I did all my cross training in one day. I did an hour of weights with my muscle man, and my legs and chest and biceps hurt for two days. Gotta quick slacking off in that area. Today I decided to try my long run again, twelve miles. Turns out my knee pain is what I suspected, Iliotibial Band Syndrome, and my patella band keeps it from hurting and I know the stretches to get it fixed so that's not a major setback, just a minor inconvenience.
We waited till later in the afternoon to run, it was still hot, but I planted plenty of water along the path, so we weren't in any danger of dehydration or heat stroke. I ran (walked some) three miles with Steve before I told him I was returning home. My twelve miles ended up being six of the hardest I have run yet.
I did some research this week of other training plans, and I'm adjusting my training. The marathon I want to run is in 14 weeks. I'm well on track for that. We decided not to run in August, lots of reasons, my brother we were going to visit decided to come home Labor Day so our trip there would overlap his visit home. Then add finances of enrollment, back to school necessities and both my kids birthdays are in July and August, it was a bit of a relief. It also takes the pressure off my training, although I didn't have to run then, I would have.
The training changes I'm making are fairly simple, Jeff Galloway trains runners to run 24 - 26 miles before a marathon, not 20 as Hal Higdon does. Steve has been saying all along that it didn't make sense to him that if you can run 20 you can 26. Six miles is a long way. So we are continuing on at the long distances we've already run to attempt 24 - 26 before the marathon. He also talks about the benefits of walking BEFORE YOU FEEL THE NEED TO. The benefits are that you will have more energy to finish the race if you take very short walk breaks. He said many marathoners shortened their times by walking according to his formula early in the race and had more energy to finish. The best benefit though, is it helps recovery. I make every effort to do my best, and I realized this week that in doing my best last Saturday, my life suffered the next few days. So my best on a twelve mile run would include having the energy to take care of my family and my house the next couple days. I think my body told my mind that it needed a break. My body won. I was pleased with my sweaty run today, and looking forward to next weeks training. Got another 15 mile next Saturday.

Hope everyone has a great week! I'm still running!