I’m Back; Just in Time for Peak Training Week

Training schedule for this wee.

It’s the last week of training for the Mountains 2 Beach Marathon. Run with Hal has scheduled me to run 59 miles this week. Then, I will transition to the three-week taper. For this week’s update, I will recap my recovery from my injury and share the logistics for this week’s runs.

To recap, I injured my left foot on Tuesday, April 1 (Lessons Re-learned: Haste Makes Waste and Listen to Your Body). Thinking I was okay, I ran on Wednesday, April 12; I wasn’t okay. Thursday, April 13, was slightly painful. Friday, April 14, worsened as the day progressed. That night I thought I needed to go to urgent care the next morning. Switching to Ibuprofen helped a bunch. My foot felt better on Sunday, April 16. I took the scheduled rest day on Monday, April 17. I took videos and pictures for an instructional design project (to showcase my skillset for a future employer) on Tuesday, April 18, and walked about five miles. The walk aggravated my big left toe, so I took Wednesday, April 19, off. I felt I could run on Thursday, April 20, but I was busy working on replacing the head gasket on my car (Conquering Fears Head On, or in This Case Heads Off), and I took another day off. Friday, April 21, I ran for the first time in nine days. It was a recovery run. I stayed close to home. However, it felt good to run, and I ran ten kilometers. Saturday, April 22, was a scheduled 12-mile long run day; it was also #CelebrateTrails Day and Earth Day. I utilized Stevens Creek Trail and San Francisco Bay Trail to celebrate both events. The half-marathon distance felt good, but I could tell that my fitness level diminished over the last nine days. Starting at mile ten, my quads and thighs were sore. Sunday’s five-mile recovery run was much needed. DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) kicked in, and I was reminded that we also use our abs and glutes to run. Monday, April 24, was a rest day. I lost 15.3 miles of training runs over three days due to injury. However, I think taking the extra day on April 20 was beneficial.

This week has some logistical issues that I will need to overcome. Tuesday and Wednesday runs are typical for my training schedule. However, on Thursday, I will fly to Las Vegas. A ten-mile base run is scheduled, and I will need to run it soon after I arrive around 10 a.m. I won’t have time to run in the evening, and the weather forecast is 91 degrees Fahrenheit. Friday is an early day with sightseeing starting at 8:30 a.m. and plans late into the evening; I will need to get my 10-mile marathon pace run in the early morning. Saturday is a twenty-mile long run. I have a later start time to sightsee, but I will need at least four hours to run, cool down, and clean up, so it will be another early day. To make things more fun, my Sunday return flight leaves at 5:35 a.m. It will be a challenging week; however, since I missed my other twenty-mile run due to injury, I think it is best to get these runs in.

For the runners out there, have you sneaked in an early morning run to stay on your plan? Let me know in the comments below.

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