August Abridged

Has it really been three weeks since I threw up a decent post? I’ve been hitting my weekly mileage goals since Run Through the Pines, Week 10. I’m now at the half way point in the plan to get to Tennessee. I finished up August with 95.5 miles.

Week 11 was a grand total of 17 miles with the long run of 7. It was one of the hardest 7 miles I’d run in a long time. I’d done 6.8, 6, 8, 9, 10 and 6.7 on my way to RTP without issue. I used an 11:1 run:walk ratio for this one. I rationalized that since I was running shorter I could take less walking breaks. I reported after RTP that my leg felt good. It really did. But that was the last time it felt good.

Week 12 totaled 25.5 miles on a 14 mile long run. I ran the 2 Parks-2 Loops plus Summit House Hill route with the CA Cruisers. I took the first 4 miles really easy on the Summit House section staying back with the slower runners. Back on the 2P-2L section I stepped things up a bit. I used the 8:1 ratio this time.

This week, Week 13, the mileage stepped back to 19.5 with the long run of 8. All week long the leg had been bugging. The muscle tightness was back along the shin bone. With finger pressure along the shin I could find a pain spot without much trouble. I ran the 8 miler at the river trail along the Santa Ana River where I trained for my first marathon. It has been a long time since I’ve run this particular section. I went back to my tried and true run a mile, walk a minute routine. This is what I expect to use in Memphis. The one really nice thing about this run was my pace. I consistently held 9:30 miles without any perceived increased effort. This is a significant improvement over most of my recent long runs.

Later that day my leg was bugging me. The physical part is bad enough, but the mental side of it is even tougher. Sunday morning I got up to do my 4 miler. I had decided ahead of time that I would just walk the first three miles and only run the last one. I stuck to my plan and had some tough conversations with myself during those 50 minutes of walking. When I got home, Lisa was awake. She noted that I had been gone for quite a long time. I told her how I had walked most of my run and told her why.

She asked me, “Are you OK?” It was a simple question, but I don’t have a simple answer. Truthfully, right now I’m not OK. Admitting defeat to your own body is tough. It’s too much to think about and definitely too much to blog about.