no turning back

I know I'm a few days late in posting this, but I've just gone through a crisis of faith and made a major decision. Early this week I was all set to pack it in and admit I didn't have the physical or mental preparedness to accomplish the Ottawa Marathon in a month. I was going to downgrade my participation to running in the half marathon. I had even crafted a message I was going to send to my database explaining the reasons for my change of heart, all of which were logical and made perfect sense.

But something held me back from going public with this communication, In fact, two days later I went out and ran 16.7K in under two hours, then went spinning for 45 minutes. And amazingly, after all this exercise I still felt strong and positive. I took some time (in the hot tub no less) to review and assess my position. I have been training non-stop for six months. I have been doing up to three hours of exercise daily in running-related activities. I am in peak physical condition (well for me anyway :)). I had just proved to myself that I could run a long distance and still have more juice in the tank. And bottom line, I want to run and finish this race, and I decided think I can.

So yesterday morning at 7 am I registered for the Ottawa Marathon on May 27th. I start out at 7 am. I'm going to attempt to finish in 4 1/2 to 5 hours. I'm meeting with my coach on Monday to review the training over these next weeks (my God, I only have 29 days left!) to make sure I'm ready for this challenge. By the way, I'm wondering how he's going to react when I tell him, unless he reads this first.

Yes, I'm probably insane for attempting this but, what the heck, you only live once. And, worse case scenario, I'll chalk this up as my fourth attept to run a marathon.,But I won't have the regret that maybe, just maybe, I could have done it when I was 58 years old. Now what a feat that would be.

until next week,

Michael

Milestone One

The good news continues. A solid outing this morning with a 10K distance completed on 1:10:09, my best time ever for this distance. I am increasing my pace with 6 min. jog and 90 seconds walk intervals today. When I factor in that last night I took in a spinning class that went to almost 55 minutes, I'm pretty pleased with my progress.

My right calf is not bothering me at all. Oddly enough though, I felt a twinge in my left calf at the 5K mark and felt it pulling the rest of the way. Once I stopped it receded. I hope I haven't eliminated one issue at the expense of another. I'll keep an eye on this over the next day o so and see what transpires.

Other than that, I'm feeling very good about being back on the road. The weather is supposed to climb to double digits here this weekend, so should offer some great running. The fact I kept my cardio up over the last months is now paying dividends. Now it's time to move towards Milestone Two.

until next week,

Michael

re-building my base.

This has been a good news week. I have been resumed running in a limited format and things seem to be coming along nicely. I am working in a run every second day, slowly re-building my distance and making sure my calf can handle the increased workload before moving any further.

I've been out four times in the last seven days. So far I have completed 4.5K (3 miles) outdoors and 60 minutes on the treadmill. In both these instances, I've have been alternating walking and jogging. I plan on increasing my distance by about 10% every second day, emphasizing the treadmill runs as the initial increase area . My goal is to get to 10K outdoors by Apr. 20.

I can't believe how paranoid I am about this. I can feel myself continuously evaluating my right leg and over-compensating as I run. I think the biggest issue will be to restore my confidence in my capacity to get back to full power and speed, and run longer distances. I am, however, buoyed by the fact that I'm still in great shape as I've been maintaining my cardio. The plan is to continue to do this on my non-running days for now.

until next week,

Michael

turning the corner

Finally some good news to report. Last Friday, I got the green light from my physiotherapist to resume a light, easy running program. My first attempt was Monday. I worked a series of 4 min walk + 1 min jog between my weight program. I had no issues with my calf and was heartened by this. This morning I repeated this program and extended my running portion, again with no difficulty or pain.

I visited my massage therapist early this afternoon, a different person who had more experience with my type of injury. She expressed surprise that my muscles were not as stiff as she expected, based on the notes she had read prior to our session. More good news. In fact, she mentioned she felt I was well on the road to recovery based on her assessment and my treatment today.

My plan is now to run every second day. Well, let's admit it will be a walk/run for now and I'll increase my distance and my running perecentage by 10% a week. I plan to keep up with the other exercise areas I've been exploring as I increase my running and shift to running more as I get stronger. But I'm not thinking past the next two weeks. I'd like to get back to a regular running program now that the nice weather is here. The rest will take care of itself.

until next week,

Michael