Sunday, September 7, 2014

Marathon Training Progress - 8 Weeks Left


Hi friends!

I hope everyone has been adjusting well to September; the busy schedules and routines setting in again. The cooler temperatures have already started here in the north, I woke up to a brisk 9 degrees (48 F) this morning. And - our leaves are already starting to change color here.

Summer of Fun!
It's hard to believe summer is coming to a close, but I'm ok with it. We've had a summer I will not forget! This was our first summer living in cottage country, and boy, it was a busy one. We entertained constantly and enjoyed a lot of time with friends and family. This year we made the most of living on the water, with constant boat rides and numerous swimming trips. I don't think I have ever swam this much in my life. It was simply amazing.

Over the course of the summer, I ran... a lot. During the months of July and August, I put 503 km's on these feet. During that time I was off about 3 weeks due to an injury, so I consider the km's a great success. Fortunately my injury pain has subsided significantly, but the pain is still there. I was officially diagnosed with "piriformis syndrome".

My birthday gift! I'm in LOVE!
"Piriformis syndrome is an uncommon neuromuscular disorder that is caused when the piriformis muscle compresses the sciatic nerve. The piriformis muscle is a flat, band-like muscle located in the buttocks near the top of the hip joint. This muscle is important in lower body movement because it stabilizes the hip joint and lifts and rotates the thigh away from the body. This enables us to walk, shift our weight from one foot to another, and maintain balance. It is also used in sports that involve lifting and rotating the thighs -- in short, in almost every motion of the hips and legs." - Source - WebMD

It now seems to act up after sitting in the car or at work. I'm doing my best to stretch the muscle regularly, but have been slacking on that the past couple of weeks. This injury was definitely a set back for me and it was tough to get back into training.

Breaking out the headlamp
In case I haven't stressed it enough - let me say marathon training is not easy, I've recently encountered another training set-back this past week. I believe I have reached training fatigue. For the past week I've cut runs short, felt generally awful during my runs and have had to introduce some walk breaks. This is very unlike me and I knew something was wrong. I took Friday as a rest day and decided to skip my 15 km run. I'll only be hitting 60 km's this week, instead of the prescribed 85 km's. It's weighing on me a bit, but I know I need to listen to my body if I want to make it to that start line.

Asides from the injury and set-backs, this training season has given me great gains so far. I've hit some recent PBs in the 5 km and 10 km distances during training. Most recently a 50:12 - 10 km last Tuesday. I've been feeling strong (up until last week) and I'm hitting weekly mileage I never thought possible. Due to my set-backs, I know I will not hit the mileage I was anticipating but I'm happy with my progress thus far. I know I need to cut myself some slack; balancing a full-time job, house duties and running on constant hilly terrain is not easy.

4:30 a.m. Pre-25 km "Runfie"
On other running news, Daniel has recently started running with me! This was voluntary on his part and I could not be more excited for him. He has started building his base with 3 km runs about 3-4 days per week. He has been joining me at the start of my runs and then rollerblading the rest of the way. I'm excited to see what this will progress to.. will he eventually want to start marathon training too? My fingers are crossed.

I have two races on the schedule this month. I have to run a half marathon as a time trial to determine my correll placement at Disney. I registered for the Borden Base Run in Barrie on September 28th. In addition to that race, I won entry to the Zoo 10 km in Toronto! It was a sold out race and I won through Facebook. How amazing is that? That race will be held in two weeks on September 20th. Keep posted for my race recaps.

Yay me!
To all my running friends training for fall races, how is your training going?




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