Hello once again. The big highlight of this week was the honor of being featured in the sports section of the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel newspaper. Every Tuesday Brett, a local freelance writer and awesome runner, writes a feature article about the local running scene. He chose to highlight how I've turned my weight loss success into a running hobby, my participation in The LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon and doing these diary entries. When I submitted my last diary entry, I happened to casually mention the newspaper article to Liz, the LBCM Webmaster. Unbeknownst to me, she put a link to the article above. Thanks Brett and Liz.
Another week of training is in the books and the big day is one week closer. On Monday, I felt the effects of running 39 miles the previous week and decided to take my own advice and rest. Not being able to complete my 12-mile long run the previous Saturday was an indication from my body that rest was needed. Plus, for some reason the motivation to run early in the week wasn't as strong. I took that as my mind saying I needed a day off too.
With my training philosophy, I put more emphasis on the weekend long runs than on the shorter mid-week runs. Therefore, I'm more tempted to miss a mid-week run when needed in order to ensure that I'll be ready for the long run. With 18 miles fast approaching (which went very well on Saturday), I figured taking Monday off was prudent. I knew I probably would not be able to make up the 5 miles later in the week but I can't imagine that those missed miles will have any impact on my performance October 7.
Speed work on 7/17 consisted of 3 sets of 4x200 with 200 jogs in between. My split times were back to the 48-52 second range, which is just above where they were a few weeks back. I've been having a problem with sore lower ab muscles, which I think contributed to my slightly slower times.
This soreness has been nagging me for the past several weeks. Sometimes it is hard to sit up in bed in the mornings. It doesn't hurt walking but as soon as I start running it does. As I warm-up, the soreness lessens. Someone suggested that maybe it was a hernia instead. Waves of anxiety swept over me, as I knew hernia surgery would gravely impact my training and jeopardize my participation in the Marathon. It really hurt after yesterday's speed work so I went to see the doctor last night. She didn't find any signs of a hernia but thinks I have a strained right iliopsoas muscle (aka hip flexor). I've been popping the ibuprofen today and have scheduled an appointment for 8/1 with a physical therapist that specializes in runners and athletes. Hopefully I can get on top of this before it seriously impacts my training.
Wishing you injury-free training...
One step at a time,
Dave
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