3/23/21 Training Update: Training Update

Man, has it really been over a month since I posted here? Time flies!

I find that it’s sometimes difficult to decide exactly what the “training update” is, because priorities are mixed up in the winter. Actually, not mixed up at all, as skiing is top priority when I can get it. Running takes a back seat.

That said, there’s still been a lot of running. When last we checked in, I had just bruised my butt in a skiing accident, and was concerned that my streak of 100-mile months was in peril. I reached the 25th, with only four days left in the month (and one of those days a ski day), with 24 miles to go. I wasn’t going to make it.

I went out for a run late that afternoon, and it felt good. I was running an easy pace, so I just kind of kept going. I think it was going to be a 4-5 mile run, then “if I go this way” I can get to seven, which turned into eight, and such and such. Eventually I ended up running 10 miles.

I was a little sore at the end, primarily my feet and my hips a little as well. But I felt okay the next day, so I decided to go for another longish run, primarily to see if I could get to shouting distance of 100 miles, but also to see how it felt to do longer runs two days in a row. I kept it flat and easy, out the bike path, and I kept going to Three Mile Bridge Road. That was longer than I had first planned, turning this into an 8.75 mile run, but it felt okay.

That left me just five miles and some change from 100, so on the 28th I picked up the remaining miles. Temperatures were unseasonably warm in the upper 40’s, and I ran in shorts for the first time in months. Mission accomplished!

A funny thing happened on the way to all these miles, though: my Achilles tendon started to hurt. I didn’t really notice for another week, but I know it started the last week of February. I ran 36 miles, which is one of the highest-mileage weeks I’ve ever had. I ran just short of 28 miles the next week. Warm weather was making trail conditions poor for running, so I was on the pavement. The improved traction had me running faster paces.

When I noticed the tendon I started doing some research, and discovered that Achilles problems can result from increasing miles too fast, increasing speed, and running hills. Running on pavement also can contribute to the problem.

Check, check, check, and check. Trifecta plus one. (Quadfecta? I don’t know the word for this!) The website I found, Run To The Finish, has a lot of information about injury recovery and avoidance. A lot of it involves stretching, building strength, and proper warmups. I learned that most running injuries result from the same combination of weak glutes, tight hips, and muscles that aren’t properly warmed up and maintained. So I have changed my warmup routine and started to incorporate some different exercises into my normal PT routine. And, though I am on pace for another 100-mile month, my runs have been flatter and slower. (It’s tough to avoid pavement at the moment, though.) And it seems to be working.

In the midst of all this, of course, I actually signed up for a race that I need to train for. The Half Marathon Unplugged, which I ran with great results in October, has returned to its normal spring schedule, and is coming up in just a few short weeks. So I find myself in a similar situation to last winter, when I was ramping up my training in a short period to be ready for a race. The only difference this time is that I know my fitness will enable me to run the full 13 miles. My tendency, of course, is to want to improve my personal record. At the moment, though, I am telling myself that it’s more important to run the race injury free than it is to go fast. I’m not going to win, so the only person I am really racing is myself. I don’t want to screw up my whole racing season overdoing it on this one.