23 and Me February

January was a successful month for running. Through Fall I managed to run about sixty miles each month. With a slight improvement each month through December.

In January I ran just over 91 miles. It wasn’t without aches and pains, but it was run with little doubt. I was confident as I pushed the mileage higher that I was on a trajectory towards a 100 mile month in February.

Even with the aches and pains, I showed up on Sunday and ran most of the miles. And I ran 4 to 6 miles Tuesday day night and a few times managed another 5 miler on Thursday or Friday night.

But on February 5th during our SLR 6 I ran into a problem. My knee has been bothering me for a while, but this time it felt different.

My Physical Therapist, Dr. Sarah Marchionne, at Fitzgerald Physical Therapy in Melrose checked my knee thoroughly. I was relieved when she said it was probably an over-use injury. This made sense since I had been ramping up the miles.

February 23 Running

The first run in February was The Sunday Long Run 6 which was a 16.5 course.

My knee had been bothering me from pushing it a little too much the week before. I was feeling strong, so I ran that way. During a few of my runs I even tossed in a few strides and they felt pretty good.

By the time I reached mile 10 of SLR 6, I knew it was a bad idea and run all 16.5 miles. Our next water stop was only 3.5 miles away and I figured I could get there without causing any permanent damage.

I knew exactly where I was going and what the hills were like. There were a few times when I had to walk and my Garmin flaked out on me.

When I look at the map for that run, Mile 11 is a little short, Mile 13 is missing and it looks like I ran well over 15 miles. But Garmin gives me 13.6 miles which I literally felt in my bones was the correct distance!

Not my first tough run of this training program but it felt like the toughest run. When I got to the next water stop, I got a ride from Bobby Taylor back to my car! At mile 10 I knew my PT would say, why did you keep running?

Road to Boston SLR 6, Marathon training 2023

When I got into my car I felt like I had run 15+ miles.

As I was running in from Mile 10 I was thinking about what I would tell my PT. When did the pain begin? When did it get worse?

Would I be honest? Should I be? Would she be pissed or disappointed at my foolishness?

You can read about when the pain started in my Road to Boston SLR 6 post, so I wont re-hash it here.

Marathon Training Week 7

After my tough SLR 6, I took week 7 off and manned a water stop on Saturday.

The club ran the Super Sunday 5K and 10K on Sunday so we moved the long run to Saturday. Yes, a lot of people ran 14 miles on Saturday and many ran the 10K on Sunday.

I registered to run the 10K, but Saturday afternoon when I picked up my bib I switched to the 5K. My knee was still wonky and I didn’t want to push it.

My goal is to get to the starting line in some sort of running condition.

I started the Super Sunday 5K in the back and as we started out I just let people pass me. I had a compression sleeve on my knee and wanted to see how things went.

After about a half-mile I realized that me knee was fine, so I picked up my pace on First street and had a pretty good race. We had 42 club members run or volunteer at the race. And I think everyone had a good time.

I had a good 4.5 mile club run Tuesday night, had PT on Wednesday and ran a little over five miles Thursday night.

Marathon Training Week 8

Sunday Long Run for week 8 was an 18.1 mile course that I knew well. It is a long run and has plenty of hills, but the turns are easy to spot with few rotaries or 5 road intersections. I knew I wouldn’t get lost, but I was not sure how my knee would hold up.

On advice of Dr. Sarah I had been wearing a compression sleeve during my runs for the past few weeks. It did help my knee but I was still having that joint pain.

You can read in my blog post for week 8 that I decided to cut 18.1 miles down to 12.9. I even had to walk the last third of a mile.

That Tuesday night I ran a conservative out and back 4 miler with very few hills at an 11:10 pace. Really slow for me, but I needed to get in those miles.

We had some weather on Thursday which actually left snow and ice on the ground. I decided not to risk slipping on the ice and didn’t run Thursday night.

Marathon Training Week 9

For Sunday Long Run Number 9, we dropped down to 16 miles. In a marathon training program every two or three weeks you drop back on the miles to give your legs a bit of a break.

The week before I only ran 12.9 miles, so even 16 miles was a bump up for me. It’s like falling behind on a hike. When the group takes a break you’re still hiking up the trail. And when you finally reach them, they are ready to head out.

On Saturday I bought a Shock Doctor knee brace, Level 3. This sleeve straps to your calf and thigh and has hinges at the knee. Pretty heavy duty stuff and not something I ever dreamed I’d be wearing. Am I getting old?

It was painful from the first steps and early on I knew 16 miles was not in the cards for me that day. You can read the details in my week 9 post.

That Tuesday night I ran 4.3 miles with the club at a 10:30 pace. Not too bad and the knee brace seemed to make a difference. It was the last day of February and I wanted to hit 60 miles for the month. I ran 60.39 miles in February.

About 31 fewer miles than January and not the 100 miles I was shooting for. But sometimes you need to make adjustments if you want to keep on the road to The Boston Marathon.

23 and Me February 2023, 2023 Boston Marathon Training

Run well my Friends

Andy

23 and Me January

I’m going to try and write a monthly re-cap each month in 2023. We’ll see how that goes, but I’m hoping this helps me get back into the habit of writing more often than I have over the past two years.

I’m going to try something new for 2023 and write a monthly re-cap, 23 and Me. Lot’s of bloggers do it, some do a weekly re-cap. But I don’t think I’m that interesting!

I feel that between COVID-19 and loosing both of my parents over the past five years, I’ve been in a bit of a writing slump. A bit of a funk overall in life I’d say.

You have to come to terms with a lot when your parents are gone and when you reach mid life. There’s no getting around it. You just have to work your way through it.

This October, it will be three years since my mother died. And I’ll be 59 in September. So I’ve had plenty of time to think about life and mortality. Not sure I’ve come to terms with all of that, but I feel like I’m in a different place now. In many ways, a better place.

2023 is getting off to a good start and I feel a new optimism.

I got a bib for the 2023 Boston Marathon and my training has been going well.

If you follow this blog you’ve probably noticed my weekly Sunday Long Run or SLR posts each week.

We just finished week five with a 12.5 mile run with a lot of hills. I wasn’t sure how it was going to go because I went into the run with a plan and some expectations.

I’m still getting physical therapy, so ambition and goals can be dangerous.

Fortunately, this week’s run was awesome!

In addition to perfect running weather, my body felt up to the challenge.

I ran all of the hills with intention. On the long slow hills I slowed down a bit and shortened my stride. On the steep hills I increased my cadence, shortened my stride and pushed as hard as I could.

Running hills this way is a lot of work, but nothing hurt and I did pretty well.

I also ran some strides the last mile or so of the run, when my legs were most fatigued.

I wasn’t sure how they were going to go, but the went great! I didn’t run very long strides, but I did them. Since they are new to me, I didn’t really want to push it too much and risk a new injury.

Everything I tried on this run worked and I felt in control for the entire run. I felt a boost of confidence that made me feel good all week long.

23 and Me for January

I was pretty confident that I would get a Boston Marathon bib through my running club. We award bibs based on a point system where you get points for volunteering.

I started 2022 knowing I may be healthy enough to apply for a bib, so I volunteered as much as I could. More than I ever have.

So, knowing I could get a bib if I worked at volunteering and knowing that I could run if I followed my doctor’s advice and staid smart, I started ramping up my training in August.

Through the spring and most of the summer, I had to cut way back on running. I did mostly 2-3 miles runs in the neighborhood. And sometimes it was painful.

I did manage to run a few 5K or 10K races through July. I even walked the entire BAA 10K on June 26th. I’ve never missed this race but I knew that I couldn’t run it.

In August I started my plan. I only ran 31.26 miles, but that was more running miles than any previous month in 2022.

I started running with the club each week, but only 3-4 miles, and often in some pain. I ran two 5Ks and had a good time doing it.

In September I ran 50.62 miles and ran one each of a 5K, 10K and 8 miler. I didn’t put up any crazy times, but it felt good to be out there doing it again.

In October I ran 57 miles and started running four or more miles on Tuesday nights with the club. I ran one 5K and my left knee bothered me most of the way.

In November I ran 57 miles again and in December I almost hit 63 miles. My goal at Tuesday club runs was to run the 10K route and most weeks I did.

On December 18th I ran the Somerville Jingle bell run at an 8:12 pace. Nothing really hurt and I had a good time doing it. At this point I felt like I was on my way back.

January 2023 Running

On January 1st I ran the Hang Over Classic 10K at an 8:59 pace. Not my best 10K but I was able to run the race that I wanted to.

My cardio was not where I wanted it to be, but my legs could run hard enough to max out the cardio that I had.

On January 8th I ran our 2nd Sunday Long Run of 12.53 miles at a 10:33 pace. It was a lot of work and painful at times. But the pace was about where I wanted to be.

The next week I took it easy and only ran 4.25 on Tuesday night and some very short runs around the neighborhood.

On January 14th the Saturday Long Run stepped back to 10.81 and I ran a 10.02 pace. With the shorter distance, this was about the pace I wanted to run.

The next week we ran 14.6 miles and I managed a pace of 10.11 on another hilly route. I felt pretty good on that run and the pace was on target.

The last Sunday Long Run of January was 12.54 on another hilly route, but I knew this was the week that I wanted to start pushing a little harder.

I wrote about this run at the top of this post, so I wont repeat myself here.

Over the five long runs this month, I have noticed improvements in my pace and ability to run hills.

I’ve never integrated a cross training or strength training plan into my marathon training plan.

With the results that I have seen so far, I think this is working for me.

Tomorrow we run 16 miles in some pretty cold weather. I’ll let you know how the firs long run of February goes, our Sunday Long Run Six.

Run well my Friends,

Andy

Road to Recovery

This week I started running again and had my last physical therapy appointment.

Tuesday night I ran about 10K with my running club and Thursday I ran 5K in the afternoon. Both runs felt pretty good and I now know that I came through my last two races without damage.

Tuesday morning I had my last PT session. My flexibility and strength were good and I have made a lot of progress since I started therapy for my piriformis injury this summer. When I told my therapist that I had run a half marathon and then a whole marathon within six days and was able to drive home from Hartford without pain, she knew I was healed.

Now that the crescendo of my running season has receded into the past I feel like I am transitioned into a new phase. Through injury and achieving goals I feel that I have learned a lot about my running and what I am capable of. I’m looking forward to applying these lessons to next year’s running.

I’ve started to look for races I want to run next year and will be building my schedule over the next few weeks. I hope to run a marathon in Vermont or New Hampshire this year and maybe one a little further afield. I’m on a very slow course to run all fifty states.

So to keep this brief I’ll wrap this up here. If I get my schedule filled out I’ll post that next week. I also plan to write a series of posts for people who are starting running and are looking for a few good running tips.

Have a great weekend, and thanks for stopping by.

Running Year in Review

2012 was a challenging and rewarding year for my running. A brief recap of my running adventures through October, 2012.

My 2012 Running Year in Review

This has been a busy month and a busy year for me. I’ve run sixteen races this year and four races within the past 30 days.

The biggest challenge of the year was running the BAA Half Marathon and the ING Hartford Marathon within six days of each other. When I registered for the two races months ago I thought this would be a fun and interesting challenge. I’ve run several marathons before but having a half-marathon within six days of the marathon would add a new twist.

I thought the closeness of the races would be my biggest challenge and then I got hurt. For six weeks I had to cut way back on my training and did mostly stretching and strength training as prescribed by my physical therapist.

The last race I ran before my injury was The Twin Lights Half Marathon on May 12th. I surprised myself and set a new PR. When I did that I really felt like I was on the right track with my training and I would be able to PR in Hartford and maybe qualify for Boston. Then due to work and sickness I basically stopped training for three weeks and then came back to fast, and got hurt.

I started going to physical therapy about once a week and did all of my exercises as prescribed. I kept running shorter distances, usually no more than 3 miles at a time. My PT was okay with this level of running.

Earlier in the year I had signed up for the BAA Distance Medley. The day before the Boston Marathon I ran their 5K and then on June 24th I ran the BAA 10K. My leg never really hurt while I was running the 10K. There aren’t any hills on this course and I took it very easy just to be safe

In July I ran the VERT Sasquatch 2.4 mile trail race just to try out trail running and for the great party afterwards. I took it very slow again. On August 5^th I did the Maine Lobster Fest 10K in Rockland Maine. There were hills and it was hot for this race. I took it easy and survived that one.

On September 8^th, I ran a leg of the Lake Winni Relay, 10.8 miles, at an 8:44 pace. This was the fastest and farthest I had run since May. My legs felt strong during the race and I did not have any unusual pain afterwards. This race really helped build my confidence back and told me that I was back on track.

On September 16^th I ran The Lone Gull 10K and set a PR. On September 29^th I ran the Granara-Skerry 5K and set another PR. I felt confident again and ran these races as hard as I could. After Lake Winnie I wanted to see what I was capable of and how far my rehab had progressed. These races confirmed my progress and further boosted my confidence. I felt like I was ready for my challenge.

At the BAA Half Marathon on October 7^th I did not set a PR, but I think I could have. I lined up late and got stuck in a huge crowd where I could not move. When there was room to run I threw everything I had into the race. At the end of the race I felt good about the race and I was pretty sure I had not aggravated my injury. That was key. If I had pulled the piriformis again I would not have had time to recover before my marathon.

The days between the BAA Half and ING Marathon I ran 4 miles Tuesday night and 5K on Thursday. I went to the gym and stretched three days and that was about it. My taper week was also a recovery week. Like most runners would, I spent that time pretty much obsessed with my upcoming marathon.

I tried to manage all of the details for race day, but as anyone who read my race re-cap, several items got out my control. If you would like to read about my stressful marathon check out this link.

I made some mistakes and learned some lessons. That’s all part of the journey. All of the details are available on my re-cap as referenced above. I’m no racing or organization expert but I’m always working on my process. I feel that the three keys to successful racing are

Getting the miles in
Physical conditioning/cross training/strength training
Developing and fine tuning your race routine

I’ll go into my thinking on this on another post. A lot of other runners have written some great articles on this topic.

At this point in time I have pretty much run my schedule for the year It just feels so odd not having anything to train for. I’m going to have to work on my motivation to keep up with my training, to stay motivated. That is the current challenge that I face.

How do you stay motivated when you do not have a race on your schedule?

Run well my friends!

Andy

Physical Therapy and Wisdom

Physical Therapy

I had my fourth PT session this morning. Hilda and Nick over at Harvard-Vanguard in Somerville are helping me recover from my hamstring problems. It is a slow process and I am hoping that eventually I will be able to put this injury behind me (no pun intended) and get back to my training.

I’ve been incorporating the stretching exercises they give me into my daily routine and try to do the full cycle of stretches at least twice a week. It’s amazing how much stretching you can do while watching TV or waiting for the coffee to brew. I love to multi-task so adding stretches to time that would just be spent sitting or standing around is fantastic.

My regular training routine is about 20 miles per week. When I’m training for a marathon I like to average 25-30 and peak around 35 miles per week. With a job and family it is difficult to find the time for this much running. I know that if I want to improve my marathon time I need to get more miles in per week.

Since I am working through an injury my plan is to get back to 20 miles per week and stay at this level for the next few months. I can’t afford to push it and aggravate the injury, so I’m just going to have to suck it up and run my next few races just for fun. It’s not like I was ever out for prize money or anything like that. But, like most runners, I do enjoy seeing my times improve.

Wisdom

Like so many of my close-to-middle-aged running mates, I am looking to keep running into my 80s. I’ve seen plenty of older guys at races so I know it can be done. The old gang is also realizing that we do have limitations and that our bodies will punish us if we do not respect those limits.

I had big plans for the summer running season, but I screwed up. Now I’m just hoping to finish my next three races and not cause any additional damage to myself. Here are a few hard learned lessons that I mentioned I’d pass on to you when I started this blog.

One lesson is that you need to respect your body and understand your limitations. It’s easy to get over-confident when you are feeling good and things are going your way. These are the times you need to be careful, when you are pushing your boundaries. As athletes we need to push our limits, our boundaries, in order to grow and progress towards our goals. Just be aware that at your peak and when you are most confident is the time you are most likely to make a mistake and/or injure yourself.

Another lesson is the famous 10% rule. Hal Higdon and other running guru’s will tell you that you should not increase you mileage by more than 10% per week. Any more than that and you risk injury. I spent three weeks traveling or being sick earlier this summer. During this time I ran one 5K each week. This caused my fitness level to drop off significantly. When I got back to training my body was not ready.

Trying to go from 3.2 miles per week to 20+ is not a good idea. I can tell you from my own personal and painful experience. Don’t ignore the experts like I did and think the rule doesn’t apply to you.

This Sunday my long run will be 8.2 miles. Many in my club will do the full 16.2 route but I’m not up to that level yet.

Have a great weekend, get in some good running and thanks for stopping by.