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Hartford marathon 2012

Running Year in Review

My 2012 Running Year in Review

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

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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. Iโ€™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.

twin lights
Finishing strong for a new Half Marathon PR 1:47:29

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 arenโ€™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 5th 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 8th, 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 16th I ran The Lone Gull 10K and set a PR. On September 29th 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 7th 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. Thatโ€™s all part of the journey. All of the details are available on my re-cap as referenced above. Iโ€™m no racing or organization expert but Iโ€™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

Iโ€™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. Iโ€™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

One response to “Running Year in Review”

  1. imakeeper Avatar
    imakeeper

    I just enjoy running to stay in shape and sane and stress free… That is enough motivation for me when I’m in non-training!

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