Thursday, September 21, 2017

Ultra Loony update - "ok to go"?

On this morning's run, for whatever reason I kept thinking about should I run the Ultra Loony, can I do it, can I endure it, and then I started thinking differently, I kept saying to myself,  I am ok to go, ok to go, ok to go and then this movie popped into my head and I simply laughed to myself:



I am becoming optimistic that I will be able to make it through the weekend, the Saturday events are for sure good now, the question will be what happens during the marathon. As a reference, I ran 4 miles today on the Greenway and was able to maintain what I had hoped would have been my marathon pace, now it's probably my 10k pace. When I did try to push the pace further, the hip twinged and I throttled back as it started to throb. I have run this route quite a few times so I decided to check my times in Strava, you can see that today's run was the slowest, oddly enough the fastest was from the week before the injury, oh well.











Image result for running through pain images
I will be going on a few more runs between now and the marathon as part of my taper, a longish run over the weekend (10 to 13 miles) and then a handful of 3 to 5 mile runs. I hope to see continued improvement in the hip and I still need to decide which shoes will give me the best chance of finishing or do my shoes matter? Will I be able to do it? Can I manage the pain? What else can go wrong?

Regardless of all of this, the bottom line is that I am just happy to be where I am..............

Monday, September 18, 2017

Ultra Loony update

Well, the training so to speak is in the bag and it's taper time for TCM weekend, I got through 17 miles yesterday and I have a chance. Here are my weekly totals for the last 7 weeks:

6
0
0
0
2
32
30

I have made progress especially considering just 2 weeks ago I could only walk and that was a slow walk (to put it in perspective, 9 miles of the 32 miles from last week were a walk on labor day, a few days later I was able to do a run-walk and so it began). I still have no speed or turnover and if I do try to stretch it out, the pain is increased. The good news is I am able to do the run-walk and I know it can work and I am hoping that the 2 week taper will get me to the starting line just a little bit healthier and increase my odds further. Regardless, I intend to give it a go. What do I have to lose? I have had a DNF, I can live with another one if I have to but I don't want a DNS.

Back to my long run for this marathon journey, I felt good for about 12 or 13 miles but then I slowed down as the pain increased and I ended up having to walk the last 2 miles and could not have run through it. That said, I am close to being able to get to a marathon pace and if I can have a little marathon majic it will happen. It has before.

When I am faced with these go/no go decisions, I think why do I do this? The answer is fairly simple, because I can and it's what I signed up for. Yes, this adductor tear is not fun but I have healed enough to get through the 10k and 5k and possibly the marathon. Would I rather abort the Loony and just do the marathon, no. I want it all and if I can heal a bit more and manage the pain, I can do it. Last year I had the knee issue which made for a very, very long day but I got through it, was it fun, yes at times and at other times, it was not, as matter of fact, I do remember pausing and taking a deep breath and was close to dropping but then I leaned in and I embraced it and savored it all the way to the finish.

Image result for images about running in pain
It's about putting your mind to it and then shutting out the negatives. I will be slow and it will be an extremely long day again but I want to try, no I have to try, it is who I am. In so many ways, knowing I feel every step means I am alive, to run without pain would be and is a great experience, I so look forward to having those kind of runs again. For this Ultra Loony though,  I do know that managing the pain will be the journey and I will embrace it and do what I can, which what I have on the day. I will ask myself to start and command, plead my way to the finish (I do love the internal debate I will have) and if it's meant to be, I will do it. If it is not then I will welcome the journey and go as long as I can.





Saturday, September 2, 2017

Ultra Loony update - training is overrated

I tried to run today as I was hoping to get things back on track, it was my first attempt since I tore the adductor muscle a month ago, well it didn't go well, had pain on each step which I kind of expected as it is still sore. I did figure out that I might be able to do a fast walk though so some progress and possibly what I will need to do to get to the start line. I didn't push to walk as I still felt some discomfort, so instead I went into the pool and found out I can now swim with no pain and pool run, so the cross training can expand.

So it's time to focus on cross training and then hope that I can run by next week or next weekend, I am thinking that my experience and running base can get me through the weekend events it if I can get to the start line of each race pain free or relatively so.

The question I will need to ponder though is will I pull the plug if I can't run soon, great question, not sure how I will answer.

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