Getting back on track

Team 12:00

I ran 16 miles Saturday, and I managed it without walk breaks and very little pain.

I'm still being uber-careful, taking it really easy, doing the run/walk thing at times and subbing cross training for some miles.

Saturday was wonderful. I was secretly dreading going 16 miles at a 12:00 pace, but the pace team turned out to be just wonderful and made the miles fly by, even though we were down to a mere 3 people once the halves turned back!

Michele H., the 12:00 pace coach, gave some sound advice for after the run: When you get home, stay on your feet for a half hour before retreating to the couch. That is supposed to reduce stiffness. It was difficult to do, but I took Miss Lizzie for a walk and cleaned up around the house a bit. She was right! When I woke up from my nap my legs felt much better, and there was just mild stiffness Sunday morning!

Injured Jessica finishes a 5K!

I got off the treadmill, grabbed a stability ball and stretched out over it. It felt SO good! Then I grabbed my phone.

"I don't think I've ever been happier to finish a 5K!!!" I texted to a running buddy.

To recap, my saga has gone like this: Training for the Pig was going swimmingly until I encountered some horrible calf pain. I saw a chiropractor, who said it wasn't my legs at all. Instead, my back bone was curved wrong from practically a lifetime of subconsciously leaning to the right.

It's been almost 2 weeks since I've run more than a mile. I was cleared to run on Tuesday, tried on Wednesday but couldn't make it more than a mile. I was ok to cross train though, so I tried to make up for not running as best I could spinning and on the elliptical. I spent nearly 3 hours on the elliptical Saturday trying to make up for the 14 miles I wasn't running.

I told myself I'd go to MIT Saturday if I could manage 3 miles today. After spin class, I got on the treadmill and set it to a 12-minute mile. I did a 4:1 run-walk ratio, the same as MIT's run walk group. The first mile went well, but 12 minutes in it was so discouraging to see that I hadn't even gone a mile! That's when things started to hurt -- bad. I tried to stand up straight and have good form, like the chiropractor said. Every time I fell into a slouch it was more comfortable, but the slower pace made it easier to focus.

20 minutes in, and I was only halfway there! And this was so painful -- all in my back, but my legs feel fine.

By 30 minutes, though, I was starting to feel better. I finished the 5K in 39:52, and by the end I actually felt like I could keep going.

I'll probably be doing the slower pace and the run/walk thing for awhile, but I'm just happy to be back on my feet!

I'm excited to go back to MIT Saturday... I'm about to seek out some advice from Coach Randy and the chiropractor on how far I can go.

Time to stretch!

Bart Yasso is coming! Bart Yasso is coming!

All of us in MIT have been stoked for weeks, Bart Yasso, the head honcho at Runner's World magazine, is coming to Columbus. He's going to speak to us Saturday, then run with one lucky pace group. Mr. Yasso, if you're reading this, please pick the 10:30s.

I hear good things about his book too. I won a copy on the Columbus Marathon's Facebook page, and I can't wait to read it.

This is a peak week in training so I've been putting in a lot of miles. I'll have 36 when the week is done, I did 3 Monday, 8 yesterday, 4 today and 3 tomorrow. Then, 18 Saturday -- last stop before 20, but we'll have a couple taper weeks first.

I've just been feeling really good this week. I had a wonderful run last night in Granville, I even pushed it up the Denison hill at the end (and got slightly lost getting back to my car).

I finally heeded the advice to get a second pair of running shoes. I picked up a pair of Zoot Ultra Speed's. I ran in them twice this week. They're really light and seem to have the right amount of cushioning. It's giving the Mizuno's a chance to breathe too, which I think is helping, I haven't had shin pain all week, before that it's been pretty chronic.

A friend of mine in my pace group and I have already vowed to tackle the Columbus marathon in the fall, so that means I have no choice but to survive Cleveland... in 66 days!

Winter warriors (and 30 miles in one week)

Last week I finally hit 30 miles for one week! That's with the CRRC Winter Run Sunday, which was half of it. Here's the graph for last week:

I'm looking at a few events prior to Cleveland. I probably will only do one, two max. I'm dying to get off-road (and by that, I don't mean on the treadmill). This looks like a fun one... The Great Seal Trail Run March 26 in Chillicothe. But I don't think it will fit in too well with my training schedule, I either have to do 18 or 20, depending on if I am still following the Cincy schedule or if I am following Cleveland's by that point.

A perfect fit would be the Earth Day Challenge half marathon in Gambier April 17, when I have 12 scheduled. I'm not sure if it's an actual trail run or a paved trail.

This week my training will be a little off because I did my long run Sunday instead of Saturday. Tomorrow I'm taking off, for obvious reasons. I'm going to shoot for a slow 4 Tuesday, 6 Wednesday, 6 (hills) Thursday, and a slow 4 Friday. (continued)

The 5-day-a-week dilemma

I'm using Cool Running's half marathon training program right now, though I've modified it pretty heavily. At the moment I have no use for speedwork. I'm not actually training for a half (yet), this program works perfectly though for the 10-mile trail run I want to do in December.

My biggest dilemma is how many days to run. I've wanted to go up to 5, but I think I've decided that four days of running plus one day of cross training is more practical. Every training program I look at for distances longer than a 10K calls for 5 days running.

The problem lies here: I want Fridays and Sundays off completely, because I'm either doing my long run or racing Saturday. So, if I'm a 5-day-a-week runner, that means four of those days are consecutive.