One of the things I’ve missed this year so far is doing my really long runs. In the past many years (except the year I had plantar fasciitis) I’ve scheduled marathons throughout the year so that I always kept my mileage up. Changing things up with speed work and pace runs and not focusing quite so much on simply piling up the miles has felt a little strange. Even though I can definitely feel myself becoming a stronger runner, I haven’t been putting in the three and four hour runs on the weekends.
I was just talking with a friend last night (hi Colleen!) who is using our training program in 26.2 Life Lessons: Helping You Keep Pace With the Marathon of Life and she was telling me she feels similarly. Putting in the long miles can make you feel tough (Come on, I know you love to say, “Oh, I just ran 20 miles this morning; what did you do before lunch?”). But the speed and pace work is HARD WORK in a different way. It isn’t as impressive to talk about, but—for me at least—it takes more discipline and commitment.
So here’s what I did this week:
Sunday: Wow, I can’t remember what I did. I think I took the day off of running and just walked with Bill….
Monday: Speed work. Ins and outs (hard on the straight part of the track, recovery on the curves) for 25 minutes at Carol’s work out.
Tuesday: No running.
Wednesday: Pace work. Three 7 minute repeats at a 9:30 pace with a short recovery between each pace segment.
Thursday: Three-mile easy run.
Friday: Five miles with friends (thanks Laura and Janna). We stayed close to a 10 minute per mile pace.
Saturday: Bill and I will be running the Wind Horse Half Marathon route to get ready for marking the course. (Be sure to sign up for this race I direct!! It’s fun and it raises money for one of Bellingham’s sister cities).
I’ve also been trying to stay committed to the three-minute core work. Remember this? It’s a one minute plank, one minute of crunches, and one minute of push ups.
What about you? Are you following the 26.2 Life Lessons program? What are your observations?
Hey Cami!
Always dropping by your site! I really do love these updates! I am currently at 30 miles this week, with a half marathon to go! Taking today off, and ready to hit the road this afternoon for a camping adventure with the roommate and another friend! We’re staying somewhere near Priest Lake, ID, and I am running the Priest Lake Half Marathon for their Spring festival (isn’t it almost summer?) anyways! Should be exciting! I’ll let you know how it goes!
Next week I will begin to implement the speed training back into my weeks as I gear up for a wild summer! We will hit about 45 miles next week and build and cut back from there! I am keeping my long runs building along with the speed training, those two days becoming my longest days of the week. I build to 75 miles at the beginning of September and a long run of 22 miles. No idea for speed work, but this next week I’ve settled on a 30 minute tempo on Wednesday and 8 miles total for the day. 10 mile long run next week.
Brandon, I’m looking forward to hearing how your race goes. You’re back!! xo, Cami
Hi there. I own & have read your book, Seven Marathons on Seven Continents, twice. Really liked it. Have also been keeping up with your blog for a while now. I’m really wondering how you got through your plantar fasciitis year? I’ve been having pain in my left heel since late February; it has gotten better, but am still looking for remedies I haven’t tried yet. Good luck on your running goals this year; you and I run close to the same pace, so I find your posts extremely relevant to my own training.
Hey Jive!
Hope that you this comes to you via a message or something else.
I have dealt with PF is the past. It’s a tricky bugger to get rid of! I did a lot of different things to try and remedy it. The most important thing to do is to make sure that you stretch really well post workout. Up and down your legs. Calves and hamstrings especially. when stretching the calves keep your leg both straight to get the upper calf, but also bend the knee slightly so that the stretch moves lower and works it’s way down more towards the achilles area (not exactly but rough area).
Stretching of the PF is also important. In the morning right when you wake up, and also throughout the day, sit in a chair, or on the edge of your bed and bring one ankle up and cross over the opposite knee. Grab your toes and slowly pull back until you can feel a nice stretch in the bottom of the foot, near the heel. repeat two or three times for each foot.
Other things that can be done are massaging of the bottom of the foot, Cami and I both have Rubz footballs (Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Due-North-Foot-Rubz-Massage/dp/B002QEY6NK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1370015630&sr=8-1&keywords=rubz) that we use, a golf ball or other small semi hard ball work as well. A frozen water bottle is also another thing that can help as well.
If none of these things help to alleviate, cross training on a bike can help a bit, as it helps to stretch the calf muscles some as you are riding!
From there I personally have orthodic inserts in my shoes, and also had some cortizone shots given to me when I was going through problems.
Hope that I have helped some! Let me know if any of this works for you!
Brandon
Thanks Brandon! I am going to freeze a water bottle soon (I already have a Rubz ball, just need to use it more) and will be starting to cross train next week. 🙂