The Endurance Pig: Same Ol' Situation

Going into this cycle I was looking forward to a week of diminished volume. But, to be honest - it seemed like any of the previous training weeks. Not only did it not "feel" like a recovery week, I was battling a potential injury in my left foot - either my 2nd or 3rd toe to be specific. The pain first became noticeable after my last long run on Day 8 of the last cycle. It came on suddenly, almost like a "pop." It felt as though my toes were attempting to grip and pull with ever push off on the road. It was during the last few miles of my 8 miles at race pace, so the intensity was higher than usual. It was as if a tendon or ligament snapped or was torn. It didn't have a direct impact on my pace or the remainder of my run, however. At the time I didn't think much of it. Just "one of those things" that routinely present themselves over the course of training for longer endurance events. Throughout this past week, I monitored my foot closely. I poked and prodded trying to self diagnose some type of injury. I couldn't figure it out. Typically, with stress fractures (my worst fear) you develop a sharp pin point pain which is unbearable. With most stress fractures you can find by simply running your fingers along your bones until you find the "sweet spot" that will make you jump. So just about twice a day I would feel around my toes and couldn't find a certain "hot spot." So I was 95% confident I could rule out a stress fracture. Every other specific injury to the foot I looked up didn't seem to fit, based on a specific set of signs and symptoms. My foot/toes showed no signs of swelling or bruising, which helped rule out a lot of the injuries as well. I was able to finish all my scheduled workouts as well. So as of today, I am simply chalking it up to a minor general "over use" injury that typically comes and goes over the course of regular intense training.

The rest of this past cycle was rather uneventful, truthfully. I did find out yesterday that I was selected as the winner in a Facebook competition put on by Prevea Sports Medicine. A couple weeks ago they posted a competition on through the Green Bay Marathon's Facebook page asking runners to share their best marathon training/racing advice. Prevea is one of the title sponsors for the Green Bay Marathon. I posted on the page with the following response:

Best advice for training/racing - build mileage slowly and consistently. Practice your race day plan regularly in training and do not try anything new 1-2 weeks before race day and definitely not ON race day.

Luckily, I was selected as the winner and will receive 3 personal training sessions, a running gait and form assessment, training jacket, water bottle, t-shirt, towel, and shoe bag. Everything in that prize pack is perfect for me! I will definitely use it all, minus the personal training sessions. First off, they are only good at a health club in Green Bay, and secondly, as a previous certified personal trainer, really what would I gain from it? Not to sound "high-and-mighty" or anything, but come on, but would an accountant have someone else do their taxes? The best thing in the package is the running gait analysis. Especially coming off of my sore foot/toe. I am really hoping to pick the sports doctor's mind about my toe and hopefully get some potential insight as to whats causing my discomfort on my push off.

Brief Recap

I hate to keep beating a dead horse, but this winter just doesn't seem to want to go away. It gets frustrating when you have a set plan put in place and you want nothing more than to go out and successfully complete each task just as it is set forth. But, when the time comes for a certain task, you are forced to modify that task due to something that is out of your control - you're hand is forced. In essence, that has be the story of my first 11 cycles. I went into this training cycle with a set plan, which I had laid out on here after the completion of the last cycle. But, yet again, I had to make tweaks and modifications to work around Mother Nature. This cycle had two pretty significant snow falls. The first came on an evening before I had my scheduled run test. After work I came home and running a successful run test was unrealistic. The combination of the warmer temperatures during the daylight hours and the fridged overnight hours was melting the snow and forming puddles during the day and freezing them over night. Couple that along with an overnight snow fall and you have a recipe for some extremely slick conditions. I adjusted my plan and went out for a nice and easy 7 mile run. Right as I began I fell right on my ass. I made it maybe 100 yards before I took my first fall. I had gone all winter without a fall...until now, in March. I had to take extra caution throughout the entire run to try and avoid falling a second time on hidden ice patches. I had several close calls, but no other falls. The second snow fall came on the day before my scheduled long run. We were hit hard (relatively speaking for a March snow) with about 4 total inches of snow. It was significant enough that I had to break out the snow blower. It wasn't just a typical snow fall, but it came with strong winds, which brought heavy drifting, which definitely didn't help. So, with the extra snow on the ground on top of the forecasted sub zero wind chills, I planned my weekly long run to be done indoors. I had scheduled a total of 18 miles with 10 of them done at my goal race pace. I completed them all on the Heart of The Valley YMCA's indoor track. I was very lucky to start that my Sister-in-Law was willing to take my daughters for the morning and then take them out to lunch so I was able to complete my run. I am extremely lucky that my daughters have such a great Godmother who is always willing to spend extra time with my girls. It's great for them but also for me. Having the love and support from my family is truly special. There is no way in hell I would be able to train the way I do without the love and support of my family. So a big shout out to my Sister-in-law Lisa - Thank's so much!

The track at the YMCA, crossed over the word "Run" 200 times

The track is a moderate sized track, with 11 laps totaling a mile. I sucked it up and ran 200 laps, just over 18 miles. I couldn't stop at and odd number like 198 laps, so I ran an extra 2 to get a nice round number. I ran the first 6 miles at a moderate-easy pace and then turned up the tempo after that. I found that running a sub 7:00 mile on a short track is difficult, especially when there are other people on the track. I like to think that I ran close to my goal pace of 6:50/mile on the long stretches, but there is no doubt that I lost a bulk of my speed on the corners. Below is a "By the Numbers" of how the run went.

200: Number of laps completed
440: Number of calories consumed
21,400: Approximate number of total steps taken
800: Number of corners
4: Number of times I changed directions
39.6 seconds: Average time per lap

The remainder of the training cycle went really well. I stuck to the training plan and didn't need to make any changes (other than the scheduled run test) tot the plan. Instead of completing my originally scheduled run test, I took advantage of a local 5k I had planned on running to be my "test" to tell me where my run fitness currently is at. I posted a race report HERE for the race. It was a great race, all things considered. The course was longer than a 5k, so my time was obviously longer as well. Add to that the fact that the temperatures made it feel like it was the dead of winter, I was pretty happy with my official time of 19:07. I am especially happy with the fact that I took 3rd overall! It was my first time in any race were I actually placed in the top 3 overall. When I took a closer look at my results from my Garmin Watch, I showed that I actually ran at a pretty strong pace. So when you take in the totality of the circumstances that presented themselves on race day, I am very please with where my current run fitness is.

I also had another swim test this previous cycle. I went in to it with high expectations. I had felt as though my swim fitness was progressing very nicely. When it was all said and done, my times were considerably slower than my previous test. It showed me that I need to continue to swim and remain diligent with my form and technique training, and not skimp on the speed/tempo work. I am not dwelling on my unsuccessful test times, but using them as motivation leading up to my next swim test. My critical swim speed pace increased from 1:44/100m to 1:48/100m. My goal is to get it below 1:44/100m by the next test date.

Favorite Workout

I would have to say my favorite workout was my 7 mile run I completed on day 2. It was originally scheduled as my run test, but due to the ice and snow I changed it to a simple run. It was the simplicity that made it my favorite workout from this past cycle. I went out without any specific goals for pace or distance. In fact when I left the house, my original plan was to run 6 miles. But as I continued to run, I felt great and just kept going. I ended up running a total of 7.60 miles. I completed it in 58:26, not a blazing pace, but considering how slippery it was, I was plenty happy to just make it home with only falling once!

Moving Forward

The previous cycle was my last cycle of my Base Phase. I now make the change to my Build Phase. This is the phase where my volume....well, builds. You can see that I have one more additional day of multiple workouts. I am mostly looking forward to my day off on day 2. It will be my first full off day since I was sick back on January 22nd and 23rd. Now that my volume is getting longer and longer, I will begin to have more regularly scheduled off days, which will truly be a treat. I also have a full day of training on my last off day, which will have a small effect on my brick training. I will again just split the originally scheduled brick workout into single workouts before and after my day of training. My weekly long run is just a recovery style long run down to 16 miles with no goal race pace work. This will allow me to simple go out and just log some easy miles with out stressing about my pace. It should be a good week of training! Below are pictures and some videos from the week. The videos are of the weather that kept me training indoors all week. They are not all that interesting, but just showing you the snow and wind we had here in Wisconsin.

Be fast, be strong, and carry on!