Since tomorrow is the start of another training cycle, it’s time for another quick look at where I’m at.
There’s less than 5 weeks until race day, so this is my last training cycle before the race. I can already feel myself starting to get a little anxious. Writing about my training every day reinforces my usual tendency to obsess over normal ups and downs, which hasn’t helped.
The latest blip is the sore left hamstring that appeared after yesterday’s bike ride. Ed warned me that runners tend to overuse their hamstrings on the bike and that leg was weak to start with. Oh well.
Maybe this is just a message to keep me from a last-minute overtraining panic before the marathon. The next week or two is sort of a danger zone. In a few weeks, when it’s taper time, if anything crops up I’ll have no choice except to rest and hope it gets better in time for the race. Right now there’s still time to get in a little more training, so I have to make a choice. If I don’t go to the track, I miss my last chance to hone my speed and build confidence for the race. But if I try to do too much on a sore leg, I risk making it worse and having the problem linger on and spoil my marathon.
I’ve been looking forward to getting back on the track for the last round of workouts, but it might be prudent to skip track this week and let my leg get better. I know that’s the advice I’d give to other people. There isn’t enough time to recover if I make a mistake, so I should be conservative.
I probably won’t decide what I’m going to do until I see how my leg feels while I’m jogging over to the track tomorrow. Before the leg, I was feeling pretty good about how things are shaping up for Cape Cod. I got in plenty of hill training over the last month. My form is been pretty solid on my last few runs. My latest tweaks to my shoe inserts and my workouts with the heavier kettlebell might have helped there. Now that the cool weather is doing its magic, my speed should be coming along. It’ll be hard to resist testing it on the track.
I’m not the only one with a late-breaking injury. Today Ruthanne found out that when she tripped over the broken sign, she cracked a rib. If she takes it easy and doesn’t aggravate the rib, it should be healed by Cape Cod. Some people have the talk test to make sure they aren’t running too fast. Now Ruthanne has the rib test.
(strength; 2.1 mi. bike; 147#)