Marathon Training: Week Thirteen

This was a rough week for running.  I never quite bounced back from Week 12′s 14-miler… not sure why.  So my weekday runs were much tougher than they should’ve been, as I really felt it in my knees, shins and feet.  So before I had to jump back out of town late this week, I consulted with my coach, Trey, and he suggested I slow down my pace and even integrate a bit more walking into my long run.  This, along with some diligent icing of the shins, seemed to do the trick.  Also, I delayed a couple of this week’s runs slightly, allowing for a little extra recovery time.  Here’s how it all unfolded:

Sun – 12-25-11: 30-minute powerwalk (St. Louis)

Mon – 12-26-11: Weights at the gym (Free form) – At a cool Gold’s Gym in St. Louis.  They had one of those “cardio theaters,” which has a bunch of cardio equipment in a large theater-style room.  It’s literally like training in a movie theater.  Pretty cool.  But I only did a little cardio for warm-up, before hitting the weights.

Tue – 12-27-11: A disappointing 6-miler in St. Louis.  Man… I don’t know what the hell happened, other than maybe I was still feeling the 14-miler from the weekend, and/or maybe I was trying to hold too fast a pace.  But after 3 miles, I had so much lactic acid burning in my shin muscles that I actually had to walk for a few minutes, just to recover.  It sucked.  But I made it through the run, and still had a 9:50 average total pace…. which was probably part of the problem, apparently.

Wed – 12-28-11:  Weights at my regular gym back in LA (Free form).  Kind of phoning it in lately, I suppose.  Many of these workouts have been functional, but nothing too heavy duty.  If anything, though, all the variety has been keeping the body guessing, which has in turn been keeping me a little sore, which is a good thing.

Thu – 12-29-11: Another 6-mile run around a slightly elongated course back home.  Felt a bit rough, for some reason.  Mainly shins and knees.  But again, while my latest “natural” pace seems to be around 9:30 per, and I just don’t think I’m able to sustain that week after week with these longer miles on the weekend.  Also, notice that I took an extra day to recover this week, doing my usual Wednesday run on Thursday.

Fri – 12-30-11:  Day off

Sat – 12-31-11: Had to take an unexpected trip back to Panama City Beach, Florida, today, so it was quite a heavy travel day.  To say my long run today took place on a Saturday would be quite a stretch.  By the time I was able to run, it was late evening, and I had been up for 23 hours straight.  Plus, I would’ve been running around the streets of Panama City on New Year’s Eve, literally from around 11:00 PM to 1:00 AM (although, as bad of an idea as it was, it wouldn’t have been a bad way to bring in the New Year).  All this, plus I’ve been nursing some tender shins and knees… so I figured I would get some rest, then run my 12 miles early AM, which is what I did.

So – although it was probably more like a Sunday morning run, we’ll call it late, late Saturday night, just to keep the records straight.  Anyway – I took it super easy, even made it a point to walk for short periods here and there as I drank my water. Of course, it affected my average pace (we’re talking an 11:00 minute-per average when you factor in the walking!), but it was just what the doctor ordered….

BR

Reminder:  I’m running the LA Marathon for my favorite cat and dog rescue group and looking for sponsors/donations!  Any size donation is appreciated!  Please visit my donation page here:  http://www.crowdrise.com/TeamKittenRescueLAMarathon2012/fundraiser/BobbyRock

All donations are tax deductible and will really help some animals!  Thanks much…

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