New Bedford Half Marathon & Recent Training

I'm not going to call this a Race Report, but it's definitely a highlight for my recent training. I approached the New Bedford Half Marathon hoping I could run a fast time - but I knew that would be a long shot. So I did a ~2 mile warm up and felt pretty good. No aches, no pains. Always a good thing. But I knew this is not my goal race, and while still recovering from injury I needed to be careful. Eye on the prize...

The race started, and I went out holding about a 7:05 pace. My plan was to hold this pace for ~two miles and assess how I felt after that. Unfortunately, during the third mile I could tell it wasn't my day. My quads were already starting to feel beat up by that point. I've been able to start  running a bit more lately, but I have had a lot of time off and my legs are not used to the pavement. And in retrospect, they were not remotely recovered from my last two workouts. They felt really beat up, and since I was only ~3 miles in, I knew that I would have to back off and just use this race as a "long run with company."

I'm a bit torn about how I feel about the weekend. On one hand, I would've loved to be able to attempt a fast race, perhaps even PR, and I'm really bummed I couldn't get after it. On the other hand - this was my longest run in 12 weeks. That's a long time. And so in recent days I've tried to look at the bright side: I ran 16 miles for the day, and I held a ~7:21 pace for 13.1 miles on really beat up quads. With ample recovery, this will serve as good preparation for a shortened marathon training schedule. (Repeat: ample recovery). The more I think about it - this was my longest run in 12 weeks. Don't be stupid. Eye on the prize.

Here's some recent training:

				Pace		Distance
Monday		1-Jan				0.00		Resistance band. Eccentric calf raises. Single leg squats. Foam Roller. LIPUSx3.
Tuesday		2-Jan		0:08:10		2.00		2m easy - felt good. Eccentric calf raises. Resistance band. LIPUSx3.
Wednesday		3-Jan				0.00		33min bike w/hard intervals. Resistance band. 180 pushups. Core work (short). LIPUSx2.
Thursday		4-Jan				7.00		800/1200/1600/1200/800. Did not intend to run this workout, and was ready to stop at the slightest hint of a twinge. Really happy. LIPUSx3.
Friday		8-Mar				0.00		30min bike, 20min swim. Arm workout & core. LIPUSx2.
Saturday		9-Mar						Resistance band. LIPUSx3.
Sunday		10-Mar		0:07:46		12.11		Hosted CSU long run. Felt good. Quads got beat up, and right calf was really sore (definitely muscular) - but the pace was solid and the lungs were fine as well.
Monday		11-Mar		0:09:01		2.00		Myrtlx2. Foam Roller. LIPUSx3.
Tuesday		12-Mar				0.00		45min elliptical, 45min pool. Arm workout, eccentric calf, resistance band. LIPUSx3.
Wednesday		13-Mar				5.06		HM training program. Slow miles. LIPUSx3.
Thursday		14-Mar				8.90		6x800. Ran 2:54 for most of the repeats, and felt comfortable. The last two were bit more difficult than the rest, but still solid. LIPUSx3.
Friday		15-Mar				0.00		30min bike, 30min swim. LIPUSx3.
Saturday		16-Mar				0.00		Rest. LIPUSx3.
Sunday		17-Mar		0:07:21		16.00		New Bedford HM. Quads felt toasted by mile three. So it was a disappointing race, but I'm satisfied with the ability to hold that effort while in pain for ~10 miles. Warm up and cool down brought me to ~16. LIPUSx3.
Monday		18-Mar				0.00		30min bike, 20min swim (solid effort), Myrtlyx3, calf raises x 3, runner touch x 3. LIPUSx3.
Tuesday		19-Mar		0:07:45		4.00		4m run, 30min bike. 10min rolling, 10min stretching, resistance band. LIPUSx3.

The 7 miles on January 4th was my first workout back, and I consider that the turning point in my healing process. I had numerous days of 2 hours on the elliptical, or an hour on the elliptical/bike followed by an hour in the pool - and I couldn't be more happy to be done with that. I will continue to use all of that good stuff for cross training during the recovery period, but now's the time to put the feet to the pavement.

Boston 2013. Big Sur 2013.